Believe it and you'll succeed - Mevynn
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This months Topic is...
A box is delivered that when opened, changes the life of the main character or anyone that is around him or her.
Deadline is January 31st, 2011 Midnight GMT
Any Genre
500 word minimum
I will be going with what is mentioned in the contest writing rules.
minimum of 500 words
any genera you want to use
pg-13
No plagiarizing
no multiple entries
Have some fun in writing your story.
One hour after school was done, Marie finally made it home, although the daily walk normally only took a quarter. Her mother
was cleaning the kitchen. Little Marie dropped her schoolbag on an upside down turned chair on the table and asked the usual
question, "Can I go see Grandma?" Normally her mother would reply, 'After your done your homework.' But seeing she was
cleaning she just said with a sigh, "Yeah, yeah, just make sure you're back in time for dinner."
And so the six-year old girl left and went to the house next door, entering the cottage-like building through the backdoor.
"Grandma, I'm back," the young girl said.
"Just in time to try out these cookies," came the reply from a silverwhite haired woman who was bending in front of the oven to
take out a plate with freshly baked chocolate cookies.
"Careful, they're going to be hot."
Marie's face brightened, just what she had expected. She grabbed a cookie from the plate and tossed it in the air a few times as
the warm cookie almost burned her hand.
She sat down on one of the wooden chairs and just watched how her grandma put another plate of unbaked cookies in the oven.
When her grandma finally faced Marie, the girl started to smile. There was a streak of flower or dough running over one of her
grandma's cheeks.
"So how was school today?"
Marie just shrugged and nibbled some more on the cookie, chewing it slowly.
Marie's grandmother knew Marie was being teased and laughed at at school. She looked at her granddaughter with her curled
red hair, freckles adorning the little childs face. Children were harsh these days towards each other. And she was the one who
Marie confided in, she was the one comforting her granddaughter while humming a peaceful and relaxing song. She'd been
humming that same song ever since Marie was born, first to calm her down when the little baby was crying, later on when little
Marie had been scared at nights because of certain nightmares or when she called out that there was a scary bear or some
other nasty creature hiding underneath the little girl's bed or in her wardrobe or behind the curtain. But now as Marie got older
she mainly hummed the song to herself, while baking or being busy in the kitchen.
"The teacher asked us today what we wanted to be when we grow up," Marie said while swallowing the remainder of the
chocolate cookie. Her grandmother kept quiet and sat down on the only rocking chair the kitchen held. There was a twinkle in
Marie's eyes as the girl continued, "I told her I wanted to be just like you, grandma. Do you think one day I'll succeed?"
Something passed in her grandmother's eyes, a flash, yet the girl was too young to realize what it meant. The next moment her
grandmother's eyes stood serious. "Believe it and you'll succeed, Marie. That's all that counts. If you really believe in something,
and you put all your efforts to reach whatever you want to, it will happen. Look at me, I always wanted to have a granddaughter
like you and look at you. You're a dream coming through. And that's cause I believed in it."
She looked up towards the clock that hung on the wall just above the kitchen sink. "Now why don't you go see your mother, she'll
be waiting with dinner already." When the girl left through the kitchen door, she heard her grandmother say, "And remember
believe it and you'll succeed Marie."
The next day, just like she had done the most days, Marie took a detour before returning home after school.
She stopped at the huge window of the ballerina school and watched how children of different ages warmed up at the bar
attached in front of the huge mirrors to start their next lesson. Two weeks after the beginning of the schoolyear Marie and her
mother had gone to the ballerina school but at the time Marie hadn't dared to take the step. Her classmates had been teasing
her from day one and she was scared that if they would find out she'd be going to the ballerina class they'd even make more fun
out of her. So she just gave up on the idea altogether.
Marie watched them for a minute or ten through the window, knowing she'd never be part of them, but suddenly a cold wind
passed by and it got a bit too chilly for Marie who quickly returned home.
This time her mother was sitting at the kitchen table, holding a handkerchief in her hand sniffing lightly as she looked up.
"Mammy? What's wrong? Can I go see Grandma?"
Her mother late out another sniff and reached out with her hand towards Marie. "Mammy?"
"Come here Marie." She took her daughter on her lap. "Grandma passed away last night. You know what that means?"
Marie just kept quiet, didn't say a word.
"It means Grandma fell asleep tonight and she won't wake up anymore. We're going to place her with other people so she can
sleep in peace and quietness," her mother continued as she stroke the girl's red hair. Marie didn't say a thing, tears forming in
her eyes, as she staid in the warm embrace of her mother arms.
The next couple of weeks were horrible for Marie. She was teased and laughed at in school like never before and this time she
could no longer go and see her grandmother for some comforting cookies or support. She even stopped her visites at the
ballerina school, as she has lost every interest in it.
At the beginning of the third week, when she came home from school, her mother was sitting at the kitchen table again.
"Mammy?" Marie let out with a sniff in her voice.
"Come here Marie." And her mother reached out with her left hand.
With some hesitation Marie approached her mother and put her small hand into her mother's hand.
"We have cleaned up Grandma's house and we've found something, we think you should have." Marie looked up and saw an
encouraging smile on her father's face.
He gave her a small carved wooden box. It was a bit higher than a sigar box, in front was a name tag in bronze attached to it.
Marie looked at the name tag and discovered she could actually read it, it was very much similar to her own name. The tag read:
Maria. Her Grandma's first name.
The carvings on the maroon coloured lid represented a branch entangled with roses, the branch and twigs continueing on the
sides of the box.
Marie gently placed the small box on the kitchen table and carefully opened the lid. As the lid opened a sweet melody filled the
kitchen air and Marie saw a small ballerina figure raising from somewhere inside the box. Because of some mechanism Marie
couldn't see, the ballerina made little circles inside the box while turning around her own axis.
The ballerina figurine was reflected by a small mirror, the size of the lid that was attached at the inside of the lid, some letters
were carved at the top of the mirror but Marie couldn't make them out.
Her eyes were filled with tears as she had recognised the melody the fragile music box was playing. It was the same melody her
Grandma always used to hum for her when she was babysitting Marie and put her at ease again if she thought a firebreathing
dragon was hidden underneath her bed.
She pointed towards the words encarved in the mirror, her father kneeled down beside her and softly read the words out loud:
'Believe it and you'll succeed.'
"This was a gift from your granddad to your grandmother as he returned safely from the war," he explained.
The next day for the first time since she started school that year, Marie replied to her classmates that teased her. First hesitantly
but hearing the melody in her mind, her voice was stronger and she felt stronger herself as her classmates hadn't expected her
ever to return the teasing to them.
After school, she asked her mother to come with her and they walked straight to the ballerina school where Mare got herself
enrolled for the classes.
And now twelve years later, Marie closed the music box. Each time before every performance, ever since she started touring
with the ballerina school, she locked herself up in her dressing room, no matter which city she was at and she used the last
minute before she had to go on stage to listen to the sweet song the music box was playing, remembering the last words her
grandmother had told her.
And she made herself the promess that one day when she would have grandchildren of her own, she would sing that exact
same song to them, teaching them the exact same thing Grandma had taught her: 'Believe it and you'll succeed'.