Sliver by: Lucy Kim (hyewon)

Sliver by: Lucy Kim

Chapter1 “I hope it stops raining,” Jane sighed and kept mopping. Then Mrs. Hamm’s angry voice called out, “Start mopping, or I will beat you.” Victoria’s laugher echoed from her room.

Jane sighed again as she kept mopping. The sound of raindrops made her more saddened than before. She had such a bad day at school. Victoria was with Jane's classmates, and told them about Jane's clothes looked like, and how Jane was her servant. They all laughed at Jane. ‘At least,’ Jane thought, 'Bianca didn't laugh at me.' Bianca was a good classmate to her.

However, her older sister, Victoria, was very bad to her. It was Bianca who gave her some food. It was Bianca who would come up to her dirty room to say hello and stop Mrs. Hamm from beating her. Victoria, on the other hand, she made Jane work and even made her do her homework for her. Mrs. Hamm treated Jane like a slave although Jane was in her own house. Jane was always beaten and almost starved many days.

Jane lived with Mrs. Hamm since she was five years old. Jane's parents were dead. She remembered this day as if it were yesterday. The day her parents died it was Jane's birthday. They were having a fantastic barbecue party with her friends and neighbors.

That horrible day, the barbecue burned and the fire spread over to her house. People were screaming all over the town. Everyone except Jane's parents were saved. Jane's beautiful pony, who was her best friend and her pet, even disappeared. The police man did not think that her beautiful pony had died in the fire. So, they searched for the pony, but she was gone. Either, she was in the ashes or still alive. Jane hoped that her pony was not dead.

That was then, this was now, and life was miserable for Jane. One day, while Jane was washing the dishes, Mrs. Hamm shouted, "Are you working? Clean that dish because you have much work do to!" Jane worked faster than ever.

By the time she finished, it was very dark. She walked to her small dirty room. She went to her bed to sleep. Then, she saw a small but bright light. She went next to the window to see what was happening and saw her beautiful pony, coming down to her. Soon, her pony was in her room, and Jane rode her pony up, high into the sky.

Then Jane saw her memory about her happy days with her family. She saw herself in the garden with her mother, father, and her pony. Her pony was eating some apples from a tree. Her mother and her father were talking, eating, and smiling at her. Jane felt like smiling for the first time after her parents had died. She felt this way as quickly as this vision allowed her.

Then, the scene disappeared into the cloud. Her pony lead her to a beautiful place that had lots of jeweled trees. Jane picked a jewel and then she pushed it and juice came out.

As they rode further down the jeweled trees’ path, her pony just began to climb further through the sky. They went where she could see her parents and where she could be happy. In fact, people never saw them again. But Bianca knew that Jane went somewhere nice, and she knew that Jane was happy. When Bianca sat by her window one day, she found a small necklace and inside the necklace, there was a thin note that Jane had written to her. Her friend was now in peace.