I Trust You

The Missing Necklace

"Bye babes!" Grace shouts waving as John and Victoria rip out of the parking lot into the silent night in the newest yellow mustang.

That was fun.

After eating at the steakhouse the trio had practically ripped through the diamond walk at Sandton Mall and by 9 'o clock they had raided through all their favourite stores and managed to buy themselves a whole new set of clothes including some perfume and shoes from Gucci's new Bloom line, much to Grace's delight.

Picking up her fleet of bags, Grace unlocks and opens the door and rushes to her room where she dumps the bags on the bed and switches on the light.

"Ah."Sighs Grace wondering where she should put the new clothes and shoes.

On her last shopping spree with Vic she managed to fill the remaining space of her closet and shoe drawers.

"I'm going to have to book a storage unit with all these stuff." She murmurs tossing herself onto the bed and lying on top of her H&M bags. "I need therapy."

Grace chuckles to herself when she spots a box of Christian Louboutin heels that John had bought for her as present for her new job. Unable to contain her excitement Grace kicks off her current heels and opens the Louboutin shoes.

"Eek." Grace softly squeaks as she slips the shoes on and saunters over to her full length mirror. "I look like a modern day Cinderella."

Her smile drops when she remembers Cinderella story.

"Except instead of a prince charming to whisk me away I have a class A cheater who made me sell a 3 carat ring for $20."

Looking back on it now Grace regrets selling the ring on eBay, in the moment it felt like the perfect revenge but now she could have used the money to pay for her rent or order a new makeshift closet.

Glancing at herself in the mirror Grace remembers the necklace her mom had once given her on her 16th birthday, the last birthday she managed to have both her parents in the same room. Her mother had told her that she's all grown up now and had to start acting like it. As a joke her mother had said that the necklace, despite it being from Pandora, was made by magical fairies and could grant her any, grown up and honest, wish she wanted. Right now, Grace thought, with its silver finishing and diamond embed talisman it would go perfectly with her new royal blue Louboutin heels.

Walking over to her makeup desk, Grace opens her jewellery box and reaches for the hidden compartment where she keeps the necklace only to find it empty.

"What?"Grace nervously chuckles her palms beginning to sweat as she begins to frantically search the rest of the jewellery, box emptying it out twice and still finding nothing.

"This is the only place I keep it." Grace murmurs her heart beating frantically. "Where is it?"

Grace rushes to her dirty basket and hastily tosses all its contents onto the floor. Squatting she checks each item of clothing for the necklace hoping that she might have dumped it in the pockets a couple of days ago from laziness.

"Nothing there's nothing in here." Grace leans against the wall her breath laboured. "It's all I have."

Grace had lost her mom shortly after her 16th birthday in a bank shooting. The years before her mothers death were very strained because of her father's consistent cheating, her 16th birthday was the first time she had seen her mother genuinely smile in a long time.

Hastily standing up and wobbling for a bit in her 5 inch Louboutins Grace tries to remember the last time she wore the necklace.

"Tuesday, maybe." Grace mumbles reaching for her phone. "I was with Vic she must know where it is."

Grace dials Vic's number despite knowing how late it is.

Pick up, Vic.

"Hello." I tired Vic answers.

"Victoria do you have my necklace the one with the diamonds."

"What?"

"Victoria focus." Grace answers frustratedly. "I was with you on Tuesday when we went to go watch The Hate U Give, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"So did you take my necklace the one my mother gave me." Grace asks her gaze still searching the her bedroom.

"Grace," Yawns Vic on the other end of the phone. "You didn't wear the necklace remember you said something about it not matching-"

"The Louis Vuitton sneakers." Grace remembers throwing her head back in frustration.

"Yeah, exactly." Mumbles Vic. "Why can you not find it?"

"Bye Vic I'll talk to you later. Tell John I said hi."

Tossing the phone onto the bed Grace scrambles into her bathroom only to come out 30minutes later with tear stained cheeks and a heavy heart.

"I'm so sorry, mom." Grace mumbles a tear slipping from her eyes. "I was supposed to be responsible."

Grace saunters over to her body length mirror and place her hand against her empty chest, where the necklace would have sat.

"When did I last wear it." Rasps Grace. " Think, think!"

An image of Cheryl and Raymond in the office rumpled and wide-eyed flashes across Grace's mind.

"Yeah!" Grace shouts. "I had it that day."

Grace remembers holding tightly onto it as she left the Pocket Marketeers' building and getting into her car.

"I went to the park after that." Grace whispers. "I must have left it there."

Grabbing her phone and car keys, Grace rushes out of her apartment, forgetting to lock the door, and makes it to the car where she hastily opens the door, starts the car and zooms out the parking lot towards New York Central Park.

"Please be there." Grace mumbles tapping her fingers against the driving wheel as she passes a red light.

Grace glances at the dashboard telling her it's only 10 'o clock.

Passing another set of red lights she parks her car and rushes into towards the bench where she remembers wailing only a couple of days ago.

Spotting the bench only a few meters away Grace breaks out into a sprint while wearing her Louboutins, a skill she learnt after having to chase down her dog a couple years ago in 2 inch wedges.

Reaching the bench Grace throws her phone down on the pavement and squats her, hands traveling along the bench floor and tossing some of the leaves which had fallen.

"Where are you?" Mutters Grace the moon illuminating the dark area.

After a few minutes of endlessly searching Grace decides to start digging.

"Maybe they cut the grass or unearthed the weeds and my necklace is just buried." Grace mutters her hair falling out its pony tail.

"I know you're here." Grace squeaks holding a large ball of loam in her hand. "Just please pop out, please."

"You again." A husky voice mutters.

Grace whips her head back to see the grey-eyed menace she had met a couple of days ago with a smirk on his perfectly plump lips.