Tree of Wishes

Price of Life: A Naomi Perspective

What is it that determines the value of a human life? We are all created equally, cut from the same cloth known as humanity, yet as early as we are born, we are given a price. There is no one particular person who sets this price, and one's value can greatly fluctuate over time through their social position, finances, and connections. If I were a vase sitting on a shelf, it would be labeled 'Naomi Sweets – 1985 A.D. – Not for sale'. Not because I am terrible or worthless, some of the best things in life are free after all, but because I can no longer be bought or traded. This is my story.

After I served in the army to pay for college, I met and married a man named Elliot, and we had a beautiful boy named Adam to call our own. Elliot won me over with the little things, like remembering anniversaries, knowing all of my likes and dislikes down to a T, and sharing the same love for romance and action stories as I did. He could be blunt to the point of accidentally offending people, used more hair gel to spike his dark blond hair more than an adult should, and would be completely lost without his phone to provide GPS instructions and a calculator, but these were things I could work with. As for Adam, he inherited my darker skin and chestnut eyes, yet everything from his cheerful attitude to his mannerisms he got straight from his father. He was our precious treasure.

I was prepared to spend a normal life with my family, working a nice desk job until I retired, but life wasn't going to allow me to enjoy it to the fullest. It all started when Elliot was fired from his job for unexplained reasons. I thought it was strange considering Elliot was the hard-working type who was never late and never put anything off to the last minute. This was troubling since I was pregnant with our second son, but I was confident we would figure something out.

Then the strange phone calls appeared. Regardless of the time or day, we would get messages from a distorted voice warning us 'not to tell'. Not to tell what? I asked Elliot what it could mean, but he would dismiss it as a prank call and say that I shouldn't worry about it. Since it stopped after a week, I thought this meant it was over, but then we began to receive messages slipped to us from under the door. The messages listed all of our personal information, including our usual driving routes and bank account numbers, and would always end with 'WE'RE WATCHING'.

I contacted the police to investigate what seemed to be a stalker, but they found nothing and couldn't trace any of the evidence back to a source. When it couldn't get any worse, we found ourselves unable to pay the bills or the mortgage, and had to give up our lovely home for a small apartment barely big enough for the three of us. Elliot kept trying to find another job, yet never heard back from a single one.

Unfortunately, due to the combination of stress and overworking to make ends meet, I suffered a miscarriage. While part of me cursed myself for being so careless, a smaller part of me was relieved. Now we wouldn't have to pay for another mouth to feed. I was disgusted with myself for even thinking such a horrible thing.

After a long period of financial struggles, Elliot came home with bags of groceries and news that we wouldn't have to worry about food anymore. I was ecstatic, assuming this meant he had gotten a new job, yet he wouldn't share the details. At first, I didn't care since it meant I didn't have to work as much, but then something kept bothering me. Around the same time he started bringing food home, a news story broke out about different stores around the city being raided. What was strange was the fact that the assailant managed to avoid being caught on camera. I didn't pay much mind to this until Elliot brought home a pair of earrings I'd been eying for ages. He said he'd been saving up to buy it for our anniversary, but I found this hard to believe knowing how much they were worth.

The following day, the news reported a robbery at a jewelry store, and I knew it wasn't a coincidence.

In a furious rage, I confronted him directly and asked, "You're the one who's been stealing around the city, haven't you?"