Greener Pastures

If Jade were a little braver, this town would be nothing to her than a hazy memory. 

Her mother used to tell Jade to relish in the quaint living that could only be found in special places like Inder. What her mother failed to mention was that it couldn’t be overstated how boring the simple life was. 

Jade knew all along, of course. That’s why she always dreamt of leaving Inder with no intention of venturing back across the town line.

But she got older. The responsibilities mounted onto her shoulders. First, taking care of her sick mother. Then looking after her two sisters once her mother was gone. The life that Jade dreamt of faded away. 

Before she knew it, seven years had gone by since her eighteenth birthday.

Her sisters, Violet and Amber, eagerly entered the dining room with a sloppily decorated cake. Twenty-five green candles scattered over the top layer of white frosting.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JADE!” they joyfully cried out, plopping the cake in front of Jade at the table. 

Jade managed a smile. 

Amber pulled out a lighter, lighting the candles. Once she was done she took her seat at the table on Jade’s right side. 

“Make a wish,” Amber urged.

The words clanged around in Jade’s brain like loose coins in a dryer. They made a lot of noise but meant nothing. Not anymore. Jade’s life was as good as it was ever going to get. Living in her dead mom’s house, working a terrible job making over minimum wage, taking any spare money she can spare towards Violet’s college tuition and scraping by enough to send Amber to the university in the fall.

Every day she woke up wondering if the nightmare would end. Still, she kept to her routine even if it slowly drained the life from her.

She couldn’t burden her sisters with her existential crisis. Jade loved them. She would do anything for them.

Jade blew out her candles. Making her one true wish in her mind and feeling the softest twinge of guilt as it echoed inside her skull.

The next morning brought the same mind numbing routine. She made breakfast for her sisters, went to work, and managed not to bang her head against the wall repeatedly. After work, she stopped by the grocery store. It was pasta night. It was Amber’s idea to give certain days of the week a special meal. The thought, Jade supposed, was to give them something to look forward to each week. For Jade, it took away any fragment of spontaneity left in her life.

Jade wandered to the aisle with the spaghetti sauce. Plucking the jar with the lowest price tag.

“Jade, is that you?” A shrill voice sounded beside her.

Jade turned, immediately recognizing the figure. Skye Turner. The shy and awkward girl from high school except apart from her cat-like eyes and blonde hair, she looked nothing like she did seven years ago. Her skin had cleared up. She lost weight. Her blonde hair cascaded over her shoulder in elegant waves. Even her style was vastly improved. Jade’s eyes passed over the various designer logos that were stitched on every article of her clothing. Her pants alone probably cost more than everything in Jade’s closet.

Skye took Jade’s silence as an invitation to strike up a conversation.

“I can’t believe it’s you,” Skye stated, “This is the last place I thought I would find you. All you ever talked about in high school was how much you hated it here.”

Jade clenched her jaw. Skye took the hint and strayed from the subject.

“Anyway, how have you been?” Skye asked.

“Oh, you know, living the dream,” Jade responded, “It looks like you’re doing well.”

Skye grinned. “I really am. I became the youngest partner at my law firm in Chicago.”

“Isn’t twenty-five really young for that?” Jade wondered out loud.

“I’ve earned it,” Skye replied with a shrug.

“What are you doing back in Inder?”

Skye held out her left hand. Her ring finger decorated with a teardrop shaped diamond almost the size of a quarter.

“Oh, um, congratulations?” Jade remarked.

“His name’s Ben. He’s a surgeon.” Skye gazed down at her finger and sighed. “I had to bring him home to show my mom how amazing he is.”

Jade wanted to escape this conversation by any means necessary. Her throat was tightening with a sudden rage. It took her a few moments to realize why she was so angry at her old friend: jealousy.

“How’s your mom doing?” Skye inquired, determined to keep Jade hostage in small talk.

“She’s dead,” Jade replied in a tone much harsher than intended, “She died over five years ago. She got really sick right after I graduated so I got stuck at home instead of going off to college. Then she died. Leaving behind a mess of bills and responsibilities that I inherited. I took a job I hate but can’t even think about quitting because I have to make sure that Amber and Violet are taken care of. Now, I get to watch them move to college and get out of this horrible town while I get left behind. With no hope of hoping for anything better than the dull and uninspired life I get to wake to each and every awful morning that I wake up still breathing.”

All the words spilled from Jade’s mouth before she could stop herself. When she was done she exhaled, expecting to feel embarrassed. Instead, she was relieved. She had kept all of it in for so long that it was liberating to burden somebody else with her problems. Especially somebody like Skye who it was entirely possible she would never see again.

Skye’s eyes were wide with her abrupt confession. An expression of panic dissolved into genuine concern.

“I’m sorry, Jade.”

Jade shrugged. “It’s life. I’ll get through it.”

At the very least, Jade managed to make Skye uncomfortable with her own personal success. It was a petty victory but it delighted Jade in an unexpected way.

“It was good to see you, Jade,” Skye offered, “We should stay in touch. I can’t believe we’ve gone so long without speaking considering how inseparable we were in high school.”

Jade was surprised at the earnesty in Skye’s voice.

Skye started walking past Jade, pausing for a second as if she had something else to say. She opened her mouth, changing her mind and giving Jade a gentle hand on her shoulder instead.

Jade returned from the grocery store. Boiled the water, added the spaghetti, browned the hamburger, stirred in the sauce, and let her sisters fill their plates first.

While her sisters discussed their day between bites, Jade couldn’t help replay the exchange she had with Skye. Her fist tightening around her fork everytime she thought of the perfect life Skye had made for herself.

Amber’s high-pitched laughter brought her back to her family dinner. Jade looked at Amber’s face as if it were a flame brightening the entire room. Violet was mimicking one of their old strict elementary teachers. Evidently the conversation in the room consisted of their most embarrassing moments in school. 

Violet was telling Amber of the time Mr. Nickels had forced Violet to stand up in the front of the class and solve a math equation on the board, complete with the distinctly puppet-like voice of Mr. Nickels. Jade remembered the situation very well. Violet had been sick and told Mr. Nickels but he insisted she had to do it anyway. As soon as she wrote down the first number on the board, she threw up all over herself.

When their mom got the call that Violet was sick and needed picked-up, she designated Jade to leave school and take Violet home. Jade left her biology class without hesitation and picked up Violet in the nurse’s office. Once they got home Jade sat on the couch with Violet while they ate saltine crackers and watched reality TV.

Violet ended the story at that. Forgetting to mention that a week later Jade got sick with whatever Violet had except Jade stayed home alone.

A knock on the door interrupted Violet’s chuckles.

Jade stood up immediately to answer the door.

There wasn’t anybody that Jade expected to knock on their door at seven at night but she was particularly confused when she opened the door to see Skye’s steel blue eyes staring back at her.

“Um, hello again,” Jade muttered.

“I can’t stop thinking about what you said in the store earlier,” Skye responded, speaking quickly as if she had to get the words out fast or they would never get out, “And I want to help you.”

Jade crossed her arms. “I’m okay, really. I don’t want to take your money.”

“I’m not talking about money. I want to give you something considerably more valuable.” Skye dug around in her purse, eventually pulling out something she clutched in the palm of her hand. “This is the secret to my success.”

Skye revealed an emerald the size of a golf ball.

“What you sell emeralds or something?” 

Skye shook her head. “No, this is not your typical emerald. It’s special.”

“Okay?” Jade remarked, hoping further context would be provided.

“You remember me in high school, yeah? I was a mess. I wasn’t pretty. I was weird and the popular kids favorite punching bag.”

Jade didn’t want to deny or confirm anything.

“It got better in college,” Skye continued, “But I was still missing something. I was smart but I wasn’t authoritative or pretty or taken seriously. When I interned everybody was still walking over me. I got desperate. I needed to become the person I always dreamt of and it was obvious that it wasn’t going to happen unless something changed.”

Skye held the emerald in between her thumb and index finger. “This was given to me by a woman that said it would give me everything I desired. I thought it was nonsense but I took it anyway. That was two months ago and now look at me. I got a promotion and found a handsome fiance who loves me.”

Jade furrowed her brow. “The emerald is…magic?”

“I know it sounds crazy,” Skye admitted, “But yes.”

Skye held out the emerald, encouraging Jade to take it. 

“If you really believe it’s magical, why would you give it to me?”

“Because we were friends. High school was miserable but you helped me through the worst of it. I want to do the same for you now.”

Jade’s own hesitation to reach out and snatch it from Skye’s fingers confounded her. Until she realized that it was too good to be true. Skye was either playing a prank or had completely lost her mind. Jade should shut the door in her face.

Instead, she took the emerald. Even if it was too good to be true, it was worth a try.

Skye smiled. “I hope everything works out for you, Jade.”

The emerald sat in Jade’s coat pocket for two weeks. Nothing had changed. She was still trapped in her lifeless life.

Maybe Skye was wrong about its mystical properties, but it was still an emerald. It had to be worth something.

Jade was walking to a jewelry store in Inder to see how much money she’s been carrying in her pocket, when a heat began radiating up from her waist. She grabbed the emerald from her pocket.

Ever since Skye gave her the thing she had held it in her hand dozens of times. Staring at it, hoping that maybe it was the answer to all her problems. But this time as soon as her fingertips brushed against it, there was a warmth emitting from it that hadn’t been there before. A shock ran through her palm.

Instead of the jewelers, she went straight home.

When she took her first steps inside the door Amber and Violet almost tackled her to the ground in excitement.

“What’s going on?” Jade asked when they finally pulled away.

“I got the Hinely Scholarship!” Amber shrieked, “It’s a full ride.”

“That’s amazing,” Jade stated.

“But wait, that’s not all,” Violet remarked, “I have my own good news. I got the internship! The one that had like five-hundred applicants. I got it! It’s even paid and it could lead to a really good position if they keep me on.”

Jade raised her eyebrows. “You both received this news today?”

“Yeah,” Violet confirmed, the smile still stuck on her face, “It was actually only a few minutes apart. Isn’t that weird?”

Jade joined in on the celebration for a few minutes before resigning herself to her room, convincing herself it was a coincidence.

Except it didn’t stop there. 

The next day Jade got an email from a recruiter who wanted her for a new role at their company that paid exceptionally well. All the debt she had accrued had been randomly forgiven. The cute boy at the bookstore asked for her number.

After two months, everything in her life was perfect. The sun was brighter, the grass was greener. Jade’s entire worldview had shifted. A feeling bloomed that had long ago withered away: hope.

The luck kept coming. Jade entered a getaway vacation contest and won. Her and her sisters had won a four star hotel room stay for a week in a city of their choice before the girls had to go off to college. Jade chose Portland, Maine because she had always wanted to visit.

On their third day they visited Acadia National Park. The spring had brought a beautiful deep green to all the trees, bushes, and plants around them. Jade let Violet and Amber go on a hike while she sat at a picnic bench and took in nature in this time of renewal. A sentiment Jade could finally take the time to appreciate.

Jade was watching a robin flutter above the branches of a tall oak tree when a scream snapped her out of her state of relaxation. 

Standing at the trailhead stood Violet, sweaty and crying. Jade rushed over. When she got closer she noticed the dried blood on Violet’s hands. She was breathing heavily, barely acknowledging Jade.

“What happened? Are you hurt?”

Violet’s hazel eyes finally met Jade’s gaze. “Amber…she- she fell and hit her head.” Violet looked down at the red stains on her hands. “There was a lot of blood.”

Jade took in the information but didn’t accept it.

“I didn’t want to leave her,” Violet mumbled, “I couldn’t get a signal and she needed help and-” 

Jade wrapped her arms around Violet. “No, it’s okay. You did the right thing. I’ll go get some help.”

The next hour was a blur. Jade vaguely remembers getting the park rangers to call an ambulance as one took off down the trail to provide aid.

Violet wailed as they rode in the ambulance with Amber who was still not conscious. 

They got to the hospital and Violet’s head fell into Jade’s chest. The doctors were going to run some tests. It didn’t look good.

“Why aren’t you freaking out?” Violet asked after four hours of waiting.

“I am,” Jade assured, “Especially since this is all my fault.”

Violet rested her hand on Jade’s. “Don’t do that to yourself, Jade. You have looked out for us your entire life but you can’t control everything. It was just an accident.”

“No, this is my fault,” Jade murmured, “It was all too good to be true.”

“What does that mean?”

Jade elected not to reply. It would be too difficult to explain.

The doctor’s came to tell them that it was still not certain if Amber would wake up. They needed to wait for the swelling in the brain to go down.

Violet stayed by their sister’s side, holding Amber’s hand over the white hospital sheets.

Jade couldn’t bring herself to spend more than ten minutes in the room. 

She sat in the waiting room. Rolling over the emerald in her hands.

A middle-aged man took the seat next to Jade. His face fell into his hands. Jade tore herself away from her own grief to see the distraught state of the man next to her.

“I don’t want to bother you, sir,” Jade started, “But you seem upset.”

The man seemed surprised that anyone would try talking to him. 

“It’s my wife,” he responded, “She’s taken a turn for the worse.”

“I’m sorry,” Jade uttered.

Jade studied the man. She realized that he was in the same position she was, without the crushing guilt. She would do anything to change things. To set things right. She imagined the man shared the same desperation. Maybe he would forgive her for what she’s about to do.

Jade held out the emerald that was sitting in her hand like a grenade.

“You should take this,” Jade stated.

“Is that an emerald?”

“It’s a good luck charm,” Jade lied, “It gives us what we want most.”

“Sounds far-fetched to me,” the man muttered, “Why would you give it away anyway?”

Jade shrugged. “I want to spread it to those who need it most.”

The man was skeptical but his eyes didn’t wander from the emerald.

“It sounds crazy,” Jade added, “Even if it doesn’t work, what’s the worst that could happen?”

The man snatched the emerald and rushed off.

Jade slumped back in her chair, a sigh of relief escaping her lips.

If the emerald needed a sacrifice it was not going to be Amber. Jade hoped that by passing it on, they were free of the curse.

All she could do now was hope everything would be okay. Even if that meant going back to how it was before.