The Destined Necklace

My Challenge B Short story

For Carla Conley it was a usual Wednesday in the small town of Brooktown, Georgia. She went to school and came home. Everything was normal, or so she thought. Carla had no idea what would happen that night. She had no idea she would be framed for a crime she did not commit. A few days earlier, it was a warm sunny Sunday morning, they sat in church andyoung woman named Heather Conley stepped in front of everyone "Before you leave, I
have a special treat for you. My good friend, Molly Cambridge, is going to sing us song!" Heather stepped down as Molly walked to the stage and nodded to the pianist.
As she started her song, everyone's attention drifted to the necklace Molly was wearing. It was a little owl with two green jewels for eyes. When looking in its eyes, one would become mesmerized by it. During her song, she raised her arm and something stirred in the corner of the room. When she was finishing her song, she put both her hands above her head causing a bible to go shooting into the air and hover for merely a second because she bowed and the necklace fell off and the bible fell to the floor. Throughout the room, people gasped and murmured about what they had just witnessed. Having just missed all the excitement, Larry Eddins walked in and saw everyone's faces. "What did I miss?" asked Larry. Larry was new in town from Texas. He claimed to be a detective, but
everyone knew he was not the brightest. Heather ran up and picked up the necklace.
"That's quite the necklace you have there, Molly," said Heather.
Why thank you, Heather. Legend says it gives great power to whomever wears it, but, um, I don't really believe in those silly children's stories," Molly told her. "I would love to hear more about that, but I really have to go my niece is waiting on me," said Heather. While Heather was on her way out the door, she ran into
Larry and they greeted each other, but Heather was in a hurry and was not paying attention to very much at all. After Heather got home, she could not stop thinking about the necklace and why she was so fascinated by it. Monday was a nice, warm day as the friends were having lunch together at Molly's house. Molly had a small, quiet young housekeeper named Grace. She was only
nine. When she was a baby, her birth mother left her on Molly's doorstep with only a note that said,
"I need you to take this child, her name is Grace, you don't know me very well but I now know that many many people can have a child. Not everyone can raise one the right way, I know im to young for this. Please help me Molly. -Kate"
That was all Molly needed to take her in. Grace wanted to help out Molly since she took her in, so she decided she wanted to be her housekeeper until she left. Molly did not agree to that at first because she wanted Grace to have a proper education, so Grace agreed to be homeschooled until college."Here is your tea, Miss Molly," said Grace. "Why, thank you Grace, but you know that you don't have to do all this for me," said Molly. Grace just smiled and left. That evening, Grace was cleaning Molly's bedroom and she found the necklace and right as she picked it up, Molly walked in. "Grace! What are you doing?"
"I was just going to ask you if I could wear it," Grace said softly. "No!" Molly shouted, "That is the one thing of mine that you may not touch, and I've told you that many times before."
"Yes Ma'am" said Grace.
"Aww, I'm sorry Grace, I didn't mean to shout at you." said Molly sweetly, giving Grace a hug.
The next day Molly sat alone in her favorite coffee shop, but this time was different. She seemed to be waiting for someone. Then Larry walked in. "Why did you want me to meet you here?" "Is there something wrong with wanting to hang out with you once in a while?" said Molly, smiling. After they left the coffee shop, they were walking along the city square, hand in hand, just walking and talking. All of a sudden Grace ran up to them out of breath. "Grace! What's wrong!" said Larry. "The necklace! It's gone! Oh, Molly, what should we do," she gasped. "Come on let's go home, maybe you just couldn't find it." said Molly. When they arrived at Molly's house, she was surprised at what she saw. "Oh! The necklace IS gone...it's gone." said Molly.Later, as the sun was setting, the group sat on Heather's front porch. "Let's start by making a list of suspects," said Larry. Molly's brother, Robert, was there. "Maybe Grace did it!" said Robert. Molly did not like that idea. "Grace would never!" shouted Molly. "Okay, I'll keep her on this list anyway." said Robert. "Maybe Carla did it," said Larry, looking at Heather. "I thought she was with you today, Molly, or at least she said she was." said Heather. "She wasn't; I-I was on a date," said Molly. "A date!" shouted Robert. "Yes Robert, with Larry, can we move on?" Molly exclaimed. "You know what though? It could be Carla." said Heather. They thought of a few other suspects, but the main two that stood out were Carla and Grace. The next day, Carla was sitting in her room reading a book when she heard, "Carla! Get in here! We need to talk!" Carla, confused, walked through the house to find her Aunt Heather sitting at the table. "What do we need to talk about, Aunt Heather?" asked Carla. "Put this in your room." she said, handing Carla a small box. "Under your bed," she continued. "Umm, okay," said Carla, still confused. When she got to her room she sat on her bed and opened the box, to find the necklace. "The necklace!" she thought. "She took it!" When she figured out that Heather was trying to frame her, she crept out the door with the necklace in her backpack, trying to bring it back to Molly. After running for what felt like hours, she had to stop and sit down. She was lost. As she was losing hope that someone might be looking for her, she heard a familiar voice."Carla, come with me!" he yelled. "Larry?" asked Carla.
"Yes, it's me, but you're one of our suspects for stealing, I need you to come with me," said Larry. They walked to the police station, Carla was so nervous she completely forgot about the necklace being in her backpack. Another police officer saw something in her backpack. It was the necklace. Carla's heart dropped. They found it. There was no way she could talk herself out of this. She could not think of any reasonable excuse to get away. She just sighed. "I am disappointed, I was trying to convince everyone it wasn't you. I was wrong," said Larry. "I didn't steal it, Larry; I was trying to bring it back to Molly!" cried Carla. Her heart dropped again. Larry had called Heather and she was there. "Carla! How could you! I knew it was you!" yelled Heather. "Go wait in the car!" Larry picked up the said necklace and looked at it. "Now I just need to take this back
to Molly," said Larry. "I'll take it to her," said Heather.
"Well, I kind of wanted to give to her, but I do have work to do," said Larry.
"I'll tell Molly it was from you," she said, smiling.
"Ok, I'm trusting you, Heather," said Larry.
As Heather was walking, she couldn't help but want to keep the necklace. "Should I really bring it back? There's so much left that I could do with it," she thought. After convincing herself, she turned around, put on the necklace and started running. At home, Carla lay on her bed, thinking about her mother. Carla's parents died when she was very small from a terrible sickness. She could not remember much, because they died when she was only four years old and after living with her aunt for what felt like forever, it was her eighteenth birthday, not that Heather would care. Her favorite memory of her parents was her fourth birthday, three months before they died. She remembered her their laughter as she opened her birthday present. It was a doll, a small doll with curly blonde hair just like hers. When she was small, that doll was her favorite thing. She used to play with it every day. She pulled a suitcase out from under
the bed and opened it. There was the doll, it was beat up and worn from the years of playing, but it still was special to her. Also in the suitcase was her mother's old jewelry and things, but in all that she found a key. She began to look for a key hole on the suitcase, until she dumped everything out on her bed to find a keyhole on the bottom of it. She unlocked it, there were papers and old pictures of them. While she was looking through them she found one that really stood out to her and it said "And lastly, I leave my owl necklace to my best friend Molly, to keep until my daughter, Carla, is eighteen years old." "There's no way I could get it anyway," she said to herself. After their date, Larry and Molly were walking downtown when Larry said, "I bet you're glad to have your necklace back." "My necklace you found it? I never got my necklace back," said Molly, confused.
"Stay here, Molly. I need to go have a talk with someone," said Larry. As Larry walked up to Heather's house, Carla ran out to meet him. "Larry,have you seen my aunt?" she asked.
"I haven't seen her since this morning," said Larry. "Come with me, Carla. We'll make a search party in case she got hurt."
Their search party was made up of Larry, Carla, Molly, and Robert. "Let's split up. Robert, you go with Carla," said Larry. "Molly, you come with me." It was after dark and they were all tired of looking so they decided to continue in the morning. Larry and Molly were walking home when they heard something move in a dark corner. "Heather is that you?" asked Molly."I'm here, Molly" said Heather. Heather sighed and stood up. Then she saw Larry. "We know you have the necklace, Heather," Larry said. "What are you talking about? What time is it? Is it that late? I need to check on
Carla!" Heather stuttered. Heather ran as fast as she could home. As Larry started to chase her, Molly grabbed his hand. "Wait! It's late and I don't want you to get hurt or lost," said Molly. "Ok we can just wait until the morning," Larry said.
"No, that's not what I meant; I want to go!" she said excitedly. "Did you think I'd miss out on something exciting?"
"That sounds nothing like you, Molly!" he said, confused.
"I know! Let's go!"
They slowly walked up to Heather's house, they could see her through the window sitting at the table, with something in front of her. It was the necklace. By then
heard them she turned off the light and left the room, putting the necklace in her pocket. Larry knocked on the door. Nothing happened. Then Molly heard something and they both jumped to see Carla jump out the window and run towards them. "Carla? What are you doing? Listen, we need your help. Is there anything you
can do to get Heather out here?" Larry asked. "I have an idea, but it might take a little while," Carla said. She went inside and left Larry and Molly to wait outside.Larry turned to face Molly. "Well, you're about to get your necklace back, what are you going to do with it?"
"I want to find who it's really destined for," Molly replied thoughtfully.
"Isn't it destined for you?" he asked.
"I'm starting to doubt that," she said.
"I hear someone coming; get over here," Larry said.
When the door opened Heather stepped out. "Carla! There is no package out here," she yelled. Molly nodded to Carla. Carla ran right into Heather, hitting her and causing the necklace to go flying into Larry's hand. "Good job, Carla," said Larry. He hugged Molly.
"We did it," he said smiling.
Larry got Heather in the car and drove away. "I heard that someone's birthday is today," Molly said. Carla laughed, "Hmm, I wonder who."
"This is for you," Molly said, handing Carla the necklace. Carla showed Molly the paper. "I guess I gave it to you at the right time," she said, smiling. "Thanks Molly," said Carla.
Two weeks after that hectic night, Molly was on the phone with Carla. "Heather is staying with a friend in London, but that's not my biggest news," said Molly.
"Oh! What is it tell me!?" Carla said.
"Last night Larry and I were on a date and, well, he asked me to marry him! Oh! It was magical!"
Over the next year, wedding preparations were made and they had a small simple wedding. Grace really enjoyed being the flower girl.
"Grace, you can now call Molly and me, 'Mom' and 'Dad,'" said Larry.
"Ok, Mr. E-, um, I mean Dad," she said, smiling. That was the first time Larry had really seen Grace smile.
That fall Carla went off to college and Grace started school and made friends. Grace also found out how much she enjoyed slumber parties. Carla and Grace got their biggest surprise when they found out, Molly was going to have a baby boy.