America Can Write - Mission 1

by Maryam in A Land Of Desert And Sun

Hey Ashley,
This is the 1st mission; I edited the starter a bit, I hope you don't mind.

BY THE WAY: the starter is not mine. It was put by Ashley. The first paragraph is not my writing....

The dark sky followed by the glowing stars lit the way home.
Hi, my name is Carly Benton; I have curly blonde hair and blue eyes. Anyway, enough about me - let's get back to the story.
Yesterday, I found a silver locket necklace. Instead of a picture it, it had strange-looking words written on it. It was kind of wierd, but also cool so I picked it up - the worst mistake I could ever make.
And this is how it starts....

The necklace itself, on the outside, would not singularly stand out, in a crowd - it was, however, one of those things that stand out when thrown haphazardly, it seemed, on a sidewalk. Lying there, it seemed forgotten, listless; the delicate silver chain twisted and, in several places, knotted. It caught my eye, though - light glinted off the stone set in the middle of the heart in the center, and I paused in my path, ignoring the snow crunching under my feet and tucking the umbrella firmer under my arm.

I bent down, picked it up - looking at it closely, it was a fine work of art, and it seemed strange to me that no one else had been interested in it and plucked it off the ground. But then again, it was nearing the middle of the night, and the only reason I was out was because Cardenio's party had gone on so long.

I couldn't help it. My hand, nearly involuntarily, reached out, and I fingered, caressed the chain. It felt cool, smooth, skillfully worked; it showed from the delicacy of the chain and the the flowing... Watery quality, somehow. I couldn't explain it to myself, nor did I want to.

What I wanted to do at that moment was just... Pick it up. Feel it in my fingers. Unknot it.

I did this, and hastily; crouching there on the sidewalk, snow strewn around me from the snowfall of the early evening, I unknotted the chain of a locket I had only set eyes on a few minutes earlier, feeling a strange feeling of wanting, an urge.

It was undone. The chain came free; the locket dropped and glimmered to its end.

My eyes widened, and I stood, the locket dangling from my hand. I regarded it with a feeling of awe, my desire to wear it intensified.

Slowly, I rose it to my neck, set it around it.

I closed my eyes and just imagined myself wearing it. A feeling of happiness coursed through my veins - until I realized it.

The metal felt cold and hard against my skin. Yes, I know - every necklace does this, but not as cold, not as hard, not as, somehow, cruel.

And it was getting worse.

Barbs had pierced themselves into my skin, getting tighter every second. I struggled at the chain, striving -

Thinking this, I freeze. The world around me is melting. Colors are running into one another. I can hardly see - is it my eyes? Is it the world itself?

I cannot know.

The world, around me, goes black.