The Crown of Pearls

MARA WAS DREAMING.

In her dream she was inside a grand palace hall with red and gold curtains, and bejeweled chandeliers filled the ceiling. There were people in regal suits dancing and talking. Music can be heard from across the room. Roses were on every table, and each table was overflowing with food. It was like a fairy tale.

She was toward the end of the room, facing the entrance to the hall. The door of gold was carved with lilies. It was shimmering, providing the room with a golden glow. It reminded Mara of the sun. She was too preoccupied with the brilliance of the door to notice anything else. Like how beside her sat the Queen in her royal throne, wearing her royal crown carpeted with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. If Mara had seen the Queen with her crown, she would never have paid the door a second glance.

Without warning, the door opened.

A figure cloaked in black walked in. The hood covered its face. When Mara saw it, she felt a pang of pain in her chest. The nearer the figure came, the more pain she felt. It was like fire instead of blood was running through her veins. It burned her heart. The longer it took for her to wake up, the more pain she felt all over her body. She told herself to look away from the figure, so that the pain will stop, but her eyes wouldn’t obey her. She screamed, but no sound escaped her lips. The pain was burning her inside.

Mara caught a glimpse of what was under the hood. Piercing ocean-blue eyes stared back at her.

She then opened her eyes. She was greatly relieved when she saw the familiar walls of her bedroom. She was sweating bullets. Her breathing was heavy. Her heart was pounding. She thought it would burst out of her chest.

Another Nightmare.

She had been having the same nightmare ever since her fourteenth birthday two weeks ago. You think that she would’ve been used to it by now, but she still felt scared to death while dreaming and eerie when she woke up. First, it was like a fairy tale, and then it would turn to a horror movie. With the hooded figure in the room, it seemed like all your fears will turn to reality. Add the pain to that, and you would have the perfect nightmare. Every nightmare was unvarying, yet it still managed to scare her. It was really starting to get on her nerves.

She looked at her clock and gasped. Its 6:45 am! She’s late! She’ll get detention! She immediately forgot about her nightmare, and focused on the task of getting to school on time, which was getting quite impossible by the second.

Panting, she arrived at the school gates. She ran all the way from her house to her school, which was about six blocks. She did trip a few times, but no bruises, injuries, or broken bones. She really did hate running, because somehow, she always found something to trip onto. Usually, when she woke up early, her big brother gave her a ride to her school.

That idiot didn’t even wake me up!

With thoughts on how to kill and torture her brother, she walked inside the school gates. Surprisingly, she still had five minutes to spare. She went straight to her locker to get her stuff. This was quite a challenge, since her locker was as organized as a trash can. Finally, she found her things, and finding out that she only had one minute left, dashed to her classroom.

The bell then rang, signaling the beginning of the school day. Just in the nick of time though, for she was already in her seat when this happened. The teacher entered, and homeroom began. Usually, Mara was a very diligent student, listening to the teacher all the time, takes down notes and participating. But not today. Mara stared outside the window, totally oblivious to her surroundings. She never really noticed how beautiful it was outside. The milky snow falling from the tall ivory trees, onto the ground and covering it completely in white. Everything was so immaculate and pure. It was breathtaking.

“Ms. Evans! MS. EVANS!”

Mara suddenly snapped back into reality. She realized her teacher was calling her.

“Yes Ma’am?”

“Glad to have your presence of mind back, Ms. Evans.”

Her classmates snickered. She groaned inwardly and her cheeks flamed. Mara turned as red as a tomato. This is the first time she was scolded by the teacher, and it had to happen in front of the whole class! Why didn’t the ground just cooperate and swallow her?

“I’ll see you in detention after class, Ms. Dane.”

My very first detention! My older brother is going to kill me!

“Yes Ma’am.”

This was definitely the worst day of her life. She sighed. She was determined to make this her first and last detention. From then on, she kept her eyes glued on the blackboard. It required her full willpower, but Mara was set to it. It was going to be a long day.

After four hours of dreadful lectures and quizzes, the bell finally rang. Mara’s eyes were watering from staring at the blackboard too hard.

“Hey there, are you all right?”

Someone tapped her on her shoulder. When she turned around, she saw that it was Cornelia, her lifelong best friend since they were in diapers. She was greatly relieved when she saw her friend’s familiar encouraging smile. She always brightened her day, even the gloomiest of them, just by her presence. That was why she loved her so much.

Cornelia was a girl of fourteen, with a petite frame, short blond hair, and large amber eyes. Mara always admired Cornelia’s optimism and cheerfulness. It was infectious. When she was sad, all it took was Cornelia’s smile, and all of her problems were immediately forgotten. Cornelia was always there, through the good and the bad, and Mara was grateful that she met someone as kind and warm as Cornelia.

“Yeah, I’m fine, really. Don’t give me that look. I am fine. Promise.”

“Are you sure? First you got detention, and then you were staring at the blackboard so hard. You weren’t even blinking! Are you really sure you’re alright? Do you want to go to the clinic?”

“I am totally, completely alright. No need to worry about me.”

“Well, if you insist.”

Mara and Cornelia got out of the classroom with their other friends. They had many different friends, resulting from their different interests. But they would always be best friends and nothing could change that.

They consulted the bulletin board as they passed the corridors. Mara looked at the spot where club meetings and events were posted. It turned out she had a Student Council meeting after school, and that the printing of the newspaper was already scheduled for tomorrow. She was the Student Council President and Editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. With all the work piled up for her, she’ll be lucky to go home by 6 pm.

I still have to go grocery shopping, since I’m the one assigned to cook dinner tonight. I may still make it before the grocery store closes at seven. The fridge is almost empty. Brian will have nothing to eat if I don’t make it. He’ll kill me for sure. Wait a minute . . . Oh NO!!! I have detention! I won’t make it! What am I going to do?!

Mara’s face looked like she just saw a ghost. She was as pale as the snow outside and her dark brown eyes became as wide as plates. It occupied a quarter of her face. The air of gloom and despair was surrounding her quickly. While Mara was thinking on how her brother is going to kill her, Cornelia was looking on the other side of the bulletin board.

Mara jumped with surprise when Cornelia squealed. She was grinning from ear-to-ear and was jumping up and down. Mara’s gloom was replaced with curiosity.

“What happened? What’s the matter?”

“I won!!!”

“Really?! That’s great! What did you win?”

“Remember, I joined a story-writing contest last week? I won first place!”

“Wow! I’m so proud of you! My best friend in first place!”

“I never expected to win. Of course, I wished for it so many times every minute of the day. I wished for it so hard. So it is true that when you wish for it hard enough your wish will come true.”

“Silly, you don’t need to do that. You’re very good. It was expected that you’ll win. You’ve won every art and writing contest since I can remember. You don’t need to stress yourself from wishing.”

“Of course not. I’m not that good. And besides, there are many people here that are so much better than I am.”

“Who, for example?”

“Hmmm . . . Dexter is very good.”

“Did he join?”

“Yes. He won second place.”

“Then that proves that you’re better than him.”

They headed to the cafeteria together. While waiting in line at the canteen, they talked about everything they want to share. When they got their food, they sat in their usual table with their other friends by the window and ate in silence. It’s the advantage of having a best friend, having someone to talk to, and having someone for company when you didn’t want to talk.

Mara told Cornelia her problem with her brother. Mara loved telling her problems to her best friend. She was so sympathetic, and she did everything to help.

“Why don’t you skip editing the newspaper for now?”

“But it’s going to be published tomorrow morning. I can’t just approve something I haven’t checked yet. There might be grammatical errors or something. And I still have to finalize the layout.”

“Well, I’m sure Brian will understand.”

“Can you hear yourself? You know very well that he won’t. I’m going to get grounded.”

“How about I skip choir practice and cook for you?”

“Don’t even think about it. You always help me out of tight spots I made myself. I’ll manage somehow. Don’t worry about me. And besides, I doubt the choir will be pleased to practice without its head.”

When lunch was finished and she was heading back to her room, Mara felt a hand on her shoulder. She suddenly felt a chill down her spine, because the touch was too familiar.

“Mara, is it true?! Did you really get detention?!”

Mara was dreading the idea of turning around and talking to this person, but it would be impolite if she ignored him. Well, here goes nothing.

“Hello Dexter. News travels fast.”

“So it is true! At first I can not believe it, the great Mara, having detention! It’s unbelievable!”

“Well, ummm, that’s good. Oh, class is going to start! Bye!”

Without a second glance, Mara headed to her classroom. Everyday, for two weeks now, it had been like that. She really did have to think of a plan to get rid of him. Sooner or later she’ll really get irritated with him, and she didn’t want that to happen.

Mara knew Dexter since they were in kindergarten. They were never close friends or anything and they rarely talked. Mara wondered why he only started talking to her two weeks ago when they new each other for a decade.

The bell rang once more, signaling the start of the classes for the afternoon. After three hours of lessons, she still had to attend a Student Council meeting and she had to edit the school newspaper and make sure that everything was well before it was printed. Her brother, Brian, is so going to kill her if she got home late. She still had to cook dinner and, not to mention, she still has that abominable detention, with Ms. Terror no less.

The hours passed by quickly for Mara. She didn’t even notice that detention was finished. Ms. Terror agreed to have the detention after her meetings. How “considerate” of her.

It was nearly seven when she managed to get out of the school gates. It was so cold; Mara thought she stepped into a freezer, but it was beautiful nonetheless. The crystal-like snowflakes falling from the sky, into the trees that seem to be made of silver, was beautiful. It was like being in a painting.

Little did she know that everything she believed in will be taken from her in a wink of an eye.

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