The Ring

Cho was walking down the street when the ring slipped through his hand as he bumped into a kid who was running with his head looking back. The kid said his sorry and ran along, he hadn’t notice it missing until he tried to rub his finger.

He bent down to search the sidewalk for his missing ring, the sun was almost out and the light was dim, he hoped to catch a glimpse of the ring’s reflection some how but couldn’t see it anywhere. He squatted down and squinted and scanned the pavement, still nothing.

Every inches carefully surveyed, every crack and brick turned, and he had not seen the ring, not even a slightest hint of where it was. He was desperate, his heart was pounding and sweat was running down his forehead. It felt like going to his first job interview, except no one was judging him.

The ring itself was plain, round and polished and shimmer a silver ray like those you could get from any jewelry shop, there was no craving of letter or any special mark that could be used for identification, it was just a ring, raw and light.

So much so, it had its own special meaning to him. It was the first ring he had in his life, given to him by his father who wore it since the day he was born, and it was said to be the family heirloom, passed down for generations. When he wore it for the first time, it felt heavy as if the weight was burdened by its history.

A ring like that bear more sentimental value than its monetary value, when his father told him about the origin of the ring, he could hardly believe it. It wasn’t anything magical or mystical, nothing of that sort, not even twenty thousand leagues close to The Lord of the Rings.

Now that he thought of it, maybe the kid took it, he couldn’t tell, but the chance wasn’t slim. Kids like that, skinny and foul-looking with long, messy hair tend to steal, or were forced to steal for someone.

He didn’t the see the kid running at his way because he was looking up at the lightpost where he was standing, it was flickering, the white ray going on and off, he was about to call in when he saw the kid just before he crashed into him.

The impact was huge, partly because he wasn’t expecting, or anticipating such an event to happen on a deserted street, partly because he was feeling a bit lightheaded after work, and actually he was heading to the clinic for medicines if not for that kid.

The kid knocked him on the ground and he could feel the pain on his butt and lower half of his back. He did keep saying sorry mister, I didn’t see you there mister, it was my fault mister, are you alright mister, and hurried off.

Cho struggled to stood up and softly massaged and rubbed against his lower back, and that was when he felt something amiss, an ounce light on his finger.