Now I am uploading the story more frequently, one or two chapters every day. They say stories need a 'baddie' and here, she is invisible. She has her eyes on Olivia's magical pendant. We get to meet her later in the story. And there's good news too. Olivia's dad is able to come home early. Things seem to be getting better... but are they?
Through the trees, the lights of the streets and the houses down on the plain were getting brighter, and there was a faint bluish mist that was turning to black.
“Goodness, what time is it?” said Olivia, looking at her phone. It was well after six. “Come on Jessie!”
The dog stood on all fours, and Olivia got up on her feet, still clinging to the pendant in her right hand, and holding the beautiful fresh, fragrant red rose in the other. The two made their way through the trees and bushes back to the footpath, and then on to the jeep.
Olivia drove down into the village. There was a free space in front of the florists, so she parked there. She turned to Jessie in the back, stroked the soft fur on her head and told her she wouldn’t be long. She took the rose with her into the shop, called the assistant, and asked her if she had any that were similar. The assistant pointed at some bunches, and Olivia picked out two red roses.
Olivia felt intense excitement and pleasure at being able to smell any flower in the shop without worrying about an allergic reaction, such as sneezing or swelling of the eyes. She sampled each one in turn, breathing in deeply each time.
Even the Stargazer lilies caused no reaction. She felt the deep satisfaction of a person who had been cured.
She paid for the two roses, returned to the jeep, placed all three flowers on the seat next to her and drove home.
When they arrived back, Liz was upstairs vacuuming the landing. Olivia found a glass vase from the kitchen cupboard and popped the three red roses into it.
Jessie got back into her basket and waited. She knew that Liz would come downstairs soon to feed her.
With a new sense of purpose and determination, Olivia bounded up the spiral staircase, into her bedroom and got out her schoolbooks.
Later in the evening, Liz went into the kitchen and noticed the vase with fresh roses.
“Ah, you bought some roses, how lovely!” she said
“Yes, from the flower shop in the village,” said Olivia walking up to the window.
“And why three?”
“One for dad, one for me and one for you,” she said, pulling out the one Esther had brought back to life.
Liz took the rose and breathed in the scent.
“Mmm, they’re beautiful aren’t they? But what about your allergy?”
“Oh,” said Olivia looking away, “I don’t know, it seems to have gone.”
“I think you must have grown out of it, darling.”
“Yes, that’s right, I’ve grown out of it,” she replied, breathing a sigh of relief.
“We’ll need to keep them topped up with water,” said Liz, putting the rose back with the others. She arranged them nicely and put the vase carefully back on the window ledge.
“Oh,” said Liz, “Dad called before, there’s good news. He’s able to come back earlier than he thought. He’ll be back on Sunday. It seems the project is winding down now. He’ll need to fly out one more time before Easter, then he’s signed off and it’s all complete.”
Olivia nodded and felt a sense of relief. Things were becoming less stressful, problems were fading, life seemed to be improving.
Later that evening, in her bedroom, she got out the pendant and looked at it again. She studied its gleaming, shiny silver base, and the luminous green of the smooth, oval-shaped stone. The experience of seeing its hidden powers unleashed was exciting and emotional and she was still affected by it. Though now it was ‘dormant’ again, she knew the power was real and was sure that it would soon start to work for her in a positive way.
Yes, her mother had told her not to take it into school, but if she could understand just what it could do, Olivia felt certain she wouldn’t object. She couldn’t possibly tell her mum of course. This was a secret and it had to remain a secret, in order for the pendant to have its maximum power.
It was unlikely Liz would ask for it back straight away. Olivia knew her mother was rather forgetful, always busy with countless things. And Olivia would of course take great care of it.
She thought about how she would keep it out of sight. In her drawer she found a pencil case she’d not used for a while. The lining was torn, and she put it in there. She popped the case into her bag, which she kept next to her.
For the next meeting with Esther, Olivia decided she would try to be better prepared and would to fulfil her request in the best possible way. Esther had asked for an apple, and Olivia wondered what the reason for that was. If it was possible to pick an apple directly from a tree, that would be much better than just buying one at the supermarket.
There was an apple tree in the garden, but it wasn’t the season yet. She felt she wanted to bring the best and most special apple she could find. She would need to have a think about it.
The next morning, Thursday, 23rd February, Olivia took the jeep into school as Liz wasn’t planning to go out anywhere.
She went into her first class with a sense of confidence and expectation. The class went well and she answered most questions correctly. And it was the same story the following day.
At lunchtime she went into one of the cubicles in the girls toilets and got out the pendant. It was like a friend, always there, glinting in the light, radiating warmth and reassurance. She replaced it and carefully closed the zip of the pencil case.
The Art lesson went well too. She was careful to keep her bag close to her at all times. As she drove the short distance home, she thought she must be bound for success, if things continued to go like this, and they did. That evening she spent a lot of time on her homework.
Friday was a good day and she felt it had been a great week. Now that her performance was improving and she was enjoying her studies more, she was taking more time on homework, and was actually quite enjoying it. She handed her work in to Miss Lee. As she flicked through the well-presented piece of Chemistry homework with neat handwriting and diagrams, she seemed to be overjoyed at the high standard of Olivia’s work.
“Wow Olivia, this is amazing. And it’s all your own work isn’t it? I mean you wrote it yourself, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t copy it off the internet, if that’s what you are thinking!”
“No no, of course I didn’t mean that. It’s just that students need to be careful nowadays. Universities are always on the lookout for plagiarism.”
“Yes, Miss, I know about all that. I have a private tutor and he has told me how some students copy their essays from the internet.”
“Oh, you’ve got a private tutor? You never mentioned that! So he’s a student? Just doing a bit of tutoring to earn some extra money?”
“Well actually, he is a very distinguished university professor, very well respected and he goes all kinds of conferences and things all over the world.”
Miss Lee was clearly impressed, but surprised that a busy university professor was giving private lessons.
“He knows my mum’s friend,” said Olivia, “who’s also a professor, and he’s doing it as a favour. My mum pays him of course.”
“Hmmm,” said Miss Lee, “there are some teachers who say extra lessons shouldn’t be necessary and might do more harm than good, but I prefer to keep an open mind.”
Olivia nodded and Miss Lee continued with the lesson.
Whilst teachers and some friends were encouraging, there were others who were of the opinion that Olivia’s academic improvement was not something to be proud of. Where previously some called her ‘weird’, or maybe ‘nerd’, now it was the word used by many British school students to describe their more eager and hard-working classmates: “Swot!”
Perhaps if she’d been younger and more impressionable, being called a ‘swot’ might have had a negative effect, but now she ignored it. She was determined to succeed and she simply didn’t care if there were some who didn’t like it.
It was difficult to say who the negative thinkers were, the jealous and resentful ones, or simply those that preferred to waste their time and criticise those who didn’t do the same as them.
There were whispered comments, glances, hidden, prying eyes.
They noticed how much Olivia had changed in a few short months. They wondered how she had done it. Maybe they resented the fact that Olivia’s family could afford to pay for private tuition, although that shouldn’t have been an issue. This was quite an affluent district.
Maybe they considered Olivia to be an arrogant little madam, who needed to be brought down a peg or two, who needed to be ‘taught a lesson’.
Those hidden eyes noticed how Olivia always kept that pencil case close to her, and how she would occasionally look inside it. And then looking even more closely, they glimpsed something shiny, something that looked like jewellery, a piece of expensive jewellery, and then its owner would quickly close the zip, replace it carefully in her bag. As her great aunt had said, the pendant was so mesmerising, no eyes that had seen it would ever forget it, and this pair of eyes was no different.
Olivia had now gained in self-confidence. While previously she might have avoided going to the supermarket where Ben worked, now she decided she would call in there.
As she entered she saw he was at his usual place at the till. He noticed her immediately.
She went up to the floral section next to the entrance, looking at the various flowers and trying their fragrance. It was such a fabulous feeling to be cured of her allergy. She couldn’t resist buying a bunch of lilies, she loved the scent.
From the fridge, she picked some sparkling mineral water and a mixed fruit pack and walked confidently up to the till.
Ben looked down at the floor and then at her.
“Flowers?” he said.
“Yes, for the house. I’ve been cured of my allergy now. Sorry about before.”
She held the lilies to her face and breathed in deeply.
Ben took the items and the money and handed them to her. Glancing at him, she gave a little wave and walked off. When she had left the supermarket Ben looked over at his blond haired colleague.
“Girls!” he said, shaking his head, “You never know what’s going on in their minds!”
He smiled back at Ben and prepared to serve the next customer.
On Sunday, Olivia’s Dad was returning on the early evening flight from Amsterdam as usual. Mother and daughter arrived early and parked on the top level of Terminal 3 car park. In the distance the lights of the planes were visible in the dark sky over the hills. Dennis was on board one of those planes, and in a few minutes it had landed. They didn’t wait long in the arrivals area before he emerged, as usual smartly dressed and pulling his suitcase on wheels. Olivia walked forward to hug him. Just twenty minutes later they were back home and enjoying their evening meal.
I have arrived on flights landing at Manchester Airport many times in the past and luckily I also live close by, but not in the district where Olivia and her family reside! Another update will follow tomorrow night. Please vote and comment. Thank you!