I hugged my mom and dashed for my bedroom before either of them could stop me.   

I stretched beneath the covers of my bed, but I couldn’t get Conrad or the necklace out of my mind. The only thing more puzzling than his note was the pendant itself. What did a six- hundred-year-old necklace have to do with me? And why did he keep asking if I remembered him? I had nightmares from the time I was a small child. I’d always shrugged them off as part of having an overactive imagination, but recently my dreams had turned darker. Torture, murder, and human suffering now plagued my mind as I slept.  The sensible part of my brain told me I was clinically insane, but if that were true, how could a complete stranger claim to know me? How would Conrad be able to return one of my possessions, one I had no memory of owning, if I was simply schizophrenic? As I began to slip into the realm of unconsciousness, I saw Conrad's piercing blue eyes staring at me from a pit of darkness.

My dream was the same as the night before. I begged the merciless king to spare the man’s life. I pleaded with him on my knees, but it was all to no avail. When I fell to my hands, I saw a glistening pendant swinging around my neck. Before I could think about it any further, the axe swung through the air while laughing resonated throughout the room.

I awoke with a start. A glance at my alarm clock told me it was 4:07 A.M. My throat burned. When I tried to speak, a hoarse croak escaped, as if I'd spent hours screaming at the top of my lungs. I grabbed the glass of water off my bedside table and drained it. The cool liquid soothed the sore muscles of my neck. The black velvet box beckoned to me from my dresser. I threw off my comforter and carefully inched over to it. The pendant shone, even in the dim light, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to wear it. The pearl reached the middle of my chest, and the deep red of the stone was almost the same color as my hair. I was captivated by the beauty of it. Looking at my reflection, I couldn’t fight the feeling that I’d seen this necklace before. It seemed to belong around my neck. Reluctantly, I put it back in the box, sliding it into my messenger bag. I needed to figure out what Conrad was doing with such an extravagant piece of jewelry and why he believed I was its owner.