The Necklace- Short Story

                                                                   The Necklace

It was Saturday afternoon and Anna was getting ready, in her bedroom, to go to her friend Lisa’s birthday sleepover with a couple of other girls from her class at school.

“That necklace that mother got yesterday for her birthday.” Anna thought to herself, “would go perfectly with my dress.”

Anna tiptoed to her parents’ bedroom and opened her mother’s jewelry case. Inside was her mother’s new necklace. Anna gently picked up the treasure and quickly hurried back to her bedroom before anyone could catch her.

At the party Anna got plenty of comments on her necklace and she loved being able to show it off to all her friends. The party was a great hit and the girls had fun playing scrabble and playing in Lisa’s garden.

That evening while the girls were watching a movie Anna realized that she wasn’t wearing the necklace. Her face turned pale and she felt sick. A picture of her mother’s face, when she unwrapped the necklace that she had been eyeing  for months, came to Anna’s mind and she wished she hadn’t taken the precious item now. What would her parents say when she told them that she had lost it?

“Lisa!” Anna whispered, panic stricken.

“What is it?” Lisa asked, not taking her eyes of the screen.

“My necklace…. it’s gone!” Anna spluttered, tears now coming to her eyes.

“It can’t be lost. Let’s look for it after the film.” Lisa said.

Anna couldn’t concentrate throughout the rest of the film. Images of her mum’s face when she told her about the necklace filled Anna’s mind and she couldn’t think about anything else.

After the film was over the girls looked around the living room but they couldn’t find the necklace anywhere. Anna didn’t know what to do. She felt like curling herself up into a ball and just cry.

“You’ll just have to tell your mum the truth.” Lisa said, as the girls got ready for bed and into their sleeping bags.

“She’ll never forgive me.” Anna said, trying her best to stop herself from crying.

Anna couldn’t get to sleep that night. She tossed and turned but all she could think about was the necklace and her mum’s overjoyed expression when she unwrapped the necklace.

The next morning the girls looked for Anna’s necklace around the house, but they couldn’t find it anywhere. Anna packed her bags with a heavy heart, puzzling over in her mind how she would tell her mum about taking the necklace and loosing it at Lisa’s house.

Anna walked home slowly not wanting to get home and have to tell her mum what she had done. Maybe her mum wouldn’t notice it was gone or might forget about the necklace. Anna sighed and shook her head. Her mum had been so excited to receive that piece of jewelry and before that she had been eyeing it in the Women’s Weekly Magazine. She would be sure to notice it was missing sooner or later.

When Anna arrived home she went to look for her mum and found her in the kitchen getting lunch ready but she couldn’t make herself tell her mum that she had taken the necklace and had lost it at Lisa’s house.

That afternoon when Anna and her family were just finishing of lunch there was a knock on the front door. Anna’s mum got up to answer it and was surprised to see Lisa at the door.

“I’m sorry to bother you but Anna left something at my house and I wanted to give it back to her.” Lisa said awkwardly, knowing that Anna had probably not told her mum about the necklace.

Anna was at the door as soon as she knew it was Lisa.

“Did you find you know what?” Anna asked.

“Yep, it was in my garden. It must have slipped off when we were playing hide and seek.” Lisa said.

Lisa took a small package out of her bag and handed it to Anna but her mum saw it and wanted to know what it was.

Anna turned pale when her mum discovered that the small package contained the necklace.

“Anna, why does Lisa have this?” Anna’s mum asked, sternly.

“I’m sorry, mum. I really like the necklace and I have no nice jewlerry and I wanted to wear it for the party so I took it. But I lost it and Lisa found it and brought it back. I’m sorry I took it.” Anna blurted out.

“I hope you have learned that you should never take things that aren’t yours without asking.” Anna’s mum said.

“Yes, mum. I’m sorry.” Anna said, and she gave her mum a big hug.

The End