Chapter One: Let Freedom Ring One Last Time

Jan 2 2026

"Hey sweetheart, time to wake up."

"Dad, please 5 more minutes."

"C'mon darling it's the last day of your Christmas vacation. I want to spend as much time with you as I can. You'll be starting up at Saint John's Academy of Science and Technology again. I think I'll miss you too much!"

"Ugh. Yes dad, I'll miss you too. And like you said it's my last day of Christmas vacation. So that means I won't get to sleep till this late from tomorrow. Please daddy just five more minutes," Jaclyn begged.

"OK. Just five more minutes alright. We also have to go to your Grandfather's," Peter said kissing his daughter on the forehead and went out of the room.

An hour and a half or so later, the phone started ringing.

"DAD! Pick up the phone!" Jaclyn called.

A couple of rings later Jaclyn picked up the phone to answer.

"Is this some cruel and unusual punishment of yours to wake me up?" Jaclyn answered getting out of her bed. She walked to Peter's room.

Peter couldn't help but chuckle.

"Where are you?" Rose said while walking into his room.

"I am at your Grandfather's. Grandpa needed some help so he called me here. Both you and I know where this can lead to!"

"You got that right dad."

"So are you up yet or not?"

"Ummm, yeah I am. I was just about to have breakfast," Jaclyn said biting her lips.

"Okay, that sounds good. Listen I'll be there by an hour and will come to pick you up. So get ready okay?"

"Yes dad".

"Bye. Love you sweetie."

"Love you too dad."

Saying this, Jaclyn lied on the bed, taking in the whole view of Peter's room. His room was mostly filled with Jaclyn's photos, old and new. Jaclyn got up and scanned all the pictures one by one.

First was her baby picture, on the day which she was born. That was the day when her mom, Olivia died.

Next was when she was a few months old, Peter holding her and kissing her on her cheeks.

Other one was of her first birthday, Peter helping her to cut the cake.

Next was of her at age 3, this one was done professionally of her and Peter.

Other photos were of rest of her birthdays, her first step and all of her school photos. Few of them were with her and Peter and some of just random moments.

The next photo was of Peter and Olivia's wedding. Jaclyn took the frame in her hand and stared at it. Her mother had met with an accident on the day of her birth, which led to complications in her delivery. She gave birth to Jaclyn but couldn't make it. She died after a few minutes. Jaclyn was born prematurely. At the time, she was very weak. The doctors had no hopes of her survival. Since she was a fighter, as her father always called her, she survived.

She always loved to see her parents wedding album. As a kid whenever Jaclyn missed her mother, she used to take out Peter and Olivia's wedding album from her mother's dressing drawer and have a look at it. Sometimes Peter used to sit with her and they used to go through the album together. He used to share stories of their years together.

Jaclyn used to always love hearing those. She especially loved the story of how Peter proposed to Olivia and loved hearing the details of their wedding day. Olivia had looked the most amazing and a beautiful bride on her wedding. Jaclyn just wished she would look half as beautiful and pretty as her mother did in the pictures, although she looked a lot like Peter. She had her father's eyes and nose. But she had the same beautiful smile as her mother's. Since she had best of both worlds, she was of course very beautiful and pretty.

Jaclyn got up and went to her mother's dressing drawer to get the wedding album. She opened the drawer and took out the big album book. But in doing so, fell a tiny shiny object on the floor. She bent down to pick it up and examined it. She was not really sure what it was. It looked like a necklace to her. But it wasn't like an ordinary necklace she had seen before. It resembled an hourglass pendant on a necklace. Jaclyn was not really sure what to make of it. She had not ever seen it before, but she knew it must have belonged to her mother.

Hey guys, hope you all are doing fine. Just want to know what you thought of the story. Any positive or negative comments are welcome. As you guys know from reading my other fic comments make me happy, good or bad. So feel free to write anything. :)