The Bracelet

The Bracelet

X tried so hard. All she wanted was to avoid this. She had just finished fumbling with the pleat of her skirt, simultaneously raking her fingers through her hair for the hundredth time. Cautiously, she limited her gaze to wander only between her phone, her shoes, and the empty space one step ahead. X compulsively calculated her every move. All of these precautions. Just to avoid this. Maybe it was her fault. She had begun to let her shoulders relax and her body to slouch ever so slightly as she slinked through the halls between classes.

This time X had looked for up a split second too long.  Even as she averted her gaze she knew their eyes had met for one moment too long. They wouldn’t be able to avoid each other. Inadvertently, X pinched her wrist and pulled down the sleeve of her sweatshirt. A familiar weight still clung to her wrist. She knew T must have stopped wearing the friendship bracelet which they had made together a seemingly long time ago during the summer before freshman year. The bracelet’s colors, an obvious choice, were their two favorites, lime green and turquoise, woven together in a vibrant geometrical pattern. They had secured the bracelets on each other’s wrists with three knots.

X kept her eyes glued to the ground. The stained concrete comforting and familiar. But the concrete was passing too slowly. Her normal hallway navigation routine wouldn’t provide a solution for this. If you are best friends with someone, then you should meet them with an enthusiastic greeting, and the latest gossip.  If you are acquaintances, then it is acceptable to wave once and look away. You shouldn’t be too enthusiastic, but you don’t want to seem uninterested either. And if you are in different social cliques, you should quicken your pace and avoid eye contact. But it was impossible to pick from these choices. Nothing specific had even happened between them. All X knew was that T was a slave to the new rules now. They both were. So their unspoken pact grew between them and defined their relationship.

Now, they were half a classroom’s length away from each other. The bracelet was burning at X’s wrist. It was itchy and bothersome; even a complete nuisance. And she hated how it made her feel childish.  X tugged on the loose threads. But this time it wasn’t just out of nervous habit. She tugged more purposefully a second time. Her hand sprang back, as a thin, broken strand freed itself.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she let the turquoise thread fall to the ground. Then, because she couldn’t ignore that twisted triumphant rush, she yanked even harder. This time a couple more strings unwound themselves. And that triumphant feeling was continuing to grow inside her. She jammed her sleeve up her arm leaving her entire wrist exposed. A small part of her was silently hoping T was looking her way at that exact moment. The adrenaline pulsed through her entire body now. X began to forcefully tear at her wrist. And then it snapped.

Finally, her wrist was bare. The tousled strings did not seem quite as threatening as they sat limply in her palm. The bracelet was plain and worn out. The colors faded to a nondescript dirt green and brownish-blue. Of little relevance to her life. She easily changed her path now as she swerved right in front of T and grasped the handle of the door to her next class. She pulled hard and the door swung out in front of her. The bracelet slipped from her grasp. Without even thinking, T looked up. Their eyes locked again.

For the first time, T’s expression change. Her pleading eyes revealing every emotion behind them. T stepped carelessly, and her foot didn’t land like it was meant to. She staggered and fell right next to where X’s own bracelet had landed. T’s bag crashed against the cold floor and her entire life spilled out. T floundered as she snatched up her pens and notebooks. X easily pulled herself through the open door to her next class as something landed right beneath her step. She allowed herself one more look downward as she continued through the open door. X barely even noticed as the other tattered lime green and turquoise bracelet fell right next to her own.

***

My flash fiction story develops Solzhenitsyn’s topic of the microcosms that are created within certain environments. In his story, Solzhenitsyn describes how camp life has drastically changed every aspect of the prisoners’ lives. The prisoners’ responses to these changes reveal that camp life has become what is real for them, with the lives they left behind becoming merely fantasies. When Solzhenitsyn describes the characters coming back from a long day of work, he shows that the distortion of reality created by life at the prisons, has completely changed the priorities of the prisoners. To the prisoners one meager bowl of soup after a day of work is, “like rain in a drought.” The extent to which they accept their new realities can be seen by the characters appreciation for their soup, “They cared more for this bowlful than freedom, or for their life in years gone by and years to come” (107). Someone’s goals and state of mind change when the circumstances of their environments change. The prisoners no longer see the importance of freedom because holding onto this hope, will not allow help them to survive in the camps. I echoed this theme in my story shown by T’s apparent indifference to her friend. The school environment has the same effect on the students as the prison camp has on the prisoners. The end of the friendship between T and X wasn’t marked by one specific conflict, but rather how each of their goals and values changed as they joined the new social environment. To further his message, Solzhenitsyn allows the reader to wonder if the characters would be different if they were taken out of the prison environment. Solzhenitsyn hints at the prisoner’s pasts, but doesn’t describe what kind of people they were. In the story, the reader may wonder what kind of relationship the girls shared before they were in the high school environment.

I chose to have my story end with X realizing that T still has the bracelet to show that I believe that someone can’t completely leave their past. Their past friendship still influences T as a person. It is impossible for the girls to completely forget about each other. This idea is seen in the novel, when Shukhov remembers about his wife and family and insists that they not send him packages, the reader can see a part of him that has remained unchanged from being in the camp environment. To a certain extent, he preserves his selflessness while in the camp. He doesn’t become selfishly obsessed with receiving a package that could surely help his situation although some of time he really does wish he could receive one. “He sometimes had the crazy idea somebody might run up to him one day and say: “Shukhov, what are you waiting for? You’ve got a package!” (109). Humans are composites of past experiences and their present environments.