Eliza Twitchel & The Haunted Forest

Eliza Twitchel & The Haunted Forest--Chapter 3

                                Glowing Bracelets & Little Brown Men

Eliza sat up in bed, her back propped against a pillow, listening to crickets chirruping outside her window as she read her mother’s letter for the fourth time.  Across the room, Phoebe moaned softly as she slept, one arm wrapped around a doll with braided pigtails matching her own.

The letter made no more sense now than it did the first time she read it at Charlotte Graham’s house, after Charlotte presented her with the small black box containing her mother's bracelet. 

‘If you were in my world, there would have been a great celebration in your honor.  I would have presented you with your own heartstone.  Eliza had never heard of a heartstone before.  And her mother’s warning about people seeking her out because of what they thought she had--It had to be as Charlotte said: Her mother was delirious when she wrote the letter.   

Eliza Set the letter down and picked up her mother’s bracelet.  It was a thing of beauty: three inches wide, made of twining silver vines no thicker than thread, with tiny gold leaves of ash, rowan and hawthorn. The vines twined around a large, oval-shaped green gemstone that glistened in the lamp’s light.

Tears stung Eliza’s eyes.  She had never seen the bracelet apart from her mother’s wrist.  Though it was now hers, she would gladly trade it for the woman who had once worn it.

She glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand.  12:01 AM.  She was officially thirteen years old; the in-between age according to Charlotte Graham. Funny:  She didn’t feel any different--not that she expected fireworks but shouldn’t there be something? A sense of maturing or an imparting of wisdom that comes with age.

 At least she could put on her mother’s bracelet since it was officially her birthday.  She slipped it over her hand and around her wrist.  It hung loose, sliding up and down her thin arm with ease.  Not surprising; after all, it wasn't meant for her.  She’d have to grow into it or have it adjusted.

Before Eliza could remove the bracelet, it tightened around her wrist, fitting snugly as if made especially for her.  She turned her wrist over to find that the clasp was gone, replaced by twining vines.  She tugged on it but the bracelet wouldn’t budge.

‘Once you put the bracelet on, it can never be taken from you; only freely given.’

The green gemstone glowed bright, bathing the room in an eerie luminescence.  Eliza jumped out of bed, pulling on the bracelet while green light flashed around the room. 

"What are you doing?"

Eliza looked over to find Phoebe sitting up in bed, staring at her with sleepy eyes.  She hid the bracelet under her armpit.

"Nothing.  Go back to sleep, Phoebe.  You’re dreaming."

"I am?  Okay."  Phoebe closed her eyes and fell back onto her pillow, fast asleep.

Eliza looked at the bracelet.  The green gemstone’s light faded to a dull glow, then went out.  She tugged again on the bracelet.  It was no use.  The thing was on for good.

The room spun like a merry-go-round.  Her blood boiled as it raced through her veins.  Every inch of skin tingled as if pricked with electric needles.  If this was puberty, someone should’ve warned her.

Eliza stumbled out the room and down the hall to the kitchen.  Turning on the light, she went to the refrigerator and grabbed a pitcher of lemonade.  Batteries: that had to be it. There was one of those flat watch batteries inside the stone. Somehow, she must've switched it on.  Maybe it was voice-activated.