“Here you are, my child,” said Cleo as she held up what appeared to be an ornate looking silver locket. “This belonged to a grand duchess in old Russia almost a hundred and fifty years ago or so. An ancestor of yours, perhaps?”
“Hah,” you said, accepting the item in the palm of your hand. “I don’t know about that. Pretty sure we have an Irish heritage. You know, back in the day when people were coming over for a better life in America.”
“My boy, all sorts came to the new land of opportunity in search of a better life. Some had to give up everything they had to escape certain death in their motherland. Who’s to say who intermingled with whom in the literal melting pot of culture? It was certainly an interesting time.”
Cleo spoke as if she had been there herself as her eyes glazed over for a moment, the same way your mother would whenever you asked her about dad. Lost in memories. Cleo then smiled and shook her head, as if abandoning such thoughts and returning to the present.
“This locket was once a family heirloom that the grand duchess had to pawn off in order to buy herself safe passage to the new land. She had been separated from her family, you see. The common folk had chased them out after accusing them to be a coven of witches in league with Baba Yaga.”
“Hah,” you said, holding up the locket. “It’s silly to think that people could really believe stuff like that back then.”
“Indeed. Baga Yaga had left for the new world centuries prior. But that is a story for another day. If you seek a job in my shop, I ask that you hold onto that locket and wear it for one week, starting tonight when you get home..”
“A week?” you said. “Are you sure? I mean, it sounds pretty expensive as an heirloom and…”
“I’m quite sure,” she finished with a coy smile. “I suspect what’s to follow will take a week to resolve. If you can manage it, then you are more than worthy of becoming my assistant.”
Now the woman was talking in riddles. But you felt a strange calling to the locket that you couldn’t explain. It was for that reason alone that you accepted the item and tucked it into your pocket.
“Alrighty,” you said. “Now do you mind pointing me in the direction of Summer Street?”
She just laughed. “Certainly, my child…”
~
You got home with little issue after that. Your mom had wondered where you had gone but got off your back when you mentioned the prospect of interviewing for a summer job. After that, the day continued as was average. You hung out and played video games, had dinner while enjoying the silent treatment going on between your mother and sister, and then you showered to get ready for bed.
All the while though, you never forgot the strange woman’s words to you and kept the locket at your nightstand.
It was after your shower that you approached the thing.
“Right then,” you said, standing in nothing but a towel and dripping wet. “She said wear it at night when I got home and it’s night, so…”
You put it around your neck and…
Nothing.
You could half laugh at yourself for expecting something to happen. The woman was just a little weird, was all. Like she could see five steps into the future. But she was clearly just off her rocker. She acted twice her age when she looked over thirty. Clearly she must have been a little out there and it had rubbed you the wrong way. You fiddled with the locket for a moment, lost in thought.
That was when you realized that it actually had a button at the top to press. Curiosity overcame you and you pressed it without a second thought.
“Hello,” you said. “And who might you be?”
Inside was an old picture like something from a museum when cameras had just been invented. It was a photo of a rather large woman with a big chest to boot. You took special note of that because you had never seen someone from that time period show so much skin. She looked noble, dressed in pearls and silks. You couldn’t tell the colors of things because the picture was black and white.
“I guess this is the duchess,” you spoke to yourself. “Odd. I don’t remember that button being on the locket before.”
That was only because the button would appear when someone was wearing the locket. Unbeknownst to you, opening it would trigger events that would start your campaign to become Cleo’s assistant in the shop. And change your life forever.
Exposing the photo to the world would cause you to...
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
