Silver Bracelet

The Silver Bracelet is a scary tale about two young boys who come across an ancient stone monument near a small village in Ireland. My mother grew up in Ireland and her grandparents lived in a small village, not far from Doolin in County Clare. One Summer, when I was ten years old, my parents sent me to visit them. As soon as I got off the plane, my grandparents were there to meet me. We got into their car and they drove me all the way back to their village. When we got there, I discovered that the area was very remote. There were fields, hills and mountains as far as the eye could see. There were only a few houses in the village and the bus only passed through twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. There didn't seem to be much to keep a young boy occupied and I was worried that it was going to be a very boring Summer. Luckily, the family who lived next door to my grandparents had a son who was around the same age as me. His name was Cullen and as soon as we met each other, we became the best of friends. I'm sure he was glad to have someone to play with. We spent the Summer exploring the area and had many little adventures together in the old caves and ancient ruins. One evening, Cullen took me out to see the Burren. It was a huge, barren and rocky plateau that was covered with a natural limestone pavement. If it hadn't been for the tufts of grass poking up through the cracks in the rock, it would have looked almost like the surface of the moon. When we climbed up the hill, it was almost 6PM and the sun was beginning to set. I saw a large stone structure nearby and when I asked Cullen what it was, he told me they called it a Dolmen. Four large, grey rocks had been arranged in a circle and a long, flat piece of limestone was balanced on top. The sun was shining through the gaps in the rock, making it look eerie and beautiful at the same time. We went over to take a look and I climbed in through the stones. One of the rocks had some strange markings on it. Somebody had carved a series of long and short scratches into the stone. It looked like some kind of ancient writing and I ran my fingers over it, wondering what it meant. Just then, I heard Cullen say, 'What that over there?' Looking down at the spot he was pointing at, I saw there was a fissure in the rocky pavement we were standing on. It was filled with mud, weeds and moss. Cullen got down on his knees and began scraping away the dirt with his hands. Eventually, he revealed what looked like the corner of a wooden box, sticking up out of the soil. All of a sudden, I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. 'Let's go home,' I said, standing up. 'This is kind of spooky.' Cullen ignored me and kept digging and tugging at the wooden boxuntil it came free. It was wrapped in rags and when he held it up, I could make out some kind of ancient writing on the cloth. 'Give me a look at that,' I said and I took the wooden box from him. I couldn't make any sense of it. The writing wasn't in any language i had ever heard of. I tried to open the box, but try as I might, I couldn't budge the clasp on the front. It seemed to have been sealed shut. Cullen grabbed the box out of my hands. 'I'm the one who found it,' he said. 'It belongs to me!' He began bashing it against the large stones until it finally shattered. As he prised the broken pieces apart, something fell out and clattered against the stones at our feet. It was a silver bracelet. Cullen picked it up, spat on his fingers and began rubbing it. The mud came off, revealing a strange design on the shining metal surface beneath. There was something very creepy about it. 'I bet this is worth a fortune,' said Cullen as he tried to put the bracelet around his wrist. Suddenly, I had a very bad feeling. 'Don't do that!' I cried, but it was too late. The moment that Cullen put on the silver bracelet, a haunting cry echoed around the surrounding area. It sounded like some kind of bird or animal screaming. For a few moments, we looked around. In the light of the setting sun, the area took on a spooky atmosphere.