Each day Annabelle followed the same routine. She got up, got dressed, got to school, got on a bus, and got home in time to make her parents dinner. Most believed she lived a blessed life because she never dealt with fear, hunger, or abuse. However, Annabelle wanted more. So while her parents slept, Annabelle got on her knees and prayed for liberation.
Fortunately for Annabelle, prayers of the good-hearted often get answered. On her graduation day, a lawyer called her from Texas where her Aunt Milly lived. Sadly, her Aunt had passed away earlier in the week. The lawyer asked Annabelle to fly to Texas to sort through her Aunt’s possessions. Dutifully, she obeyed.
As Annabelle went through Milly’s things, she found a box filled with photographs, diaries and an envelope that rattled. Intrigued, Annabelle sorted the contents of the box into piles. She sat amazed at all the exotic and fantastic places her Aunt had been to like the Great Pyramids of Egypt and the Mayan Ruins. Soon she found herself reading diaries which detailed each of the trips her Aunt had taken in detail. Lastly, Annabelle opened the envelope. Inside it sat a small note and a silver pendant of a man walking with a child on his back. The note read:
Annabelle,
This is St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers. He has walked with me and encouraged me through all my adventures. I left him so that you might take him with you on your travels. May he protect you on your adventures, which I am sure will be filled with love, passion, and excitement.
Love,
Milly
Tears fell from Annabelle’s cheeks as she placed the saint around her own neck. One thing was for certain, she would never go back to that life again.
I liked this post the best of all my posts because it is a story that I would personally enjoy reading. The St. Christopher necklace had such an uplifting and life-changing effect on Annabelle which I believe really showed "good magic" at play in the world.
ReplyDeleteGood piece, and glad you feel connected to it. I think one question I'd have is how, despite being so beholden to them over the years, Annabelle is able to get away from her parents so easy at the most convenient time. The narrator's editorial comment about "the prayers of the good-hearted" also rattles the reader a bit. While it's certainly fine for chance and coincidence, even divine intervention, to play a role in shaping characters' lives, when a character is in a dire situation--as Annabelle seems to be--it can feel a little easy to let them out of it without losing something, without some struggle. So, in a revision, I might think about how to make Annabelle's transformation, her delivery, a bit more difficult, maybe part of a tougher decision than it seems currently.
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