With This Ring (BOOK I HADES)

CHAPTER 1 (A ball of hope)

Lissana welcomed the morning with a ball of hope in her heart that everything will turn back the time that everything was alright, that everything is in a pleasant state. But all of that hope come to bewail as she heard the voice of her mother. She is drunk again, no change at all. Every day her mother comes home she always brings guys in their house and makes noises that she didn’t want to hear, but she has nothing to do with it. She has no right to complain. Lissana has always a thought everything’s going to be alright and come back to normal again but as days passed, she would lose those little light hopes. She misses her father, her good loving father, she misses his touch, his embrace, his warm kisses on her head, and his laugh in the house. After that accident happens her mother lost her happiness, she completely forgets that she had a daughter. 

Elena, mother of Lissana, came rushing to the living room and shouted “Lissana come down here! You, young lady, do not know how to tidy things up. Clean this mess, clean all of this s**t! We have a guest! And I want everything clean and classy. Bring all of our fancy plates, utensils, glasses, wines, carpet, and everything you see what’s old in here. I want everything new. Our guest will arrive at five in the evening. Do you understand Lissana?” Lissana stiffened as her mother looks at her like she was about to eat her madly. Her mother didn’t look at her like this when her father was still alive. She curtly nodded on her mother. She wanted to ask if whoever is the visitor but she hesitated. 

Elena looked at her daughter, having a feeling that she wanted to ask something. A smile crossed in her lips and took Lissana’s chin and looked at her eyes. 

“Our guest for tonight will change our lives Lissana, forever,” Elena said and left Lissana standing with many questions in her eyes. 

Elena had changed, used to be a known mother and has changed a lot. It was like her mother is hard to reach unlike before. Her mother doesn’t yell at her, Elena always brushes her hair, tell her stories when she’s going to bed to sleep, prepares her milk, prepares her home works for the school, prepares her things when the bus arrived, gives her kisses and hugs when she comes home and has her eat her mother’s bake cookies and drink fresh orange juice. But now none of those happen again, even a single thing. Elena is now a changed woman. 

But even though her mother had changed, Elena gives her daughter what she needs and wants material things, and everything but Lissana’s not after that she wants the old good times. Lissana knows nothing for she is just a ten-year-old child, but she can feel changes at a young age. She knows that the company of her father’s building in the industry of business is going down. Her father’s blood and sweat works are slowly vanishing into thin air. Little did she know it was because of Elena, her doings. Lots of debt and dealing with drugs. 

And now their company is in debt and needs to pay and now their home is in the bank's name. Lissana sobs in the corner and looks at the dim sky, it will rain again, every time she looks up in the sky it is always cloudy or raining.

 A tear escapes in her eyes, and she instantly wipes it away using the back of her hand. She suddenly remembers the ring she was wearing, oh the ring that her loving father gives her. It was a beautiful ring that compliments her white, pale skin. 

Lissana jump in excitement as she heard a familiar horn of a vehicle. She walks and runs down in the stairs and jumps over her father giggling.

“Papa, what did you bring for me? Can I see? Can I see? I want to see it now Papa, you’ve been gone for a month and you missed my birthday. You should have a gift there inside of your bag,” she exclaimed and came rushing down from her father’s grip and dock inside of the car. 

Alejandro, her father, grab Lissana out of the car and lifts her “There, their little princess. I didn’t forget about your birthday, it’s in my mind. Of course, I have a special gift for you, but it is not inside of the bag. It’s here in my pocket,” he said, and with that Lissana’s eyes were full of excitement and sparkle in her eyes. 

“Can you please show it to me now, Papa?” Lissana said with eagerness badly wanted to know what her father’s got for her. Alejandro pulled a small black box out of his pocket and showed it to her. “Open it and whatever it is in that box is all yours, my princess,” Alejandro said and a smiling Lissana eagerly opened the box and her eyes awe in surprise. 

“It’s a ring. Why is it a ring, Papa? Why not something else.”

“Don’t you like it?”

“It’s not like that Papa, I was just asking. It’s a little weird, don’t you think? I’m 8 years old Papa and I will not marry. I’m still a kid 

Papa,” Alejandro couldn’t help but surpress a laugh at her daughter’s innocent mind. 

“It’s a magic ring, my princess, don’t tell your mom okay? It’s our secret.”

“What’s the magic in this thing, Papa? Can I wish? Is it like a genie?”

“Not like that, my princess. Think of this way, you can tell in this ring what’s in your heart. If you are sad, broken, happy or anything in the mood of my princess,” Alejandro said and pinch the bridge of her nose, which makes her giggle.

 “That’s all Papa?” “And of course I almost forgot if you talk to this ring you would say this phrase first ‘With this ring’ you should always say these phrases okay?”

 “Why Papa?” “It was the old lady who sold me this,’’ she told me. So we better follow what she says because this is a magic ring right?”

 “Right Papa, thank you for your magical gift,” Lissana said and put the ring in her ring finger. At first it surprised her to see the ring slowly fits in her tiny slim finger. She was about to tell her father, but he was gone and so was the car.

 She runs inside the house to find her father thinking he is now inside and talking to her mother. But as she stepped inside the library room, she heard sobs of crying. She heard her mom babbling a word that she can not understand.

 “Mama, did you see Papa?” Lissana asked as she walked in her mothers’ direction. Elena looks up and embraces her daughter. Elena’s shoulders we’re going up and down as she cries.

 “Your father is not going home. Your Papa is dead.”

Those words still give her pain whenever she remembers those days, she can’t be mistaken she saw and touch her father that day. She heard his voice, and she felt his embrace.

“With this ring, encuéntrame y llévame aquí, por favor.” (With this ring, please find me and take me away here, please.)