Couple Rings

English name: Zora Chinese name:赵晓宇Student number:190161126

She was Anna, a student in the history department. She was crazy about history for no reason; it seemed that she had an amazing talent for learning it. She knew many historical events, including those with few records, as if she had really experienced them. But for her, having a talent different from the average person was not strange; many weird things had happened to her. For example, since she was very young, she had always had a diamond ring. As for the origin of this ring, her parents had just said that shortly after she was born, they had passed an antique shop, and the owner of the shop thought she was cute and gave it to her. She remained suspicious of her parents’ words. How could anyone give a stranger a valuable ring just because she was cute? But the ring did look a little old. Despite being carefully cleaned, the ring was still a little bit dark. Although the diamond still shone, its style made the whole ring appear as if it had been taken from a history book.

“It looks like to be one of those couple rings,” she wondered, staring at the ring one morning. “Once again,” she muttered. This was another strange thing; for a long time, she had had dreams that she was in a different era, going through different historical events, and it all felt was very real. What was even more strange was that in all her dreams, she always saw a boy, but she couldn’t remember the boy's appearance, his voice, and other any detail about him in her dream. She was used to experiencing it every night, but yesterday she seemed to glimpse another ring in her dream. “That’s so weird,” she thought.

“Breakfast is ready, Honey,” her mother said.

“Coming.” She put the ring away and ran downstairs quickly.

“It will be your 19^thbirthday soon, Honey. What do you want for your birthday?” her father asked.

“I haven’t decided yet. But as long as it’s from you, I will like it,” she replied. “By the way, today is Sunday; after breakfast, I want to go out for a walk.”

“Sure, just enjoy the day,” they agreed.

The sun was shining brightly, and the birds were chirping. She walked alone aimlessly in the street. She didn’t know how far she had been walking when an antique shop attracted her attention. Perhaps because such an antique shop, with a classic style, was incompatible with the surrounding modern coffee shops, or perhaps because the antiques in the window were too beautiful and exquisite, she felt that the shop was very different.

She opened the door; a boy came forward and said, “Hello. What can I do for you?” The boy was tall and strong. His nose was high, his eyes bent when he laughed, and there was a pair of dimples in his face. He seemed to glow in the sunlight.

“Have we met before?” This was not an excuse for her to strike up a conversation with him. It was true; it felt like she has seen him somewhere. Not only the boy, but a lot of things in this antique shop; she had a little familiar feeling.

“Certainly not, Miss. I just graduated from college this year, and I help my family run this antique shop. I have only been here for a week.” The boy smiled.

That had been their first meeting. During the next few days, Anna always visited the antique store. Gradually, she became more familiar with the boy. She got to know that his name was Jim, whose major was history as well. One month later, Anna’s birthday came. On that day, she went to the antique shop to see Jim. Surprisingly, he gave her a hairpin in the shape of a rose, which glittered beautifully in the lamplight.

“Happy birthday,” Jim said.

“I love it. I love roses. It is gorgeous. Thank you!” she rejoiced. “Am I pretty with this hairpin?” She put it on her head, blinked, and smiled at Jim.

“Fantastic,” he responded.You are always the most beautiful in my heart, he thought.

“But wait, how did you know that today is my birthday. I don’t remember having told you before.”

“Ummm,” Jim stammered; sweat beaded his brow. “You mentioned it a few days ago. You must have forgotten. After all, you know, every time we meet there’s so much to share.” Indeed, since the two were of the similar age and studied the same major, they always had numerous topics, from academic problems to their lives. They gradually became friends by sharing with each other everything in their lives. When Anna was sad, she went to Jim, who comforted her and made her laugh. When she was happy, she would tell her happy things to Jim, and he would laugh with her and share her happiness. Jim was also there to help her with problems, from computer to study problems. When it came to study, Jim was a total scholar-tyrant; he knew every historical event. Gradually, Anna was attracted by his talents and warmth. A month after Anna’s birthday, he became her boyfriend.

Sweet time always flies; it would soon be Anna’s 20^thbirthday. That night, Jim walked Anna home. The stars twinkled in the sky, and the breeze carried a fragrance of the flowers. Everything was covered with romance. Anna beamed, “It is my 20^thbirthday this weekend. How about going somewhere interesting? I have heard that the new amusement park is very fun.”

“Sure,” Jim paused and stared into the distance.

“If you don’t like it, we can go somewhere else,” Anna said, concerned.

“No. Just recalling something. It doesn’t matter,” Jim supplied. “I will pick you up on Sunday morning.”

After taking Anna home, Jimmy walked back down the road alone. Jim walked slowly, looking at everything around him as if he wanted to remember them. The weather in summer was always changeable. Suddenly the night sky was covered with dark clouds, and no light could be seen. When he got back to the antique shop, it thundered and the lightening was so bright that the room was illuminated even though he hadn’t turned on the light. He looked out of the window. There was going to be a thunder strom. He turned to his desk in the back room, lit the desk lamp, took a pen, and solemnly wrote "Dear Anna"on a piece of paper.

When he had finished writing the letter, it was late at night. He opened a little drawer that had treasure in it that he had never shown to anyone else, including Anna, and put the letter in the drawer, next to the so-called treasure——a ring, which was a match for Anna's ring. Returning to the antique shop, outside the window, the rain had stopped and everything was calm. He came to the window, sighed, and said to himself,the storm will stop, and everything will go back to the way it was. During the following days, Jim often felt sleepy and lethargic.

On Anna’s birthday, he dressed neatly, put the ring and the letter in the envelope, and then put the envelope in his pocket. At that time, he already felt a little uncomfortable, but he still went to Anna's home as promised. That day, Anna specially wore the rose pin that he had given her, and her face was painted with delicate makeup, big eyes and slender eyelashes. Her white dress was slightly blown by the wind, as if she had been the princess in a fairy tale.

“You are so beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she smiled sweetly.

They rode the sky wheel together and ate ice cream. Everything was nice and sweet. As the sun was setting, the young couple was tired, so Anna asked Jimmy to take her back to the antique store.

"I don't want to be separated from you. I want to spend a little more time with you," Anna said happily.

“Neither do I.” Jim tried to keep his shaking voice calm and turned his head to fight back tears.

It was dark when they got back to the antique shop. They went into the shop and turned on the lights. Jim was already exhausted. As they sat at the counter, Jim looked at Anna tenderly and said, “This is the happiest day in my life.” His smile was as bright as when they had first met.

“Me too,” Anna rejoiced.

“No, it’s not,” Jim whispered.

“What did you say?” Anna asked.

Before Jimmy could answer, the lights went out suddenly. A gust of wind blew open the window; the antique shelf was going to strike Anna. Before she realized what was happening, she had been pushed away. She just felt dizzy and fainted. Meanwhile, the couple rings in Jim’s envelope and in Anna’s house had shattered. When Anna woke up, the light had come on. She saw Jim pinned under the antique shelf, not moving. Screaming and crying, Anna struggled to her feet and ran to Jim. She knelt down, pushed the shelf aside with all her might, and kept calling his name. There was no answer. Her voice was broken, but Jimmy would never soothe her and help her as he had done before. After some time, the clock on the wall of the antique shop struck twelve o’clock. Anna was surprised to see that Jimmy's body begin to become transparent. Five minutes later, Jimmy had disappeared completely, leaving only a letter on the floor.

Trembling greatly, Anna opened the envelope. There were some pieces of jewelery in the envelope, as well as the letter. Even though the ring was in pieces, Anna still recognized it as the match of hers; the one that had appeared in her dream before.

“What the hell is going on?” Anna cried in despair.

She opened the letter weakly and read the letter:

Dear Anna:

I’m sorry to say goodbye in this way. But this was definitely not my original intention. How I wish that I could watch the sunrise with you every day, walk hand in hand with you on the beach, and enjoy every moment with you whether happy or not. However, if only one of us can enjoy life, I would rather that that person is you. Now I'm going to tell you the truth about your ring, your dreams, my appearance, and all the amazing things that have happened to you. You have a right to know all of this.

Remember what you asked me when we first met? I must say that I am sorry to you here. I told you that we had never met before. I lied to you. Of course, we met, in the palace 500 years ago, by the creek 300 years ago, and about 100 years ago, I took you to the park for the first time. All of those things in the antique store told our story, the bottles we bought at the market, the birthday gifts you gave me, they recorded every bit of US for hundreds of years and witnessed our love. If it hadn’t been that curse, we would be happy forever.

500 years ago, I was a general. On the way back from a victorious battle, I saved an old woman who had fainted by the roadside and her daughter; the old woman's daughter fell in love with me at first sight. To my surprise, the old woman asked me to marry her daughter, I refused firmly. Utterly discomfited, she cursed me so that the girl that I loved would never live to be 20 years old. I didn't believe it, and I didn't care it at all. That day happened to be your 20th birthday. When I went to your home to celebrate your birthday, I found you lying on the floor with a dagger in your chest.

Later, I learned that the old woman was the witch Clessie, who was moody and rude. Those days, in great desperation, I went to all the witches and wizards in the country, but none of them could help me. Eventually, it was an old wizard that claimed to be from another land who gave me a pair of rings. He told me that when the rings were placed on the cursed person and the one who wanted to save her, the curse would transfer to some extent. That is to say, as long as I came to your side at the age of 20 in each life, I could help you shy away from anything dangerous that could hurt you. The curse will disappear after 500 years, and the cursed person will be able to live a normal life, But the price is that I will disappear and everything about me, including this antique shop your memories, will disappear.

I never graduated from the department of history. Everything we talked about was a true event that I have experienced with you. Of course, I never forgot. And your strange dreams were, in a way, just manifestations of our shared memories. Today, what you should do is just sleep peacefully. Tomorrow the sun will rise as usual. There will be a new day, there will be a beautiful future, and there will be sweet dreams. Have a good life for both of us, with my hopes for you.

After reading the letter, maybe it was sadness or something else, Anna fainted. When she woke up again, it was the next morning, and she was lying on her bed. As Jim said, she has already forgotten Jim, the ring, the antique shop, the strange dreams, and all of the sweet moments with Jim. The sun was shining on the ground, Anna loved sunny days. But this day, not knowing reasons, Anna was sad and depressed.

On her way home one day, Anna walked past the “antique shop” which had become a flower shop. Every time Anna passed here, she would feel sorrow. She asked the owners of other shops about the history of this store, but they all said that this store had been there for a long time; it was an old store. "Perhaps it’s a lack of rest." She thought. She went into the florist's shop and bought a bouquet of roses, which were her favorite flowers. But she didn’t notice that there was a card on the bouquet, which said “There will be a new day, there will be a beautiful future, there will be sweet dreams. Have a good day.”