Original Fic: She Wore A Blue Ribbon
Since I am submiting this for a magazine, I thought to post it to see what kind of reactions (*wink nudge* you know to leave a comment when you read this, seriously) I would get. =D It started out as part of my procrastination, a Dramione actually, and then I turned it into my assignment. Talk about lazy... =D
Be nice, my dear, dear friends. I actually like how it came out.
And, much thanks to
strawberrimelon for beta'ing! You're amazing like woah and you know it. =D
“She Wore a Blue Ribbon”
29 year-old Hyacinth Eversleigh had been working for “The Daily News” as a junior photographer for a very long time -in actuality meaning 2 years- and she loved her job. No matter that no one ever did much work in the office except for her, no matter that her credit was always taken by one senior or another… She loved taking photographs.
But just this morning, she was given the boot. They had told her that they needed new talents but she could very well stay for the next week until their new employee had arrived. She scoffed at them, eyes ablaze, and all but stormed off.
Instead, she went to the park near her house and sat down on one of the empty wooden benches, silently watching the children play. They had all looked so carefree and happy that she would have given her entire fortune -not that there was much of it- to be a kid again. To experience innocent, unadulterated joy again.
She sighed heavily and ran her hands through her hair. What a sight she must have seemed, sulking among all the happy children.
That was when Hyacinth saw her, a young girl who must have not been more than seven years old. She wore a blue frock that reached to her knees and had a matching blue ribbon in her hair. Hyacinth fingered her own hair gingerly.
The girl’s hair was nothing like her own silky locks. It was a riotous river of bouncy blonde curls, streaked with whorls of sun kissed brown. It was an entity of it’s own that draped over her shoulders and down mid-waist, throbbing with vitality.
What differentiated her from the other children was that she, like Hyacinth herself, was sitting on a bench, sulking. Against her better judgement, she walked towards the girl.
Before she could open her mouth to ask if she could take a seat, the girl had scooted over, “Sit down, please.”
For a few moments, Hyacinth was surprised. Then she sat down cautiously.
“My name is Joanna. How ‘bout you?” The girl asked, cocking her head to one side.
“It’s Hyacinth.” She replied, extending out her hand to shake Joanna’s.
For a moment or two after the handshake, no one spoke. Then Hyacinth broke the silence by asking, “Why were you looking so sad?”
“I wasn’t sad,” Joanna said grinning while shaking her head, “I was just trying to show you how sad you looked so that you might decide on smiling.”
And for the first time since Hyacinth was sacked, she laughed.
“It seems to me, Joanna, that we are going to be very good friends.”
--
For the next few days or so, Hyacinth had regularly met up with Joanna at the park. She had quickly come to like the girl -who incidentally had a personality that resembled hers- very much.
She had learnt that Joanna -who was seven years old- would very much prefer to read a book rather than play in the park with the other children. She had learnt that Joanna’s favourite book was Terry Patchet’s “Colour of Magic”. She knew that Joanna loved vanilla ice-cream with no topping, as strange as it might seem. She had also learnt that the girl didn’t talk about her family.
But most importantly, she had learnt that no matter where Joanna went, she always had the same blue ribbon in her hair.
“Joanna,” Hyacinth had said in greeting as she took her place next to the girl, “I have something for you.”
The girl’s grey eyes lit up in surprise. Hyacinth reached into her bag to pull out a packet of ribbons in assorted colours.
But Hyacinth’s smile fell as she watched the frown on Joanna’s face grow. Joanna went through the packet only to pull out a single ribbon in the exact shade of blue that she was wearing in her hair. “There. I’ll take only this one.”
“Don’t you like the other colours?”
“Sometimes, when we like one colour, we should be loyal to that colour and that colour alone. It’s the same with all the other things. Like how if we love one person, we would love them forever and want them to be happy, right?” She looked inquisitively at Hyacinth. At Hyacinth’s nod, she continued, “I like this shade of blue. My father says my mother’s eyes were just like this.”
But before Hyacinth could ask more about what she meant, Joanna had already changed the topic, moving on to tell her about a book she had just read.
Maybe the girl intrigued her; maybe she was just too captivating. But even after Hyacinth had found a new job, she met up with Joanna every other day.
--
It shocked Hyacinth to the core when one day Joanna pulled out the blue ribbon from her hair and put it in her hand. “It’s something for you to remember me by.”
“What do you mean, Joanna? Are you going somewhere?”
“My father sent me over to make sure that you were happy. Now that you are, he says it’s time for us to leave.” Joanna’s eyes were fixed onto her shoes, not wanting to look Hyacinth in the eye.
“I… I don’t understand.” And truly, she didn’t.
Joanna didn’t answer her, but just wrapped her small arms around Hyacinth and said, “I’ll miss you…” Her voice was muffled by her silent crying and Hyacinth’s hair.
Hyacinth thought she heard Joanna say “mum”, but she was sure it was just a figment of her imagination.
…wasn’t it?
--
It wasn’t until two weeks after Joanna left did Hyacinth accidentally ask her mother a question that brought light to the situation while they were having dinner. Joanna’s behaviour before she left had seemed queer and it constantly bugged her. “Mother, do you know a young girl named Joanna?”
To her utmost surprise, her mother’s face had turned to a shocking shade of white. “How did you know about Joanna?”
A frown etched its way onto her face and she related the story to her mother, only to find herself almost close to tears at the end of her story. She had missed Joanna.
“I… I should have told you, Hyacinth… I am so sorry…”
“What are you on about, mother?” Hyacinth called out to her mother as the elderly woman walked to her study and came out with a metal box that had a lock outside of it.
Hyacinth’s mother pushed the box to her, tears still flowing out of her eyes, and passed her a key. “Open it.”
Hyacinth took the key with shaky hands. Somehow, she had a feeling that whatever that laid in this metal box would change her life forever.
She gasped as she opened the box. Her eyes were wide open and her posture was rigid, tense even. Only the box in front of her now existed.
In the box laid pictures of her and another man holding a little girl that looked exactly like Joanna, only a little younger. She and the man looked enamoured with each other. If her guesses were right, the man was her husband and Joanna...
Lord almighty. Joanna was her daughter?
“I…”
“Do you remember your accident two years ago?” Hyacinth nodded and her mother continued, “You were in a coma for almost two months and when you woke up, you lost all of your memories of him, dear. It was like he never existed in your life. Your father and I were so upset at Gareth for not looking after you and so we took you against his will and we forbade him from seeing you. We… We thought we were protecting you…”
“Why… Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried to, really, I did. But when you recovered, you were so happy being the way you were so your father and I thought… We did what we thought was the best for you. Gareth came over so many times, but then we moved and that was the last we ever heard of him or…Joanna. Please don’t hate me, Hyacinth.” Her mother had sunk down onto the couch, burying her face in her hands.
“I could never hate you, mother.” Hyacinth said after a short moment of silence. Then she sunk down onto the couch next to her mother and hugged her, amongst all the apologies that were coming out from her mother.
--
It wasn’t until the next morning that Hyacinth got the courage to look at the ribbon that Joanna had left her.
And then she cried.
...for she had never noticed that the colour of the ribbon was that of her own eyes.
Be nice, my dear, dear friends. I actually like how it came out.
And, much thanks to
strawberrimelon for beta'ing! You're amazing like woah and you know it. =D
“She Wore a Blue Ribbon”
29 year-old Hyacinth Eversleigh had been working for “The Daily News” as a junior photographer for a very long time -in actuality meaning 2 years- and she loved her job. No matter that no one ever did much work in the office except for her, no matter that her credit was always taken by one senior or another… She loved taking photographs.
But just this morning, she was given the boot. They had told her that they needed new talents but she could very well stay for the next week until their new employee had arrived. She scoffed at them, eyes ablaze, and all but stormed off.
Instead, she went to the park near her house and sat down on one of the empty wooden benches, silently watching the children play. They had all looked so carefree and happy that she would have given her entire fortune -not that there was much of it- to be a kid again. To experience innocent, unadulterated joy again.
She sighed heavily and ran her hands through her hair. What a sight she must have seemed, sulking among all the happy children.
That was when Hyacinth saw her, a young girl who must have not been more than seven years old. She wore a blue frock that reached to her knees and had a matching blue ribbon in her hair. Hyacinth fingered her own hair gingerly.
The girl’s hair was nothing like her own silky locks. It was a riotous river of bouncy blonde curls, streaked with whorls of sun kissed brown. It was an entity of it’s own that draped over her shoulders and down mid-waist, throbbing with vitality.
What differentiated her from the other children was that she, like Hyacinth herself, was sitting on a bench, sulking. Against her better judgement, she walked towards the girl.
Before she could open her mouth to ask if she could take a seat, the girl had scooted over, “Sit down, please.”
For a few moments, Hyacinth was surprised. Then she sat down cautiously.
“My name is Joanna. How ‘bout you?” The girl asked, cocking her head to one side.
“It’s Hyacinth.” She replied, extending out her hand to shake Joanna’s.
For a moment or two after the handshake, no one spoke. Then Hyacinth broke the silence by asking, “Why were you looking so sad?”
“I wasn’t sad,” Joanna said grinning while shaking her head, “I was just trying to show you how sad you looked so that you might decide on smiling.”
And for the first time since Hyacinth was sacked, she laughed.
“It seems to me, Joanna, that we are going to be very good friends.”
--
For the next few days or so, Hyacinth had regularly met up with Joanna at the park. She had quickly come to like the girl -who incidentally had a personality that resembled hers- very much.
She had learnt that Joanna -who was seven years old- would very much prefer to read a book rather than play in the park with the other children. She had learnt that Joanna’s favourite book was Terry Patchet’s “Colour of Magic”. She knew that Joanna loved vanilla ice-cream with no topping, as strange as it might seem. She had also learnt that the girl didn’t talk about her family.
But most importantly, she had learnt that no matter where Joanna went, she always had the same blue ribbon in her hair.
“Joanna,” Hyacinth had said in greeting as she took her place next to the girl, “I have something for you.”
The girl’s grey eyes lit up in surprise. Hyacinth reached into her bag to pull out a packet of ribbons in assorted colours.
But Hyacinth’s smile fell as she watched the frown on Joanna’s face grow. Joanna went through the packet only to pull out a single ribbon in the exact shade of blue that she was wearing in her hair. “There. I’ll take only this one.”
“Don’t you like the other colours?”
“Sometimes, when we like one colour, we should be loyal to that colour and that colour alone. It’s the same with all the other things. Like how if we love one person, we would love them forever and want them to be happy, right?” She looked inquisitively at Hyacinth. At Hyacinth’s nod, she continued, “I like this shade of blue. My father says my mother’s eyes were just like this.”
But before Hyacinth could ask more about what she meant, Joanna had already changed the topic, moving on to tell her about a book she had just read.
Maybe the girl intrigued her; maybe she was just too captivating. But even after Hyacinth had found a new job, she met up with Joanna every other day.
--
It shocked Hyacinth to the core when one day Joanna pulled out the blue ribbon from her hair and put it in her hand. “It’s something for you to remember me by.”
“What do you mean, Joanna? Are you going somewhere?”
“My father sent me over to make sure that you were happy. Now that you are, he says it’s time for us to leave.” Joanna’s eyes were fixed onto her shoes, not wanting to look Hyacinth in the eye.
“I… I don’t understand.” And truly, she didn’t.
Joanna didn’t answer her, but just wrapped her small arms around Hyacinth and said, “I’ll miss you…” Her voice was muffled by her silent crying and Hyacinth’s hair.
Hyacinth thought she heard Joanna say “mum”, but she was sure it was just a figment of her imagination.
…wasn’t it?
--
It wasn’t until two weeks after Joanna left did Hyacinth accidentally ask her mother a question that brought light to the situation while they were having dinner. Joanna’s behaviour before she left had seemed queer and it constantly bugged her. “Mother, do you know a young girl named Joanna?”
To her utmost surprise, her mother’s face had turned to a shocking shade of white. “How did you know about Joanna?”
A frown etched its way onto her face and she related the story to her mother, only to find herself almost close to tears at the end of her story. She had missed Joanna.
“I… I should have told you, Hyacinth… I am so sorry…”
“What are you on about, mother?” Hyacinth called out to her mother as the elderly woman walked to her study and came out with a metal box that had a lock outside of it.
Hyacinth’s mother pushed the box to her, tears still flowing out of her eyes, and passed her a key. “Open it.”
Hyacinth took the key with shaky hands. Somehow, she had a feeling that whatever that laid in this metal box would change her life forever.
She gasped as she opened the box. Her eyes were wide open and her posture was rigid, tense even. Only the box in front of her now existed.
In the box laid pictures of her and another man holding a little girl that looked exactly like Joanna, only a little younger. She and the man looked enamoured with each other. If her guesses were right, the man was her husband and Joanna...
Lord almighty. Joanna was her daughter?
“I…”
“Do you remember your accident two years ago?” Hyacinth nodded and her mother continued, “You were in a coma for almost two months and when you woke up, you lost all of your memories of him, dear. It was like he never existed in your life. Your father and I were so upset at Gareth for not looking after you and so we took you against his will and we forbade him from seeing you. We… We thought we were protecting you…”
“Why… Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried to, really, I did. But when you recovered, you were so happy being the way you were so your father and I thought… We did what we thought was the best for you. Gareth came over so many times, but then we moved and that was the last we ever heard of him or…Joanna. Please don’t hate me, Hyacinth.” Her mother had sunk down onto the couch, burying her face in her hands.
“I could never hate you, mother.” Hyacinth said after a short moment of silence. Then she sunk down onto the couch next to her mother and hugged her, amongst all the apologies that were coming out from her mother.
--
It wasn’t until the next morning that Hyacinth got the courage to look at the ribbon that Joanna had left her.
And then she cried.
...for she had never noticed that the colour of the ribbon was that of her own eyes.