Perception

X

She wanted to ask her landlady why she was getting this and what it meant, but her tongue was tied as she touched the beads gently, softly taking the necklace out of its resting place and letting it run through her fingers. It reminded her a bit of the prayer beads she'd seen the Hindus carry to their temple back in England, but she'd never seen any of those be this beautiful.
A feeling of clarity now softly replaced the frenzy she had been in all day. Calmness seemed to enter her every cell and she breathed deeply, feeling for the first time today that she could.
Mrs. P. nodded.
"Better. You carry this with you always, Anna. You will understand more soon enough."
Then she shut her mouth with resolve and Anna realised that that was all she was planning to say about this, for now.

And part of her wanted so much to ask her what was going on. She wanted to force her to tell her everything she knew. I mean, seriously? Mrs. Peterson was part of all this? Her mild-mannered landlady, suddenly giving her this... this jewel, that obviously was way bigger than just some beads? She wanted to know and understand everything.
But she knew, she knew with the same certainty that she'd felt this afternoon with Susan, this new certainty that rose above any conscious thought or decision, that she couldn't. Not right now.
So she got up.
"Thank you so much for this, Mrs. P. Will you explain more to me at some point?"
Mrs. Peterson smiled kindly, even though her face was still pale.
"Yes, Anna. Don't worry, for now, please."
"Okay. I'll try that, mrs. P."

Anna thanked her landlady again and then she went up to her room to finally, finally make that tea. And maybe something to eat, now that she was feeling calmer.
And she would have wondered why. Why was she feeling calmer? What was the necklace, who was it from and what did it do? But somehow this certainty still pervaded everything and she knew to wait, to stow those thoughts, to eat and to sleep.
She put her bag down and looked around the little room as if she were seeing it for the first time. Wow. A lifetime of stuff had happened since she was here last. And somehow the faded light blue wallpaper and her duck egg comforter, her little bookcase and her comfy white IKEA chair in the corner by the window... none of it felt as familiar as it had before.
On a whim she took the beautiful necklace out of its box and put it on, putting most of it under her shirt as she reached into her tiny fridge to take out some eggs. She'd just cook a quick omelet on her two pit electric cooker and pair it with the half cucumber she still had in the fruit bowl.
 
She was putting the kettle on when her phone bleeped its triad, proudly announcing the arrival of a text message. She took it out of her bag absentmindedly. It was probably Sarah, wondering if she'd gotten home okay.
Yeah. She'd gotten home fine.... sort of.

But it wasn't Sarah, it was a number she didn't recognise. She slid her index finger over the screen and read.

     'Hi Anna, I hope you're feeling better, James said you had a headache too? I was just wondering; would you do me the honour of having dinner with me on thursday? I've recently (of course, I've just moved here ;-)) found this lovely place in the Pijp, however you pronounce that. Groetjes, Eli.'