Curse of the ring

The one who wears the ring

Will become the king,

But he must conquer

His biggest fear,

Else the ring will go

To his mighty foe,

And the king will die

When night comes by,

As the power primes

Only when the moon shines 

Ann woke up cherishing the sweet memories of her grandma. When Ann was little, her grandma always told her the legend of the ring at bedtime. Even though it had been years, Ann still remembered it. 

“Ann, wake up honey. Time for school.” Her mother called and Ann was brought back in present. She brushed her teeth, took a shower, got dressed and combed he hair; all while thinking about her grandma. She was dead for years now but Ann couldn’t forget about her. She had never seen her father since he had abandoned his family for reasons still unknown, and she hated him for that. She spent most of her childhood with her grandma while her mom was busy providing for them. Her mom never had time to date or never wanted to date. Ann sometimes felt that she was still waiting for her dad to come back. If he had just died, her mom could have met someone. What if he was already dead? There was no way of knowing.

“Ann! Where did you get that ring?” Shelly asked Ann at lunchtime. Ann was sitting on her regular table (the popular one) with Shelly on her left and her boyfriend Matt on her right. Matt was busy talking with his friends Derrick and Stan. Ann was busy talking to Dina across the table.

“What ring?” she asked.

“The one you are wearing.” Shelly said rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, that’s really beautiful.” Dina chimed in taking Ann’s right hand in her hands.

Ann stared for a second at her own hand. There was a silver ring in her middle finger, with a dark blue oval shaped pearl. It was beautiful but also felt wicked.

“I don’t remember ever seeing this before.” Ann replied.

“Then how come you are wearing it?” shelly eyed her questioningly.

“I don’t know.” Ann said trying to get it off. “It’s stuck, get it off me.”

“Babe, don’t get so hyper. It’s just a ring.” Matt said.

“I thought girls liked jewellery.” Derrick said.

“Not when they magically appear on their finger.” Ann snapped.

“Let’s get this off, Ann.” Shelly said and took Ann to the washroom. Dina followed them, as always.

“What happened?” Matt asked when they came back.

“We tried everything. Soap, lotion, moisturizer This thing won’t get off.” Shelly informed.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

“Don’t get so hysterical. We’ll get it cut after school” Matt said reassuringly.

“I want it off NOW.”

“Then let’s go now.”

“Why don’t you go to the school nurse?” Stan suggested.

“That’s a good idea.” Ann nodded, “Guys, you go. I think I can do this myself.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah”

“I have something that will cut straight through it. Don’t worry.” The school nurse smiled while Ann tried to keep a straight face. She had a strong fear of blades. Her grandma always said it was something she inherited from her father. She closed her eyes as the nurse turned towards her saying, “Here it is. Give me your hand.” Ann gingerly gave her right hand.