Their Obsession Rose

Rose - Stranger things

My hands still shake as I look back down at the small jewellery box.Inside, there’s a necklace-simple,delicate with a pendant that catches the light in a way that makes my breath catch in my throat. A piece of something that belongs to me-something that can tell me who I am . . . Something I didn’t know was missing until now.

Another gift.

Another sign that the woman who birthed me, loved me. However my self-esteem took a beating. I was abandoned, by her-the one who should whisper words of comfort to me, sing me to sleep,

My eyes sting as I touch the necklace. I didn’t know I was waiting for something like this, but now that I have it, I realise I’ve been waiting all my life.

As I remove the necklace from its box with trembling fingers, my heart hammering in my chest and the moment, overwhelming.

The necklace- a delicate gold necklace-the chain fine and gleaming with a pendant that takes my breath away. It’s a perfect circle, the moon, the stars and sun intertwined in a celestial dance, their shapes elegant and almost hypnotic, each a symbol playing off the others as if they belong together, made for each other.

The design is beautiful,impossibly intricate and in that moment I can’t bring myself to question why. It feels . . . right.

I lift the necklace feeling the weight of it in my hands and without thinking I slip it around my neck.

The moment the pendant touches my skin everything changes.

A searing heat radiates from the pendant, a blinding light bursting from the centre, so bright it’s as though the sun itself has set it’s gaze upon me. My body stiffens and a sharp, unbearable pain surges through me. The light, pure and unyielding, cuts into my skin, branding me. I cry out, instinctively reaching up to tear it away,but my finger’s can’t grip it. The chain is as firm as stone, unmovable and no matter how hard I pull, it will not come off.

I gasp for air, my heart racing as the light grows more intense, flooding my vision until it feels like my very soul is burning. My skin is alive with heat, every fibre of my being filled with the force of it. I fall to my knees, the world spinning around me as I struggle to keep my balance.

And then, as quickly as it came, the light begins to fade. The searing heat ebbs, leaving only a dull throb that pulses in time with my heartbeat. My breath comes in ragged gasps and I hesitate for a moment, too afraid to look at myself, too afraid to see what’s become of me. Yet something inside urges me to find the courage.

I rise steadily to my feet, still shaken and stumble toward the mirror. My reflection catches me off guard.

There I am, the girl I’ve always known-small, not yet 5’3, with tanned olive skin that seems to glow in the soft light of the room. My long brown hair falls in soft waves around my shoulders, streaked with shimmering highlights of gold, the sunlight dancing across the strands. My eyes-big, brown,deep-now have flecks of gold swimming through them, a mirror of the pendent resting against my chest.

The champagne-gold robe hugs my body like it was tailored just for me, the fabric flowing gracefully down my form, the soft shimmer of it now familiar as it mirrors the golden threads in my hair. Beneath it, I still wear my white night dress, simple and unassuming, the hem brushing my bare feet.

The real shock comes when I look down at my chest. There nestled snuggly between my breasts, is the pendent, but it is not hanging freely. It’s seared into my skin. . . as if it’s become part of me, the gold of the pendent now a permanent mark. The imprint is faintly glowing and I can feel it’s warmth against my skin, a constant reminder of the pain and the power that just consumed me.

It’s just not a necklace anymore. It’s a brand, a symbol. A part of me whether I’m ready for it or not.

I ran my fingers across the tattoo, the skin beneath the pendant pulsing with an odd warmth. As I touched it, the golden mark shimmered, coming to life beneath my fingertips, glowing faintly in the soft light of the room. I gasped, pulling my hand away, my heart racing with a mix of fear and wonder. What was happening to me? The sensation was so foreign, so powerful, that it left me breathless.

Shaking, I quickly turned my attention back to the letter. Desperately I try reading it again, hoping that now I will be able to understand the foreign scripture, hoping it might contain some hidden meaning, some secret that might explain the mystery of the pendant-but the words remained the same-foreign to my eyes - and I am no nearer to the truth than I was before.

The answers I sought weren’t here, and the weight of that truth sank deeper in my chest.

I stared at the letter, my mind a whirl of questions, when something else caught my eye. Wrapped in a thick green ribbon, its colour vibrant and soothing was a small delicate object. I reached for it and as I unwrapped it, my breath hitched. It was a ring- mom’s wedding ring.

A rush of warmth flooded my chest as I held it in my palm. This was a symbol of their love, my mother and father’s promise to each other, a bond that had carried them through everything. The ring, small and simple yet so powerful in its symbolism, was her final gift to me.

I slipped it onto my finger and suddenly my vision blurred. I didn’t even notice the tears at first, but them I saw them, shimmering on my cheeks, reflecting in the mirror in front of me. I reached up to wipe them away, startled by the unexpected flood of emotion.

“Pull yourself together,” I told myself, my voice quiet but firm. “You’re a big girl now. This is a big day. There’s no place for tears.”

I rubbed my eyes, blinking away the the last remnants of the tears, but my heart still felt heavy, weighed down by my sudden surge of loss and love that flooded me all at once.

A sudden urge hit me, a need to be somewhere, to go to a place that always felt like home. My favourite spot-the one that had always calmed me when the world felt too overwhelming. The thought of it spurred me into action.

Without thinking, I pulled on my old green dress with the white roses scattered across my bosom, its fabric simple and familiar. I tie my hair back with with the green ribbon-the same one that held the ring-letting the soft ends fall loosely around my shoulders.

Before I left, something deep inside me couldn’t resist. I walked over to the chair and draped the pellise around my shoulders, feeling the softness of the fabric as it settles against my skin. The weight of it, the fur-lined hood resting on the back of my neck, felt like a hug, like a piece of her was still with me, protecting me. It was the last part of her I had left and I wasn’t ready to let it go just yet.

I stood in front of the mirror for a long moment, the woman I had been and the woman I was becoming reflected back back at me, and for the first time that day, I felt a small, flickering spark of strength within me.