The Cursed Ring

Young nine-year-old Amon’s Grandma Odessa, meaning hidden or secret knowledge is going to die soon, probably within a few days. Their daughter, Sara, kept her home so she could die at home instead of a hospice ward because that was Grandma Odessa’s wish. Her mother’s death was going to be hard on her, and she thought about how she was going to be strong for Amon on top of her grief. Odessa and Sara’s relationship had always been a close one. Her dad died a few years ago, but they were not as close with each other than the relationship between Sara and her mom, so this one was going to be tough.

 One night when Sara was finishing washing the dinner dishes, young Amon went into his grandma’s room to visit his grandma. This was the first time he would ever see someone die. “Hi Grandma,” Amon said, “how are you?” Odessa looked at her grandma with a contemplative expression on her face. “Come here, dear, I have something to give you. Open the drawer beside my bed, this here,” she said pointing to an antique nightstand. Nobody was allowed to look in grandma’s nightstand, and he had always wondered why. “But…” he started to say. “Just open it dear.” she insisted. He opened the drawer and saw a locked box inside it. “What is this?” he asked. “The key is in the jar with all of my rings in it,” she said, “find the key and come unlock the box.”

Amon dumped out all the rings from the jar to look for the key, once he found it, he brought it to his grandma. “You open it,” he handed it to her, but she pushed his hand away and said, “No, it is yours to open.” she said. Amon was confused, but he did what his grandma said and put the key in the whole of the lock. Before he turned the key he asked, “Is it something scary inside?” “Only you can decide,” she answered. Amon was confused but slowly turned the key. When he opened it, there was another ring inside. “Why is this ring all by itself?” he asked curiously. “Because it carries a powerful curse.”

Amon quickly started to put the ring back into the box. “No, you must keep it. It contains power to make any wish come true, but it comes with a price, and only you can decide if you want to risk what that price is,” she said cautiously, “or you can destroy it. It’s up to you.” His grandmother had hoped that her intuition of Amon was correct, and that he had a good enough heart to resist the curse and destroy it. When she obtained the ring from a pawn shop, it took great strength to fight the curse that she experienced. She thought Amon had a pure enough conscience to resist and destroy the ring.

“Amon, it’s time for bed,” Sara came in saying. He stared at the ring thinking hard. “Amon…” Sara started to repeat herself. “Amon snapped out of it. “Okay Mom,” and he took one more look at his grandma, not realizing it was going to be his last look at his grandmother, and walked out the room, went to his bed, put the ring on his nightstand and got into bed. With his hands behind his head lying down, he stared up at the ceiling thinking hard. He knew what he always wished for was that he could get rid of all the bullies he had to deal with at school. He knew the difference between right and wrong to some degree, but not to the degree that his grandma hoped for. He was conflicted and distressed over what he wanted to do.

Amon was a loner, and horribly terrorized by the other kids. He always thought that there must be something wrong with him to deserve such abuse. He had terribly bad self-esteem, and he wanted so badly to have a friend, even just one, but even didn’t have one. He recalled being thrown into garbage cans, being tripped in the hallways, being shoved, not being allowed into the bathroom so long that he wet his pants, and the kids would all laugh at him. Then he thought about the ring. “If it can give me one wish that I have, I would wish that all those bullies could be punished or turn to ashes. Then I would finally be happy, not feel so sad, and maybe show how cool I am. He remembered what grandma said, that his wish would come true at a price. He couldn’t think about a price that would be worse than what he was experiencing at school. As he thought about how he was treated, his fear and self-hatred inside, a slight smile came on his face. “I could be cool,” he thought hopefully. With both fear and hope of what could happen, he knew he had to make a choice. Was he going to destroy the ring, and forever live with rejection and fear; or would he make his wish and destroy all the bullies. He knew what he wanted to do.

So, he grabbed the ring off the nightstand and held it in his hand and said out loud, “I wish that you would give me the power to make all the bullies at school turn to ashes.” Sara came to the door and asked, “Is your teeth brushed?” He quickly put the ring back on the nightstand.  “Yes, Mom,” he said sarcastically. That was a lie. He had never lied like that, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was getting to school and seeing all the bullies turn to ashes. “What’s wrong, Amon?” she asked because she was shocked at his tone. Sara knew that Amon was never sarcastic or rude to her. The look on Amon’s face was a look that she had never seen before. Her son was almost perfect, almost too perfect, in fact. So, this was odd. “Nothing, just let me get some sleep! This was not like Amon, but she was a bit happy to see that Amon was not perfect. A 100% perfect son had not been normal. Sara turned out his light, and kept the door cracked open because Amon feared the dark. “No! Close the door, I don’t need the light anymore!” he shouted. “Okay, okay, you don’t need to yell,” she then asked, “Are you sure nothing is wrong, Amon?” Irritated, Amon answered, “yes, Mom. Good night,” he said. “Good night,” as she closed the door. “Tomorrow was going to be a great day,” he thought.

Sara was concerned about this sudden change in behavior in her son. He has never yelled at his mom, and knew that just the night before, he was still afraid of the dark. She went back into her mother’s room and sat next to her. “Did something happen in here with Amon?” she asked, “He isn’t behaving like his normal self. He seems…angry.” Odessa looked at her daughter and said, “It’s normal for children to get angry sometimes, especially when their grandma is about to die. “He yelled at me. He has never yelled at me before.” Odessa kind of chuckled. “Maybe he is a normal nine-year-old boy, after all?” she asked.  “Yeah, I guess it is foolish to believe that Amon is perfect,” she answered.  Odessa said. “Take good care of him, Sara,” Odessa said. “Mom, don’t you say your goodbyes yet, you hear me? I still need you,” Sara said. “I don’t know how much longer I have Sara, so I want to say it before it is too late. “I promise I will take good care of him,” Sara said sadly.

When morning came, Sara climbed out of bed, went to the bathroom, and then went to check on her mom. She looked like she was sleeping, but had to be sure, when she got close to her, tears fell down her face. Odessa had passed away. She saw a note that she had written before she died. It read: “Dear Amon, know I always will love you.” and another note that read: “My dear daughter, know that everything will be okay.”

When Amon woke up, a cold and angry feeling swept through him. He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, brushed his hair, and peed. When he came out of the bathroom, he saw his mom crying outside of his grandma’s room. “What’s wrong Mom?” he asked. She walked to him and tried to give him a hug, but he stepped back. “Amon, grandma is in heaven now,” she said softly. Amon just stared at her. “What are you feeling, Amon?” she asked. “I want to see,” he said emotionlessly. He pushed past his mom and walked to the room and stood in the doorway. Sara walked up behind him and put her arms around him, but Amon pushed her arm off him. “She told him, “I know you are upset, Amon, but you don’t have to push me away. You don’t have to go to school today.”  Amon just stared at the dead body and after about a minute asked, “What’s for breakfast?”

Sara was shocked at his question. He was showing no emotion at all. This was not like her son. “Amon, do you understand that grandma is gone?” she asked. “Yes, but what is for breakfast?” Sara reasoned in her head that Amon was just in shock. That soon or later he would show some kind of emotion. That is what she hoped. “Just cereal today. I need to make some phone calls,” she responded. “Good,” he said, and went to the cupboard and got out frosted flakes, poured the cereal and milk in a bowl, and sat down at the table to eat. When Sara sat down at the table she said, “Grandma wrote this note for you,” as she pushed it over to him. He read the words, “Dear Amon, know that I will always love you.” He just stared at it for a second, and then finished his cereal, grabbed the note, crumbled it up, and threw it in the trash. Sara was so disturbed by his behavior but resisted the urge to get mad at him. This was only temporary. She remembered the note her mother wrote to her, “Everything is going to be okay,” she reminded herself.

Amon quickly put the bowl in the sink, went to his room and got dressed. He came out of his room and said, “I am going to the bus stop.” Sara kindly said, “Honey, you don’t have to go to school today. I know this is hard for you.”  “I want to go to school,” he said. “Don’t you think you need to rest and take it easy?” she asked. “This was a big thing that happened, Amon.” “I don’t care. I want to go to school,” he answered emotionlessly. Sara sighed, “Okay, but be careful and have a good day at school.”  It’s not as if Amon wanted to go to school, he just didn’t care. His heart felt cold as ice.  “Why did I not care about grandma dying?” he thought, but he didn’t entertain that thought for long. He knew something was different about himself, but he didn’t care. He walked out of the door and headed down the street to the bus stop.

When the bus came, and Amon got on the bus, some of the bullies were on the bus. They started laughing at him and calling him names. “Look, it’s the loser!” they pointed out. At first, he ignored it because he was used to it, and was disappointed that his wish didn’t work. He just looked to the ground and tried to make his way to the back of the bus where he usually sat alone. One of the bullies named Billy, put his foot out in the aisle, tripping him. He looked up at him from the floor in anger, filling his mind and emotions, then suddenly the Billy turned to ashes.

 The other kids screamed, and the bus driver had to pull over. They were all terrified, and the bus driver quickly came into the aisle. “What happened?” she said in terror. “Amon did it!” They all yelled pointing at him. “I didn’t even touch him!” he shouted, “I don’t know what happened.”  The bus driver said, “No, I didn’t see you touch him at all.” The kids were crying and screaming, as another girl said, “Amon did it somehow, I just know it!”  The bus driver was panicked and not able to think clearly. “I need…I need to…” she was stumbling over her words. Another child screamed, “Call the police!”

“Right,” she said. She didn’t know how she would explain it to the police. She knew they would think she was crazy. Amon ran to the back of the bus in shock. Another boy said, “You are a freak!” He stopped, “I didn’t even touch him!” He sat down alone on the back seat. Out of breath and freaked out. Then he remembered his wish. “It must have come true, “he thought to himself.”  Suddenly a slight smile came on his face. The kids all stared. “See, he is even smiling!” he heard one kid say. He suddenly got a serious and scared look on his face, and defended himself yelling, “No, I am not. I swear I didn’t do anything!”

The bus driver called the police, unsure of what she would say. “A student…a student just turned to ashes on my bus!” she said. “They what?” the officer asked. “He just disappeared!” she yelled. “Calm down, what is your location, and I will send someone out there.” She could hardly get her thoughts together, but answered, “On the corner of Broadway and 4^th. I know how this sounds, but you will see the ashes where he was sitting. The kids all say Amon Rodrigues did it, but I didn’t see him touch the kid.” “Have all the kids stay in their seats, and someone will be out there shortly,” he said while thinking what the heck was going on.

When officer Ryan got there, and his partner Kevin got there, they approached the bus. The bus driver opened the door. “Can we talk outside Ma’am?” officer Ryan asked. The bus driver got off the bus and was led enough distance from the bus that the kids couldn’t hear what they were talking about. “What did you do freak?” one boy asked. “I said I didn’t do anything! I didn’t even touch him. The kids all sat quietly, still in shock, for about five minutes when officer Ryan got on the bus. Officer Kevin was still talking to the bus driver.

The kids were all distressed.  “It’s okay kids, where was the boy who disappeared sitting?” he asked. They pointed to the seat. “Amon did it!” several of them yelled. “Okay, okay, we will talk to Amon soon. We are going to have to talk to all of you individually, so just sit quietly.”

The kids didn’t sit quietly. They all were frantically pointing to Amon, yelling things like, “Arrest him! He did it! He is a freak!” Amon was sitting quietly in his seat, listening to all the accusations, and becoming more and more distressed. He was just looking at his lap trying to ignore the kids. Everyone was making him angry. Tension was building up in his whole body, and his blood was rushing through his veins. The accusations kept coming, echoing over and over in his mind.

Officer Ryan was approaching him and both panic and rage surfaced. Amon wished he could disappear. He was glad that the kid was gone. He felt like he was powerful, and strong. He would never be bullied again. “Son, I need you to come with me now,” the officer said, “I need to talk to you privately.” Amon just sat there, looking at his lap. His thoughts were swirling around in his head. He needed to do something. He enjoyed his new power. He went from being a weak loner, to having the power to destroy people with his mind. He thought of all the times the other kids laughed at him, shoved him to the ground, tripped him, and threw him in dumpsters. He let the anger rise in him just thinking about it.

 His anger became rage. “No.” he said, still not looking at the officer. The other kids started shooting their insults again. “Yeah, go with him freak!” one kid said. Another one said, “You are going to pay, freak!” The officer reached out his hand. “Come on now, I just need to talk to you,” he said softly. Amon stood up and screamed as loud as he could, filled with rage and he felt like he was on fire. “No! Shut up! Just shut up!” he screamed. He looked at each person on the bus, and one by one they all turned to ash. Officer Kevin saw what was happening, pulled out his gun and quickly got on the bus, but Amon’s rage was like a machine gun, turning everyone to ashes, including officer Kevin. The bus driver saw everything and started to run, but she wasn’t fast enough, Amon was as fast as flash, and within seconds, she was turned to ashes.

He got off the bus and saw everyone who was around looking in fear and running. He craved the power he had. His rage fueled it. He was in control now. He knew he could never go home. He would miss his mom, but he enjoyed this new power more. He was so tired of being a loser, a nobody. Now he was somebody. Never everyone would fear him. He wouldn’t fear anyone. He smiled and was gone in a flash.