The Silver Pendant

The girl’s delicate fingers trembled atop the keys, her forearms unsteady. Her right foot pushed down on the pedal forcefully, but her leg shivered, making the grand piano - a beast worthy of taming - creak under the pressure.

She retreated her arms to her lap. She brought her right foot back to meet her left, resting on the polished wooden floor. She stared at the white and black medley before her, illuminated by the powerful spotlights above. Her eyes began to water and her throat fought for breath as she felt the crisp touch of the silver pendant against her collarbones.

...

"Emily, come closer."

"Yes, grandpa." She approached the hospital bed. The steady beeping of the monitor echoed her own heartbeat. She took her grandfather's hand in hers as the tears began to form, blinding her.

"Don't you worry about me, dear. I have lived a long, fruitful life. Now, I want you,"

He paused. Memories of his wife filled his mind.

He continued, "I want you to have this."

He placed in her hand a necklace. The pendant touched her palm first and the chain followed, forming a little metal pile in her hand. The chill of the metal made her hand quiver. She let the chain fall to the sides of her hand as she viewed the pendant.

It resembled an angel's wing. She brought her index finger over it, gently feeling and admiring the beauty in the detail, the hand-crafted texture of the wing's feathers.

The pendant glimmered like the stars.

"It was your grandmother's before she passed. Keep it as a good luck charm and a way to remember your youthfulness."

The tears streamed down her face and dripped to the hospital floor. She looked at him in the eyes and nodded, at a loss for words.

...

Anticipating the start to her performance, the audience filled the hall with a cacophony of murmurs. The girl took the steel pendant from where it resided between her chest and her dress, closed her eyes, and kissed it. She let it dangle, exposing it to full-view of her onlookers. She wiped the tears from her face.

The pendant glimmered like the stars.

She placed her hands on the piano, her right foot on the pedal. Her fingers pressed into the keys, and she began to play.