The Golden Coin

Poor girl who finds a golden coin but learns that being rich isn't the best thing in the world...

Only a father.  No mother no comfort her in times of great need.  No siblings to play with.  No grandparents or other relatives to give her hugs and kisses, visiting from miles away.  Only I, Erin, and my father, Mr. Cooper.

We were miners.  We dug deep in Southern Ireland.  We lived in a small cottage home together.  We always went down to the mines to see if anything was leftover for us.  We always mine last, but by that point, everyone has already found the good stuff.

We try very hard every day, but no luck has been found.  Actually, we are going down there right now.  "Do you think we'll find something this week?" I asked my dad hopefully.  "Maybe, sweetie," he replied.  We walked in silence the rest of the way.  But, the silence was broken by the sounds of screams and crashes.  We ran towards the mines, and saw everyone running out as the building collapsed.

My dad quickly took charge.  He sent all people home, and told them everything was fine.  He leaped into the burning mine, and came out with a family of four.  They were crying and holding onto my dad for dear life.  He came over to me, panting.  He picked me up and started running for our house.  I couldn't think he could have lifted me at age 16.

When we got to the house, he was sweaty and shaken.  I got him a jug of water from the `fridge, and he drank all of it in less than 30 seconds.  H handed it back to me, empty.  I guess we would have to fill up in the morning.  I got him the last of my bread, but nothing else was left in the small refrigerator we had.  He pulled something shiny out of his pocket.  It was a golden coin!  "What the-" he started.  But a knock came from the small door.

"Hello," a man said.  'My name is Pat McHenry, and I am the mayor of Leitrim, Ireland." I gasped.  He looked at me and then said, "I would like to thank you for saving all those innocent people in the mines today.  As for your reward-"  "REWARD?!" I interrupted.  "As for your reward," he continued, "I will give you a golden coin.  They are worth one million dollars." he said.  "I couldn't take it.  I ran to my room next door and screamed.  We have two million dollars!

The next day we didn't have to do anything.  But some of dad's friends came over to congratulate him on the mine.  Some tried pick-pocketing him, but he didn't have them in there.  They was secretly hidden beneath our floor.  Well, our floor was actually earth.  We had put a small pebble over them to remember where we had put them.

After everyone had left, I went out to exchange the golden coins for cash, so we could buy things more easily.  The banker gave me two-million dollars in fives, ones, tens and hundreds.  It was  lot of cash!

That night, I heard our new glass windows shatter to the floor.  I crept through the dark to my dad's room, and he got up.  "What," he said.  "Shhh!" I whispered.  "Someone's robbing the house."

That woke him up.  He crept out of the room and looked past the wall.  He saw someone digging little holes in the ground, but it didn't look like any weapons were on him.  That's when my dad went into action.

He ran into the room, flipped on the lights, and started screaming like a maniac.  "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" he was shouting.  The man was so surprised that he fell backwards and crawled out of the house.  Dad check for pebbles, but it looked as if the man had taken them out when he was walking.

"Great," he said, "now we don't know where they are-" "Yes, I do," I said, holding them up in my hand.  "I kept them overnight because I knew someone would be bound to try to steal this."

He looked at me with amazement, and then hugged me.  "You could have gotten hurt if he found out you had the coins.  He could have killed you!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

"I know dad, but they are still here and I am too," I said to him firmly.  He nodded, and we went back to sleep.

The next morning I found holes dug all around my houses from robbers.  He had to fill them back up, but it was nothing compared to being poor again.

We went through the day buying all the food we needed, and some new clothes too.  We also bought some things for decorations for our house and our rooms.  It was very pretty once we had finished stacking in the food and drinks we bought.  This is definitely the sweet life!

The next night my dad had out in the security system he had also bought.  But there was one key thing he forgot to do when we saw more holes the next morning.  He forgot to turn it on!

"Ok, it's on, the light is on and it will work tonight, I promise!  And I have it safe with me now because we have the alarms," my dad said.

That night, we heard the alarms go off, which were really loud.  I ran out of the room and saw a man in black running out the window with a sword at his side.  It was dripping blood.

"Dad?" I said into the darkness of his room.  I flipped on the light switch, and there he was, as cold and white as a bone.  Blood lay on the floor all around him and he was moving as much as a stone.

"Dad!" I cried.  I tried to call 911 but my hands were shaking too much.  The neighbors had already come out because of the alarm but my screaming had made them come a little closer.

I smashed the windows and pummeled through them.  The straw we had as a floor was set on fire, and the whole house was ablaze.  I ran to the river near our house, and I threw the golden coin as far as I possibly could into the water.

Author's Note

So, what do you guys think?

Reviews

[jyfjygfgujhglkjgkutgfvk..]

I liked the "twists" you put on the story. Really entertaining. Great story.

[Raven Starhawk]

A bewildering piece here. It is a host of many delights but only on a writing front. Loved the details too.

[Karina]

Thanks, I just joined yesterday, and I'm working on putting my other writings in here.

[~M&A~]

Wow, It's different. Love how you start the beginning, a bit depressing though, but also very good ^^ I liked it, it was a good write. Perhaps a continue? Or another story? I'd love to read more of your writing ^^