Always Changing

She smiled sadly as her grandma pressed a necklace into her hand, black thread woven neatly with a glinting saphire sitting at the point. It was simple, but it meant the world to her. A tear slipped down her cheek as she grasped her grandma’s hand, which was already turning cold. The single tear drop multiplied into a steady stream that made its way down her face. She watched as they covered Grandma gently, pulling the white cloth over her face and carrying her coffin away. The eight-year-old clutched the necklace to her chest and whimpered silently, mourning.

She smiled, accepting the diploma from the principal before bowing on stage. Standing in the center of attention, she gave her valedictorian speech and, for the first time in a while, she smiled. A real, genuine smile, nothing like the fake smiles that she had practiced to perfection. As she accepted money leis, wreaths, and flower bouquets, she twirled the necklace, so dear to her that she had never taken it off, not even when she had been hospitalized after a car crash. “See grandma? I’ve become successful. I’m the best in my school: the apple of everyone’s eye. Have I made you proud?” She knew her family would be proud of her.

“Mommy!” a young girl cried out, extending her hands towards a beautiful young woman. The mom picked her up gently and kissed her adoringly on the cheek, caressing the child’s soft and luscious hair. “Mommy, when can I have this necklace?” The girl played with the blue gem hung around her mother’s neck.

“Not yet, darling. Someday when you grow up, I’ll personally hand this to you.”

The young woman pressed another soothing kiss to her daughter’s cheek before placing her back on the ground.

Then she turned around and gave a tight hug to the man standing beside her, “Right, honey?” The man smiled and nodded in reply, taking the girl’s hand and wrapping it in his.

Thank you for the book recommendations!