The+Necklace

Beep, beep, beep. There went Anne’s alarm. She yawned and got out of bed, groping for her glasses on her dresser. She stumbled to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and entered the shower. She knew she’d be so late for school. Well, at least she wouldn’t meet up with anyone this morning. She didn’t feel like listening to the name-calling this early again. Her name was Anne Brookes, but people just called her Anne. She was a sophomore-almost junior in high school. She lived in Southeast Trenton, New Jersey.

She was bullied every day. She was the so-called “nerd,” of the school because of her glasses and huge intelligence. Maybe she was smart, but she had flaws and the loss of her grandmother made life even worse.

She only had her memories and a necklace left of her grandmother. That woman was a kind and gentle soul. The necklace was made of rare blue spinel and saved for Anne only. Anne liked the necklace, but it was a little too “old lady,” for her to wear. At least that’s what she thought. So she didn’t put it on to wear to school that day. She faced another day of torture without support or friends.

One night, Anne dreamed about the necklace. It was more like a message than a dream. A voice sounded blurry at first, but then clear words came through. The message explained to Anne that the necklace was special. The necklace had a mission to accomplish. The message went on to say that if Anne’s day was turning bad, she just had to place her thumb and forefinger around her grandmother’s necklace at exactly 11:59 p.m. and say, “Necklace, Necklace, if you may, please make me have a better day.”

Anne was sick and tired of having people call her names. She thought that the dream was absurd, so she didn’t listen. One day, in the school cafeteria, she was walking with her lunch tray when Molly Jenkins tripped her. She fell to the floor, dumping her food all over her long hair, which had spread out around her. It covered her clothes and her glasses. Mortified, she ran from the cafeteria. Finally, she knew that if she went back to that school, she’d be teased to death – literally. That night she didn’t eat dinner or share about her day at school. She just went to her room and cried until her eyes were tearless. She wished her schoolmates would just leave her alone and see the truly beautiful, feeling person she was. She decided to run away from it all the next morning rather than return to that school.She was packing her things to run away when she came across the necklace. It was glimmering more than ever before. It seemed as if it were repeating its message to Anne. Anne then remembered the prayer. She waited and waited for the time to turn to 11:59 p.m. After saying the words of the prayer, she fell into a deep sleep. A strange dream came to her again. In the dream, a beautiful woman with red, curly locks, grasped Anne’s shoulder. She looked Anne in the eyes and told Anne that she was the Spirit of the Necklace. The woman wore a beautiful vintage 1940’s elegant, red dress. Anne felt a familiarity with the dress. She felt like she was looking in the mirror of her future – this lady looked like her at 28, not 16. The woman held Anne’s hands and explained that Anne was in danger. Anne’s wish to change people’s minds about her true self would be fulfilled, but Anne had to help others with the same problem – to help herself, she had to help others. The woman promised guidance to help Anne fulfill her mission. The woman called herself Marylinn, saying that was what Anne was to call her, too. Marylinn told Anne about the wicked sorcerer, Charnel. He wanted Anne’s power and wanted to rule Earth as its tyrant. You see, Charnel realized that to rule the world, he had to fill people with terrible fear of anything different from themselves. If they weren’t afraid, they couldn’t be made to do bad things. It wasn’t enough that Anne free people from their fears and bullying behavior. Charnel could make them full of fear again, unless Anne freed Charnel of fear also. Marylinn warned that Anne only had one week to complete her mission.

Anne didn’t want to face an evil sorcerer. She was terrified by pretty much everything, especially snakes; so facing a sorcerer, who wanted to kill her just for her powers, was terrifying. She didn’t want to be treated like a normal person enough to be killed by evil. Then she remembered that she was supposed to help everyone in the world and save the world from this evil, so she changed her mind. She was determined to defeat Charnel, even if she died trying.

Part 2 Anne woke to find herself still in her room, but the house was so quiet that she thought her parents and her brother were gone to work or school. Everywhere she turned, she saw the timer counting down days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the end of her mission. She had 6 days, 23 hours, 55 minutes, and 47 seconds left. As she entered her parents’ bedroom, she saw them lying stiff as if they were dead. She quickly ran to the bed and felt their pulses. Nothing. She contemplated their bodies while tears ran down the sides of her face. She ran to her brother’s room. He was also lying helpless, just like her parents. Marylinn appeared in her waking life to let Anne know that they were just fine. She explained that everyone in the world must pause, frozen in time, until the time runs out on Anne’s mission.

Anne packed some comfortable clothes for her journey. She gathered water bottles and filled a backpack with fast, filling, high protein food. She was all set to go. She went to the local airport first because her parents owned a plane and she might be able to find someone to help her fly this plane. She had forgotten that everyone was frozen in time. Fortunately, Marylinn showed up in the plane, ready to go. Marylinn proposed the plan that they travel to one place on every continent, delivering the prayer to one person. The prayer would then spread through the entire continent because Marylinn and her magic, combined with the necklace’s magic, gained greater power as it was uttered. Marylinn explained that it would take time for the message to spread across each continent that they visited, but they could leave for the next place before the message finished its journey.

They powered up the plane and took off, heading to Africa. When they arrived, she had only 6 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes, and 43 seconds. They agreed that they would whisper the prayer in the first person’s ear they contacted. As Marylinn & Anne delivered the message into the person’s mind, each person suddenly floated into the air with a glimmering gold ring around the body. Then, the newly toxic-free person fell back to the ground gently, with a gleam in the eye. Anne felt this was too easy, but she enjoyed the power of freeing people from hatred.

Now they headed to Australia. They landed in a beautiful, sunny meadow in Southern Australia. It seemed peaceful and innocent. Anne saw a cavern about a half mile away, so she bolted toward it. As she arrived at the cave all she felt was darkness and cold evil. As she entered she saw three skeletons handcuffed to the wall. The cave continued to seem creepy and full of death. As she passed the skeletons she confronted a family of Dugite snakes. There were fourteen baby snakes, hissing snake messages as desperate warnings. The snakes charged toward Anne. Anne prayed and hoped Marylinn will save her. Her prayers were answered when Marylinn found her and pulled her toward an exit of the cavern. Anne thought to hereself that this little scam was probably Charnel - he knew her fears and used them against her. Worked their magic on the first person they met.

The next leap was Europe. Europe was probably the easiest continent, but she realized only 5 days remained. It took no time at all to watch the first European body rise, develop the gold ring, and show the gleam, which meant that toxic bullying would soon be over in Europe. Because Marylinn and Anne were so preoccupied with their work, they forgot to fill the plane with fuel, so over Asia they had to land in Thailand. In Thailand, they entered a poor bungalow.

In the bungalow she saw a letter with a gold ring around it. On the letter she saw her name, “Anne.” She opened it. It said, “ Anne, you will never conquer Charnel. Charnel will kill you in your sleep or when you’re not paying attention.” The note was signed, “Charnel.”

The note frightened Marylinn and Anne, but Anne knew this was her mission in life: to help others. Tick tock tick tock. The clock now showed 4 days, 22 hours, 52 minutes and 12 seconds. Marylinn and Anne found their Asian person to free from bully toxins and then planned their next stop in South America.

Anne decided that the value of freeing the planet from bullying far outweighed the illegality of stealing a plane for the rest of her journey. Marylinn agreed to stealing the plane & piloting it. This was just as easy as Europe. As Marylinn flew toward the Americas, she landed in Colombia. They continued their duties in Colombia, and then headed for North America.

They started on the West Coast in California. Marylinn disappeared from view but not from aiding Anne. Charnel could detect Marylinn’s presence, so Anne had to do it alone. She moved East toward Arizona and New Mexico. In New Mexico it was very warm and breezy. She wished she could go swimming since it was the summer. She finished the states, traveling into Canada.

Anne realized that she still hadn’t found Charnel. She also realized that she missed Marylinn’s presence. She worried about her friend, but she couldn’t wait for her. Unless she found Charnel, he could simply fill the world again with fear, and undo all the good Anne and Marylinn sent out into the world. She knew that since she hadn’t found Charnel anywhere else, he must be in Canada. Anne stared in the West of the country and headed East. In Ontario that evening, she was taken up by a swarm of bats, carrying her away. She intuited that whatever directions they were carrying her must be the opposite of Charnel’s castle. She quickly kicked her feet at the bats and screamed as loud as she could. The bats dropped her, and she fell to the ground and tramped off away from the bats. Finally, she found Charnel’s castle.

She made her way up the steep slopes and through the evil undergrowth, which seemed to want to trap her every step. Charnel never imagined a girl like Anne could come close to his stronghold, so he set no guards to attend to his safety. Anne easily stepped foot in the castle.

In the castle it was dark and smelled of bitter feelings: anger, fear, hatred, and selfishness - sour and deathly. There were spider webs everywhere. It looked as though no one ever cleaned. As she peeked around she found a thirty-two step flight of stairs. She started up the staircase hoping to find a weapon to protect herself from Charnel. On the thirteenth step, she found a lit torch and a harpoon. She snatched them for her protection. On the twenty-ninth step she could hear an evil, angry voice. It sounded as if the person was planning to burn and torture his enemies, if he caught them. As soon as Anne reached the top of the stairs, the voice stopped. Anne peeked into the room at the top but saw no one. Then, out of nowhere, a man jumped out at Anne and made her drop the torch.

“ Well,well, if it isn’t little Anne herself,” grumbled Charnel as he stroked his black goatee.

Anne eyed him closely. He was a man whose visage made one think of a weary, warrior: filthy brown hair, with rusty red eyes. He looked as if he hadn’t shaved in two months, and his cheeks were sunken and gray.

“ I see you’ve been expecting me,” spit Anne as she and Charnel circled each other.

She was grasping the harpoon so hard, blood blisters rose on her hands. She was tempted to stab Charnel because she wanted to get this over, but she couldn’t kill him. She had to change his mind. Charnel then grabbed a spear. He lunged toward Anne. Anne backed away. She then stabbed Charnel. Charnel dropped to the floor in agony. Anne knew she had to whisper her message into his ear before he died. She uttered the last words right before his last breath.

Then, like magic, a gold ring appeared around his body. A light gleamed in his eye. His body slit in half, out came Marylinn.

“ Marylinn, is that you?” Anne muttered questionably while cleaning her glasses. Marylinn nodded her head.

“ I have a confession to make, I am Grandma Mary’s spirit, and I have come forward into your time to help you change the world,” whispered Marylinn as she stared at the ground. “I wanted so badly to stop Charnel that I ran ahead to find him. He swallowed me into his gut to use as bait and keep you from killing him. But your bravery won out. He is dead, and I am free.”

Anne ran to Marylinn and dropped her harpoon. They hugged in silence for a few seconds. Then, Marylinn kissed Anne’s forehead. “ You only have 1 day and 20 minutes; better hurry. There may be more foes to get you,” Marylinn said as she disappeared. Anne set out to return home.

She still had time; she was lonely and fatigued. She was driving her stolen car on her way to Jersey. When she was driving through New York, Anne was on a highway when ghostly figures floated in front of the car. She slammed her brakes. The ghosts were coming closer, closer, and closer almost going into the car when Anne took off like a lightning bolt. Then she looked in her rearview window and saw a ghost in the back seat. It screeched a loud noise.

“ What have you done with Charnel!” screamed the ghost as he reached for Anne. Anne screamed, ran the car into the ditch, and bolted out of the car.

“ I...,I....,I killed him. It was an accident though.”

Anne quickly kicked the apparition. The rest were surrounding her coming closer and closer.

“What do you want from me?” cried Anne very loudly as she pulled her hair out of her face as she sat on the burning hot pavement. “We want our ruler! Where is he?” the apparitions spit back, dragging closer to Anne. Anne managed to leap out of their sight and ran to the car. She was trying to start the car, but it wouldn’t start. She darted out of the car and headed to a nearby home.

She ran inside looking for keys to a car. Bingo! She found keys and sprinted to the car. It was too late.

The phantoms were already in the garage waiting for her. She then looked at her watch longing to know how much time was left. 27 hours, 40 minutes, and 22 seconds. Where was Marylinn?

Anne very quickly thought of something - maybe she could change the phantoms’ minds!

She quickly said a prayer as she faced one, and he grew a gold ring around him. They all fell to the floor as they were gently dropped to the ground. When they reached the ground, they turned into orbs. The orbs flew across the room and left through the light. They were gone forever. Anne had a sigh of relief as a smile split her face from ear to ear. All that was left was to do was wait until midnight, so she could go home forever and ever. Finally, the time came. Anne lived the life she always wanted. No bullies or terror anymore, anywhere. The End

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