A Jeweler's Heart

7 - Rings II

At home, Angel was so mixed up in her own thoughts and feelings, she tore through her room with tears brimming against her eyes. She needed one of her pieces. She needed to feel better. She needed the positive emotions they brought. And right then she was in no position to make her own.

But she couldn't find one. None of them, not any. Just leftover odds and ends from throughout the years - but the one container she kept most of them. The one place that could have been her last saving grace - was missing.

Angel melted on her bed, stewing. Till she took a nap.

Later in the night, when the sky had already grown dark, she could hear voices coming from downstairs. Angel glanced up, rubbing at her face. It seemed to be heated. Angel got up, making her way over, starting to get worried. Making her way downstairs, she peeked through the back door into the shop beyond - only to see men and woman all dressed in suits arguing in heavy tones. They were all wearing jewels - watches, earrings, bracelets, cufflinks, necklaces - everything. They started tearing them off, throwing them to the floor in a huff - completely disrespecting her father and all of his attempts to calm them down.

Pieces shattered.

Angel went slack jawed as customer after customer started to flinch when the ripped off a piece of jewelry Angel had made herself. For a moment she was speechless that her dad had put her products out with the rest of the higher end valuables. But it grew into a dawning horror as blank expressions of confusion fell across each and everyone of their faces.

Angel stepped into the room, trying to fix what she'd done, but it was too late. They made their way out of the shop, no longer fighting - just leaving, too overwhelmed by whatever emotion had infected them. Her dad didn't even try to stop them, just stood there and watched as they all filed outside and into the night air. He stepped back and leaned against the checkout counter, unsure of what went wrong, unhappy that it did, but relieved that they were gone.

Angel looked over at him. "You took my things. Without asking - you went into my room and took my things. Why'd you take my things?" This was all her fault. If he'd just left them where they were. If she had just found them earlier - even ASKED him about where they were before all this -

"Not now Angel." He shooed her off with a dismissive wave, and Angel knew he was trying to come to grips with it all, but the feeling of being looked over didn't sit well.

Desperate, hoping with a sudden thought - Angel looked around the room, trying to find a ring or pair of earrings with that spark. She looked at the displays, hoping that someone hadn't used up ALL of the positive Jewels - rationalizing that that chaos had to come from finding the negative ones. (She wondered how many of those she really had. What that said about her).

Her dad stood up, gesturing for her to leave. "Angel, can you leave me alone please." Angel kept searching through, picking up odd pendants, rings, even cufflinks - but none of them had the spark. Her dad let out a frustrated sigh. "Angel ... ,"

"Just a minute." Angel snapped, really not feeling in the mood.

Angel's dad broke out of his weariness to look at her with a testing expression, but she found what she was looking for. She snatched up a ring, feeling the emotions whirling within it. She shoved it on, relief flooding through her system -

"Angel."

"WHAT." Angel whirled around, ready to take him on.

The ring shattered. Angel jerked her hand back, the feelings of frustration and hurt flooding over her. She felt her tongue go heavy in her mouth, but the fading pain of the sudden burst took precedent. She held her hand, stepping back and looking it over, fighting down tears.