Picture by Brian Schetzsle, for Jaime Katharine Anthony's story
Picture by Brian Schetzsle, for Jaime Katharine Anthony's story
For the tenth time this week, Gertrude was getting teased. Her classmates circled her, tossing out mean names and yelling. Suddenly, Miss Furrow hit the break chimes, and the group ran to their seats in the old classroom. Gertrude could barely contain herself from crying. Why must they always tease me?, she thought to herself. A salty tear trickled down the side of her cheek, and splattered on to her arithmetic paper. Time passed as the class finished up the lesson
"Alright, class. I will see you tomorrow." Miss Furrow said. The teacher's voice was so soft, you could barely hear it.
The class clambered out into the schoolyard. a few gangly boys stayed around to taunt Gertrude, but she had already escaped into the dark alley. She ran until the end of the dark passageway, into the bright afternoon. Her house was right across the street. After checking for cars, the tired girl trotted towards the cozy dwelling. Glancing one last time behind her before walking up the driveway, her eyes fell on her English assignment, covered in mud from the road.
"No! Why is everything going wrong today?" Cried Gertrude.
She ran to get the paper, but the wind picked it up and blew it beyond the trees. Once she was in the house, her mother greeted her.
"Hello darling. How was you day?" The kind mom inquired."Here, have some cookies.""It was okay. Not much happened." Gertrude said, lying through her teeth.
"Oh, right! A package arrived in the mail fo you today. Here."
Ripping open the cardboard box, Gertrude gasped. In a small piece of tissue paper, laid the most beautiful necklace. The fine gold chain was attached to a glittering medallion. Light refracted off of it, sending flashing rays prancing on the walls like fairies.
"Who is it from?"Gertrude asked."Aunt Ida, of course! She's the only person who would give you a gift like this. She's always finding these things at those silly conventions." Replied Gertrude's mother.
Gertrude smiled contently as she clasped the necklace on. For the rest of the night, she was perfectly happy. Her favorite show was even on television. Climbing into bed, she yawned drowsily. Her night was filled with the best dreams she had ever had.
Early the next morning, the smell of bacon and waffles floated around the house. The breakfast gave Gertrude a feeling of confidence. On her way to scholl, not a single peer teased her. During school, all the girls remarked on the necklace. But during gym all the bad things started happening. First, while Gertrude was taking off her necklace, her her fingers got pinched in the clasp. Then, she fell during warmups. Playing basketball, she missed the chance of a lifetime and threw the ball out instead of into the basket! Going back to get into school clothes, she scraped her knee on the bench. Feeling depressed, she forgort all about the necklace. Gertrude left for Science without it!
Half way through the lesson on sea life she remembered. For the rest of the day, she lived through the usual tormenting. After school, she ran back to get the necklace. All of her sadness was wiped away when it was put back on. An eerie feeling crept around her. When Gertrude arrived home, she realized why. A note laid on her nightstand in her room. It read:
Once the gold is in your hands,
Wear it day and night.
No more worries or your troubles,
No more teasing peers to fight.
Gertrude figured that the gold was the necklace, so she wore it all the next day. Nothing bad happened! but as soon as she took it off, bad things started hapening. To this day, Gertrude stills wears the gold medallion.
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