Recondite {Malia Tate}

13: New Jewelry and New Pictures

"Charlie, I have something for you!"

Charlie gasped awake, his head snapping up from his laptop. His fingers traced over his cheek as he felt the indention's of the keys stamped into his, most likely flushed, skin.

Must've fallen asleep while reading. Charlie thought to himself, closing his laptop to stand to his feet.

"Charlie!" His aunt called again.

"I'm coming!" He whined, stumbling from his room to trek downstairs to the kitchen.

As he walked through the kitchen to the fridge, he gave his aunt a curious glance as she fiddled with something in her hands, "What's that?" He wondered nosily, grabbing the milk to pour himself a glass.

As he sat the milk down, finding himself a glass, his aunt turned towards him, leaning against the kitchen counter as she took a deep breath, "It's a necklace your mother wanted me to give you," she answered tensely.

Charlie's movements slowed as he hesitated, "A necklace?" He asked, finishing pouring his milk before putting the gallon in back in the fridge, turning to look at his aunt, leaning against the counter opposite of her.

Sophie took in a breath, closing her eyes momentarily before reopening them, pupils dilating as the light caught them, "I thought it'd be a little too morbid, but your mom wanted it to be this way."

Charlie gave his aunt an odd look, "What're you talking about? It's just a necklace," he said, sipping his glass of milk.

Sophie sighed, pulling the necklace from her pocket, holding it in front of Charlie's face. Charlie gave his eyes the small second to focus before he began analyzing the most unique necklace he'd ever seen before. He felt drawn to it as his eyes raked over the silver design, a simple pair or thick wings with an intricate pattern of feathers carved into the jewelry.

His fingers hesitated over the cool metal, his eyes flickering to his aunt before he fully clasped the necklace in his hand, pulling it from his aunt's fingers to feel the indentations of the design.

"It's a pair of wings," Charlie concluded.

He didn't know the relevance of the wings, but he knew that he thought they were beautiful. They seemed to catch the light at every angle as the charm was held by a thicker chain; a more boyish chain. Charlie felt another string of lines on the other side of the wings, he flipped the charm over, seeing small words curved into the metal.

" 'From the ashes of my past shall come the birth of my future'?" Charlie read, "What's that mean?" He looked up to his aunt.

Sophie's eyes teared up and she quickly turned away from Charlie to fiddle with the counter decor behind her. She swept a finger under her nose as the subtle hint of it beginning to run came to her senses. She said nothing to Charlie, deciding to calm herself first. She coughed into her hand, taking her calloused fingers through her coppery hair, taking one last deep breath before turning back around.

"It means that since you don't know what that means, you haven't done as much research as I thought you would," Sophie said, handing Charlie his medication.

Charlie gave Sophie an odd look as he swallowed his pills, "I actually stayed up past my curfew," he said proudly. "Yeah, that's right, I broke curfew."

His aunt gasped, "No," she mocked, cleaning her empty cereal bowl before placing it in the sink. "Oh, God, my nephews a rebel," she cried absurdly.

Charlie set his features in a look of annoyance as he took it upon himself to clasp the necklace around his neck, the charm lying directly under his semi-prominent collarbone.