One chipped glass bead, glowing emerald under the pale lights, strung onto a thin silver chain around my neck.
Hoppla! Dieses Bild entspricht nicht unseren inhaltlichen Richtlinien. Um mit dem Veröffentlichen fortfahren zu können, entferne es bitte oder lade ein anderes Bild hoch.
I was never the smartest kid. I didn't do too well in school, however hard I tried. I knew I needed to – in order to follow my dream I would need a bachelor's degree in one of the subjects specified by NASA – but I could never get above a C, at my best.
I was quiet and unobtrusive, focusing on getting better. For most people, I was barely a shadow in their peripheral vision. As a result, my friendship group was comprised only of a select few. People like me, who didn't want to cause or be subjected to trouble, preferring to stay in the shadows.
It didn't help me. I was never bullied, only teased. But it was relentless. Nobody ever touched me or my things, it was all in the words. I was too focused on schoolwork for those at the bottom of the class – to them, I was a nerd, unhealthily obsessed with grades. I wasn't smart enough for those at the top, so I was teased by them too.
My parents saw this, and my struggle to do well, but there was little they could do about it. They talked to me, but I felt awkward discussing it, so they left me alone.
In the end, all they could do was give me the bracelet.
The beads were smooth green disks, lying flat against my wrist. They told me, when they gave it to me, that it had belonged to my great, great, great grandma. That was a lie, of course. They picked it up in a charity shop not long before presenting it to me. But it was what I needed.
They told me that, whenever I needed to be brave, I should just to remember the bracelet. That it would act like armour for me, making me immune to any attack. There was nothing special about the bracelet by itself, but I made it special. I believed wholeheartedly that it had some kind of power.
It worked. I stopped being bothered by the teasing, and eventually, they got bored and left me be.
The bracelet broke eventually, but by that time I had already discovered my illness. I didn't need it any more. Knowing I didn't have long left was armour enough. Nobody wanted to tease the dying girl, and I didn't need good grades to be an astronaut any more.
Hoppla! Dieses Bild entspricht nicht unseren inhaltlichen Richtlinien. Um mit dem Veröffentlichen fortfahren zu können, entferne es bitte oder lade ein anderes Bild hoch.
