12 Tale #12: Forever Friends

Anita and Monica were two peas in a pod. They're partners in crime, a riding in tandem, and the bests of friends. Whenever they succeeded or failed on something, they would always walk hand in hand, sit on their favorite bench while eating vanilla ice cream. Because of this, they were sometimes mistaken as sisters, although they love it when they're called sisters.

However, even how strong their bond was, there's still an incident that shocked and tested their friendship till the very end. Anita and Monica were fascinated with jewels since their childhood. They love those shiny stones and decided to have all the famous gems in the world for themselves. They've stolen most of the famous jewels around the world: The Dresden Green, The Graff Pink, The Hope Diamond, The Black Orlov Diamond; and their latest steal: The L 'Incomparable Diamond Necklace on which they've stolen in a museum exhibit three days ago. They've escaped the building with the necklace hand in hand, giggling at their success.

Now, they're frantically pacing from room to room putting all their stolen jewelries in their bags. Three days after they've stolen the necklace, a report of their crime was published in newspaper saying that the police have found a lead about the famous jewel stealers. In the picture in the newspaper, a piece of hair was incased in a zip lock bag with a label of evidence. It was a reddish- brown hair strand— just like Anita and Monica. The police said that they are now tracing who the hair owner was and that it could be the jewel stealer.

When they found about this, they have no time to argue. All they want to get their jewels and flee the city to a secluded cabin at the countryside. Both the girls were putting every jewels they find in their bag when they both grabbed the L 'Incomparable Diamond Necklace. They stared at each other's' eyes and began to pull the necklace back and forth. They keep on insisting that they should be the one to keep the necklace.

"Let go of it Anita, your bag is almost full, mine isn't. I should be the one to keep it." Monica insisted, her voice nearing a growl. But Anita didn't let go. Instead, she held the necklace with two hands and tried to get the necklace from Monica's grasps.

"No, I should be the one to keep it. I was the one who did most of the work to get this while YOU... you're just sitting from afar watching me do the work! And besides, it could be your hair since it's' a short strand and you have a short hair!" Anita refuted, her voice getting higher and higher because of anger.

Monica just growled back, she grunted and tried to pull the necklace with one hand while the other was searching for something in her jackets' pocket. When she couldn't find what she's looking for, she just grunted again and pulled the necklace with both hands and said, "Well dumbass, I wasn't at the scene remember! You said it yourself, I was watching from afar preventing any interferences while you work. Do you know how hard and brain-wrecking it is while I delay the police from responding to you?! While all you have to do was grab the necklace and run?!"

Anita didn't responded back. Both of them roared in anger and continued their tag of war. They're both grunting and pulling until— the necklace broke. The chain broke and scattered the little diamonds that tumbled on the floor with a clinking noises. Anita and Monica's shortly stopped when they saw the diamond pendant tumble on the floor and landed beneath the drawer table. They came back to reality when they heard police sirens outside.

Both gasps for air and ducked to get the diamond pendant. But since Anita's hand were smaller than Monica, she was able to grab the pendant easily and got up with a smile. Monica on the other hand, gathered the smaller gems and put them inside her bag.

Anita and Monica both headed to the back door where their motorcycles were parked in case of emergencies like this. They heard their front door drop open when they straddled in their motors.

"Anita come on!" Shouted Monica who is putting on her helmet. Anita' hand were trembling and she can't insert the key to the keyhole. "I— I can't start the engine Monica!" She shouted back. "Just ride with me! Come on!" Monica instructed in which Anita obliged.

Monica and Anita rode the motor with full speed into the streets of the city to the outskirts of town until no police mobile were chasing them. Amidst that intense chase, the two best friends still managed to laugh their tension out as they ride the motorcycle.

"I'm sorry for what I said." Anita said with a hushed voice.

"The important thing now is that no police are chasing us and we still have our jewels." Monica replied with much happiness in her voice. The two of them giggled again at their successful escape from the police when the motors' front wheel exploded with a loud pop and the two of them were sent flying when they hit a light pole.

All their jewels from their bags scattered and rained down the road. All sparkling from the lights coming from police cars.

"Monica, run." Anita said to her best friend. Her voice was weak and raspy, her body aching all over and she couldn't feel her legs anymore. She saw Monica trying her best to stand on her knees, slowly walking towards her.

"Monica, run." She said again, but Monica didn't listen. Monica inched her ways towards Anita and let out a hand. Anita thought that Monica wouldn't leave without her, that they're friends forever when Monica harshly grabbed the diamond pendant from her hand. "Told you I should be the one to keep it." Monica said, her voice also raspy and weak, but she's spurting blood out of her mouth with each words uttered.

Albeit, Anita didn't care about what her best friend said. All she wanted was for Monica to be safe and to warn her about a policeman walking towards them— guns held out and ready to fire. Anita was about to warn her when they both heard two loud bangs. Then Monica fell to the ground with a thud. The diamond tumbled in between their hands and landed in the middle, just barely touching their pinky fingers.

Both were gasping for air, their breaths short and shallow, both vision started to get blurry and darken.

"Anita, I— I'm sor— sorry I shouted a— at you." Monica said between gasping airs.

"I to— told y— you to r— run." Anita replied. Her visions were getting darker and darker.

"I can— can't le— leave you. Wer— we're frie— friends remember?" Monica said, she's having a hard time breath.

Both of them smiled at each other and said, "Yes, friends forever." After that, they both stopped breathing and their souls left the Earth.

The police began to recover all their stolen jewels and put their bodies in a bag. Three days later, they published that the two famous jewel stealers were gone and all of their stolen gems were returned to its rightful owner. However, when jewelers were analyzing each gem, they noticed that the pendant of the L 'Incomparable Diamond Necklace was missing. Another investigation was conducted and they still couldn't find the diamond pendant.

The L 'Incomparable Diamond Necklace was built again but, the diamond pendant was never found. When the forensics did an autopsy to the bodies of Anita and Monica, they were shocked by the discovery.

The pendant, was broken in half, each planted to both their hearts.