Gold

0: BEGINNINGS

BEGINNINGS

    A soft glow radiated out of the hut and into the cool, dark night. The fire inside casted flickering shadows on the walls and ground. A woman's cry pierced the still air. Inside the hut a man and a small boy gathered around the woman. Sweat poured down her face as she struggled to bring life into the world.

    "Come on Ava, you can do this." The man soothed. She gripped his hand tightly, her knuckles paling.

    "Is mama going to okay?" The boy asked his father.

    "Shhh!" The man silenced him. "Be still, Todd." The boy shifted away and turned his face. Suddenly the woman cried out, this time in even greater agony.

    "You're almost there, love, almost there. Breathe. Breathe. It'll be alright."

    Then there was a sudden moment of silence, almost as if the world was holding its breath, as if the world was waiting for something extraordinary. Then it exhaled, relieved, in the form of a baby's first cry. The man wrapped the infant up in a hand-woven blanket and looked down at it.

    "You've given us a girl, Ava, a beautiful, healthy girl." He handed the bundle to the woman. She held the child close to her chest.

    "Oh my..." She breathed. Through her exhaustion she managed to smile at her daughter who was now resting peacefully. "Cassia. Her name will be Cassia." The man gazed down at her.

    "Beautiful." He whispered. He then summoned his son. "Todd, would you like to meet your sister?" The boy nodded and crept over to his mother's side.

    "She's so tiny."

    The man smiled. "Yes, she it. But you were that small once too."

    The boy giggled as his mother reached down to touch the newborn. The infant wrapped her small hand around her finger. Within a second the woman cried out, this time not in pain but in shock. Where the baby's hand had touched hers, gold had begun to form. The gold continued to spread up the woman's arm, making her immobile. She screamed.

    "Ava, what's going on?" The man shouted as he stared at his distressed wife. "Ava?!" The world had been solace just moments before and now something unexplainable was happening. Something he was not sure he had control over. All he could do was watch in horror as he beloved turned golden before his eyes.

    "Dada, what's happening to mama?" His son cried.

    "I don't know! I don't know!" He sobbed. He gripped his wife's arm which was now as hard as rock. His newborn daughter remained calm as she clasped her mother's now golden finger. Her mother's screaming died as the gold spread to her face, freezing it in place.

    "No! No!" The man looked desperately into the metallic face, searching for any sign of life. He grasped the statue's shoulders tightly, trying to shake the glittering, gold body, but nothing changed. She was gone.