Harper looked nervously about herself, arms to her chest, fiddling with her bag as she made way for another patron in the small nook-in-the-wall shop. It was another shop, another beautiful place that had caught her eye as she walked back home from a day's work. She would make sure to visit this one as well, as she had visited so many before.
She had been eyeing it for days now, scraping together what coins she had left over from her menial job, for most of it went to her father- the patriarch of her family and the one who decided everything about her and her famiy's life.
She had lied about how much she earned, and the deceit was eating at her everyday. But, she musn't forget- it was this exact reason she had found and gotten a small job that paid in cash.
Something restless fluttered in her, asking to break out, to rebel against the obedience.
๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ด.ย
Her mother and her sister were content with whatever they received, never wanting more, never asking. Her little brother as well, for he was the one who was learning the ropes of managing and taking care of everything, of everyone's needs and wants. Now, it was her father, and soon it would be her brother. Managing them, and though she didn't want to say it- controlling them.
Her hands clenched around the cheap fabric as she thought back to her mother's words. Her breaths threatened to speed up, but she brought it back under control with the technique she had learned.
Breathe in, breathe out. In. Out.
She opened her eyes, feeling better and more calm. She refused to think how her lungs always acted up when thinking of her family, as she finally forced her feet to walk.
The lights bathed the small room in a cozy glow, the mismatched low-hanging chandeliers with their coloured glasses and the small knick-knacks shining at her from behind the glass in the wooden cupboards. Harper looked at the items in wonder.
It was a treat, always, to have something for herself, something that she could call just her own. Her heart raced at the very thought.
The wrongness of wanting rebelled against her, but she shook it off and reached her hands out to touch the items. The items available to touch anyway. The diaries, the crockery, the handmade keychains, the silverware, antique glasses. An engraved pen.
She watched it all, mesmerised by the sheer quantity and range of objects imaginable. They had been preserved with care for a long time, and it showed. The craftsmanship was exquisite, and Harper ached to touch the items that were hidden behind the place of glass, restricted to touch from any curious onlookers.
And that is when a blindingly red glint caught the side of her glasses. She turned.
There, tucked away in the last shelf, almost completely hidden behind an old set of teacups, was a stone. A red stone.
'A ruby.' Her mind supplied helpfully, as she pushed her glasses up her nose and walked towards the corner. Fewer people stood here, and she had a clear view of the stone.
It was nothing special. And not very bright either.
The shine must have been a trick of her mind, for this stone was as dull as any of the old ones her little sister liked to keep around, from her trips to the lake. Though the colour sure seemed a step above.
It was likely a pendant, if the loop and the entwining branches of silver set around the stone were anything to go by. There was a certain charm to it, Harper could see.
She couldn't take her eyes off the normal looking thing. She yearned to touch it, hold it.ย
What a joy it would be, to have something like this, that existed just to look beautiful, and had no purpose or use! To own something just for her own self! Just the thought made her feel more worthy, for anyone who owned something like this would be worthy, at least to her. She was engrossed in the headiness that came with it, the happiness.
There was no denying it.
She wanted it.
'๐๐ฐ! ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ฉ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ. ๐๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ? ๐๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ?' Her mother's beseeching voice reached through the clouds and held her, even as her sister's betrayed visage danced across her mind. She hesitated, looking back at the jewel. Finally sighing, she put back the coins she had taken out to see if she could match the price written on the small tag.
She won't be buying anything this time either. Maybe the next time, another shop. Maybe it would take more time before she could do it.
She turned to leave the store...
"Ah!" And fell on her backside, the bone jarring.
"Watch where you're going, ugly!" The large man who had jostled her with his shoulder spat before turning away to continue to a beautiful woman standing near the doorway.
The people around didn't spare more than a glance at her as she stood up, the familiar words bringing with them a hurt she knew too well.
She knew she was not much to look at, she had been told so before many times. And the clothes didn't help either. It was not as if she expected someone to help. This was the story of her life.
Still, rage simmered inside her, an old rage, as she watched the same man who had yelled at her wrap his arm lovingly possessively around the beauty as they left.ย
She adjusted her clothes, dusted herself off, and lowered her gaze as to not meet the ones looking at her, in disgust, no doubt. She was used to that.
An emotion began to grow in her, a despair, as she looked down at her own mousy clothing. Her hands tried in vain, to surreptitiously clear the wrinkles she could see, to remove the small loose threads, to hide the stains behind her thin sleeveless jacket.
She put her clenched fists down, frustrated. No, it won't work. She knew she would remain the same as ever, nothing would change that.
And she hated that feeling. She wanted it gone. She wanted to feel what she had been feeling just a minute ago.
She wanted to feel worth something.
Her intense gaze turned to look over her shoulder, at the ruby. It seemed to be shining brighter than it had been before. Well, that was good, for it was going to be hers.
She sniffed back the warmth that had spread to her eyes and nose, and defiantly opened the cupboard, intent on finding the salesperson who would be able to sell it to her.
Her hands reached towards the ruby, snatching it up, as she turned on her heels...
...And fell into the darkness.