The Prostitute And The Player (Watty Awards 2011)

Chapter Twenty Two

With a sigh, I reluctantly bend down and disconnect the chain holding the memento in it’s place. “Well, after my mother’s death, it never left my wrist. After a while though, it got tiring looking at it everyday and thinking of her. Especially when it was only recent since her death. My teachers even pulled me aside a few times in elementary school, telling me that I always played with it instead of doing my work.”

Tears were beginning to leak down my cheeks. “Baby, you don’t have to-” I cut him off by kissing his lips gently.

I scratch at my tears. There was no reason Jake should feel bad about this. I knew he’d ask eventually, I just didn’t know when. “Yes, yes I do, Jake. Let me finish.” The wind whips my hair around as I stare at the ocean’s gentle waves splashing up against our feet.

“Okay,” I sigh. “Anyways, my dad used to get really angry and one night, he ripped the bracelet off of my wrist, broke it almost. After that, I pushed him down the stairs and ran off, never looking back until I realized my little brother was back there. He always kept me from leaving, you know, I wasn’t going to leave him with that damn monster. After that, I wore it on my ankle, but covered it up with socks or shoes constantly so he wouldn’t know…” I trail off, feeling like bawling.

You can do this Allie

, I tell myself.

“My mom would give me a charm every year on my birthday. The last one she gave me was on my seventh birthday thanks to chemo. She was too weak to even eat, how could she go out to the stores and buy me another one?” I scrunch up my knees as Jake trails kisses up and down my neck. That was his solid way of comforting me. Worked every time, reminded me someone cared about me.

“Wow. You don’t have to finish. I can see how much it hurts you, Allie.” He rocked me back and forth as I continue to cry.

“No, I’m finishing!” I grit my teeth together, determined to tell someone, anyone. “I’ve never trusted anyone in my life enough to tell them the whole story and what each charm meant, so here’s my chance. Okay, the first one right here,” I point down to a baby’s pacifire. “My mother had this plan kept up even before I’d been born. She gave me that on my third birthday.”

Jake chuckled at that. “And this one?” I point to the second one in the line of precious, meaningful, charms. “This one was for my first day of first grade when I was so excited I tripped down the stairs on my shoelaces and broke my arm.” It was an arm flexing it’s biceps. “It was a symbol to show how strong I was.”

Jake is just watching contently, a look of interest in his eyes. “Keep going.” He rests his chin in one of his palms, stroking the back of my neck, playing with random strands of my hair.

“That one,” pointing to the fourth one, “that one is a shoe because the very same night I learned how to tie my shoes.” I blushed a red color.

“This one, the fifth one, well…” It was sort of an embarrassing one. It was one with a pair of scissors. “One day, when I was playing barber shop with all of my little stuffed animals, I decided to try the new thing out on myself and cut off one whole side of my hair!” A small, weak laugh escapes my lips. “Mom was mad at me for weeks!” Laughter roared.

“The sixth one, is a sad face because she discovered she was diagnosed with the cancer and had to stay at the hospital all the time. Or lay around at home constantly, which prevented me from participating in any kind of sport.” I smile. “Yes, at one time I’d wanted to play basketball. I was completely obsessed.” Jake laughed at the thought, you could see he found it amusing.

“The last one,” I lick my dry lips from the salt water, and let tears drip relentlessly down my face. “Is half of a heart broken in half.” Now sobs were choking me and they just came out, but Jake understood, his eyebrows knitted in concentration. “My mom left it to me on my nightside table because she knew she was gonna die the next day. Doctors said she probably waddled for four hours with that IV bag just to give it to me. I put it on the charm bracelet and there was a note. It said,” I close my eyes, remembering every word.