Recollection
She woke up from her sweet, comfortable slumber. Her eyes linked a couple of times, and she proceeded to rub her eyes with her soft hands. Yawning, she stretched her arms out, pulling her midriff higher, exposing her flat stomach. Her blonde locks remained curled at the bottom, as they always were. She exhaled deeply, and remained sitting on her bed, staring at the ring in front of her.
(Flashback)
She placed the ring inside her dress pocket as she ran towards the large house. Knocking as hard as she could, she panted, resting her palms on her thighs.
"Where've you been? We've been looking everywhere for you, we were getting worried for heaven's sake, Maria" they stood up from the kitchen table as they ran towards to hug her. Her sister let out a tear from her face as she embraced her sister tightly.
The little girl hugged back, and finally, after letting go, exposed the ring she hid in her pocket to them. A silver ring, with swirl embellishments surrounding the exterior, and inside the ring, dotted the initials: A.F.T
As they pondered about the initials, Maria inserted the ring to her middle finger, the only finger that the ring seemed to fit well.
"Who gave that to you, Maria?" "A very special man" she responded innocently, her eyes pure. The thought of some man she didn't know at all freaked Annette, and only frightened her even more. Then again, it was JUST a ring.
(End of flashback)
She shook her head from the daydream, took the ring from the table, placed it on her ring finger (it seemed to fit in her ring finger now), got out of her bed and headed down to the kitchen. "Morning, sis" she hugged her sister from the back while she cooked. "Morning, sis" she replied back, smiling.
"Hungry? Excited?" Maria yawned as she sat on the chair in front of the dinner table, "Uh huh"
She was pretty excited. It was her birthday, and the once young 9 year old, turned 17 that day.
17.
It had been 8 years since her inheritance of the ring. 8 years since she made her way through the forest, 8 years since the day she would start waiting for her entire life to finally change.