Charms

Chapter Eight

About five minutes later, we heard roaring sirens. Ashley cringed.

"It's going to be ok, Ash," I comforted her.

"No, stop feeling bad for me and forgiving me! Stop being so indulgent!" She hissed, choking back tears, "I stole your mom's charm for pete's sake! I deserve this!

I paused for a moment. "Next time, just don't let jealousy take over you as much as it did. It's best just to ignore that little stinky feeling that we have and look at all the good things that your life has given you."

Ashley sighed. "I had something good and didn't even see it. I messed up and now I will have to be taken away from it."

"And what's that?"

"You and your wonderful family!"

Not being able to hold back my tears anymore, I turned away from Ashley and ran up to my Dad. I knelt besides him and hugged him. I began to bawl my eyes out. he hugged me back and began to stroke my hair. We watched as the police put handcuffs on Ashley and take her away in their police car. Rose, Tom, and I all knelt besides Dad and all hugged one another. We all began to sob.

"Shhh...," Dad shushed us, "It'll be ok."

I wanted to say, "No, it's not. My best friend in the whole entire world was going to jail and I was never going to get to see her again. Even though she is the charm remover who stole Mom's charm, I feel bad for her and forgive her. All she wanted is what we have; a wonderful family. She never realized that she was a part of our family until now. Now, she was being taken away from her wonderful 'family' and is never going to get to see them again."

Everybody was now crying. I was a few tears slide down Dad's cheeks. Even grumpy Annabelle shed a few tears. "Rrriiiiinnnnggg!" Dad's phone went off. We all separated so he could answer it. After he hung up, he explained to us that the Charm City Hospital had just called him. Mom was awake again. We all quickly piled into the old, tan minivan and Annabelle drove us to the hospital.

As soon as we made it into the emergency room, we all gave Mom hugs and kisses. She hugged and kissed us back. She even apologized for getting so short-tempered with me back at the beach. I forgave her and apologized for being so careless of the beach towels and chairs. She forgave me back. After that, we explained the whole entire Ashley incident to her. She was in absolute shock, which slowly turned into pity.

"That's a real shame," she sighed, "I never knew that a child as sweet as Ashley could do something as devious as removing my charm from it's box, causing my and my baby's lives to get put at risk."

We all nodded in agreement.

About two months later on July 15th, Mom gave birth to a healthy baby boy. We all decided to name him Gregory George Patricikson. I asked Mom if Gregory's charm came out right. She told me that he had one but did not know if it was the correct shape.

"I guess your father and I will just have to find out for ourselves once he gets older," she explained.

I assumed that Gregory's charm was the right shape. I mean, Mom was only in a coma for a day, so he could not have been affected that badly.

Over the summer, without Ashley, I found myself hanging out with Georgia and Lauren more often. The three of us eventually all became best friends. I told them about what happened and apologized for accusing them of stealing my mom's charm. They quickly forgave me, but were shocked that Ashley was the charm remover.

"I was surprised too," I agreed, "Nice girl, she was. She let jealousy overwhelm her and became a charm remover. Until she had already committed the crime, she didn't realize that she had a family who cared about her and had time for her- my family. Georgia, Lauren, don't ever let jealousy do that to you."

Georgia and Lauren both nodded their heads in agreement.

"Even when things look rough, just remember that an arrow has to be pulled back in order to be launched. If your life isn't going so well, be prepared to get launched into something great. When things aren't going your way, never look at the good that other people have, unless that good is kindness and loyalty. Everybody needs someone who will always stick by them and treat them properly. It is the small spark of light that is always spotted first a room full of pitch-black."

A/N: So, how'd you guys like my first mystery book? I wrote this many months ago and have been planning on uploading this on Wattpad for a long time now, but I've just been too lazy to. Today, I finally had the energy to. Anyways, have a nice morning/afternoon/night, everyone! 😀

-C77