Bejeweled Maiden

Tall and Skinny Stranger

"Kurisutaru? Can you come down for breakfast?" "Yeah, I'm coming" I looked at myself in the mirror, I brushed out my hair and put on my favorite colorful outfit for school, and slid down the railing of the stairs to get to the kitchen "Hey, rainbow, you ready for school?" my older sister, Candice said. She is actually deaf and her best friend is named Emika, she is mute...anyway, Candice calls me that because when I was born, my mom dyed my hair rainbow so that I would feel unique when I got older, and I do wear a lot of colorful clothes and jewelry. "ye-mmmmm!" I manage to mumble out as I stuff the waffle in my mouth. I love waffles! I used to eat them all the time when I was younger, my mom made them a lot but... she has gotten a lot busier now. And a little crazier now. She just seems so different. After my dad left, things changed. I don't even remember my dad. He just makes me kind of mad, I don't have a father figure in my life and it's all his fault! He tells us in his letters that he loves us, but if he loves us... Why doesn't he come home?Anyway...Once we were at the mall and she...uh...overreacted.......A LOT........ There was this shirt she wanted to buy and this woman was helping her and all she said was "Oh you might want to take off your diamond necklace with the cut of the shirt." and she reached for the clasp of the necklace and my mom slapped her and said "DON'T TOUCH THIS!!!" My dad gave it to her, it's not like he is dead or anything, he is just on a lot of business trips. I walked out the door and I was greeted by a tall skinny man. He looked like a sales person "Hello, is your guardian home?" he looked at me with a cold expression "Yes." I mumbled. He smiled revealing his bad breath smelling of smoke and wine "May I speak with her?" he sneers. "Actually... Wait how-" "This is quite urgent!" his expression turned to one of frustration. "But you can't-" he slapped me and grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up. I screamed. My mother ran to me and kicked the man in the shins, as he dropped me she ordered me to get in the house. My mom opened her mouth to yell at the man but she just stood there looking at him her jaw dropped. The man had no expression as he composed himself but then he spoke "I have soldier 4581 here, he has finished." a shorter man wearing a business suit walked in the door. As the tall man closed the door the man in the suit grabbed my mother, I ran after her to try and save her but... she was smiling, she burst into tears of joy? The man wasn't even trying to harm her at all, they were hugging? The man kisses my mom and he puts her down "Where are my babies?" My mom motion us over, and me and my sister walk up to this strange man "Girls, this is your father." Our faces light up and I jumped into his arms and my sister jumped on his back, I have never met my father, well I was very little when I did. So I have only heard from him in letters during the times that I could actually read. My dad is finally home. I went to school that day with a smile on my face and a skip in my step, at lunch I met with my friend group, their names are Beebee, Andrew, Brant, Emma, Fi, and Amy. Well at least that's what everyone else calls them. My boyfriend was there too, his name is Vincent. We started dating when I got to my sophomore year graduation and we have been dating ever since. He is so sweet and the gang seems to like him. They all call me Taru. "Guys! Guys! guess what?! I met my actual father this morning!" Beebee, being very shy, gave me the biggest smile I have ever seen while Andrew was so happy that he ran all the way around the table avoiding Brant, exploding with energy jumping all over Emma and Fi to the point where I could barely hear Amy asking me all these questions about it. Vincent hugged me and spun me around and kissed my cheek "Oh my gosh! Taru that's awesome!" "Wait! calm down guys!" I got them all seated at our lunch table and explained everything, I had completely forgot about the scary man who choked me. When we finished our food we went to the vending machines, we hang out after school so we need to bring food. I was walking and some guy walked up to me and said "Hey Taru! Where's your pot of gold under all that hair!" I have learned to ignore things like that... But it still hurts. I mean when half the school calls you Taru the leprechaun because of your colorful hair, it gets to you after a while. "Hey," Vincent wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close "Don't worry about them I think your hair is pretty." I wanted to ask my mom about it but when I told my friends they gave me the impression that she was doing her best to make me feel unique and it might offend her. When I got home, the scary man was there to greet me on my front lawn, he stopped me before I reached the front steps. He grinned showing his teeth that were not very clean, I gave him a small smile just to be polite but then suddenly he pinned me on the ground and took a knife out of his bag. I fought but in doing so he resisted by scraping my body across the concrete and skinning my elbow. He smiled and put the knife away and let the blood from my elbow drip into a vile. He mumbled something and then ran in the house, my mom saw me on the floor and him. My dad ran after him and the man tripped cracking the vile on the floor, I ran to my sister and watched as the police took the man away. We saw my blood in a small puddle dripping threw the floorboards, My mom suddenly gasped, grabbed us and ran us out the door. I saw the floorboards leak out a shining bright light. They opened and I saw a big patch of holes in the floor and they all are shaped like jewels about eight of them. I look at mother and a tear streams down her face. "It's happening... it's...it's..." She looked at my face which I felt was at white as a ghost and she whispered "The blood of the gardian has opened the seal" then she buried her face in her hands and started crying. "Mom, I'm so confused...What's going on?" I was about to cry, she slowly stands up and beckons me to go to the place where the jewel spaces were spread out and she took a slow, deep breath and spoke "Taru, I didn't dye your hair when you were born, in fact, I didn't even physically give birth to you, that is how you came" she sighs and begins again "When your father proposed to me, I didn't understand what I had gotten into until after we got you. Exactly 1 year later that same man came to our door. He whispered something in your fathers ear and your father looked at me and slowly walked away and he followed the man outside, we rarely ever saw him, only through letters, and even those he rarely sent. He never told us why he left and I never saw that strange man until today. He wants the gems, but he doesn't know that these gems have been placed inside people, Kurisutaru Evans, you are not just an average girl you are the next generation, guardian of the spirit gems.