Dragons?

After dinner, we sat around the fireplace. Ben’s sitting in his easy chair while Crissie is as close as possible to the fire. The box is still standing at the dining table and I’m eager to know what’s inside. But it doesn’t look like Crissie is opening soon. I sigh, this is insane. She wanted answers, right? So, she’ll get them. I stand up and grab the box. Without thinking, I open it and look inside.

“Joshua! What the hell are you doing?” Crissie yells.

“Well, if you aren’t opening it, I will. You wanted answers, the only way to get them is to look inside. So; if you don’t want to, I have to. You’re welcome..” I answer her. I can see she’s furious and she quickly stands up to grab the box out of my hands.

“You dickhead, I wasn’t ready, remember?”

“If you wasn’t, why did you come here at your parents’ house in the first place?” I quickly reply.

She’s doubting, having an inner conflict with herself. “I don’t know. I’m just scared.” she whispers.

I walk close to her and hug her. “I understand, I really do. But we can only help you if you’ll accept the help. And that’s not what you’re doing right now. Your mom offered you an opportunity to find new clues, and you basically rejected it.”

I smile, I know how I have to handle this. “The box contains a letter, a pendant, some old book and it smells funny - nothing scary.”

Crissie looks at me, trying to find out if I’m joking. The curiosity takes over and she opens the box. “Wow, you were telling the truth.. “ she said, while she takes the pendent out of the box. “It’s gorgeous, why would they gave it to me?” She carefully inspects the pendent. It fits the palm of her hand, it’s pretty big. There’s a big black and purple opal in the middle what seems to change color if you hold it against the light. She then focuses on the letter and let the pendent rest on the table.

I can’t help myself, I love pretty things, so I take the pendant because I want to look for myself. But the moment I touch the pendant, it hurts. I can hold it, but it feels literally like it’s burning my hand. “Pumpkin, I guess this is silver. It hurts like hell.” I say, while I quickly put it back on the table. “But it’s beautiful, indeed. There must be a reason, why they left it for you. I’m wondering why there’s no collar on it. It’s only a pendant.” I say, a bit surprised. Who would give somebody a pendant without collar? That’s strange.

Debby looks at Crissie and asks: “Are you OK, honey?”

Crissie is crying, tears are falling on the letter and her hands. “I - I’m fine. It’s just… They didn’t want to give me away. I think they loved me. My birth parents loved me!” Crissie says, relieved. I look into her eyes and say: “Off course they did! How couldn’t they?”

Debby confirms. “Indeed, you were the prettiest baby I’ve ever seen, darling! From the first day on, everybody loved you!”

Crissie smiles and wipes the tears from her face. “Oh, I need a cloth or something, my hands are all wet of my tears.” And without thinking, she grabs the box with her wet hands to put it aside.

“Crissie, look!” I say, completely stunned by the sight. The box is changing!

I see how the box reacts to her tears and it changes form. It’s like a secret mechanism is shown. Instead of a perfect square, the box is now a rectangle.

“Wooow..” says Crissie, “... it’s changing! Not only that, look! It’s an inscription! I see an inscription showing at the bottom.” Crissie is all excited about this, and I can understand.

“What’s it saying? Come on! I’m curious.” I say. Crissie looks up to me before she reads it out loud: “Ruby, you will always be ours. Cerise and Flint”

“That’s huge! Are those your parents names? And wait, they called you Ruby? Well, it fits your haircolor.” I smile and wink at Crissie.

She’s still staring at the box. Debby walks over to her and gives her a hug. “The box must have reacted to your tears, my dear. Like a security, because nobody may know who your parents were. We never knew if they had given you a name, Crissie. It was not mentioned in the box, either. I’m sorry.” Crissie nods and says: “It’s OK, mom. But look!”

We all came closer to Crissie, to watch over her shoulder and have a look in the box. Ben immediately steps backwards and almost turns completely white. “That can’t be true! We never knew if they existed! It’s almost like a fairytale..”

I’m confused: “What do you mean, Ben?”

“That family crest… It’s the dragons.”

I take a look at the box again, and now I see it. Below the inscription, a sort of drawing has shown. Apparently it’s a family crest, and if you know what you need to look for, it’s clear. A big dragon’s head is surrounded by little flames. The dragon’s head itself is also spitting fire.

“But what does this mean? Why is there a dragon’s head in Crissie’s box?” I ask.