The Magic Ruby Ring

“The Magic Ruby Ring” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Jonah Goulding, USA.

The Magic Ruby Ring

My friend Mitchel and I were down at the beach, playing in the waves when I spotted something. I didn’t want to show it to my mother because she would make me share it. When I looked at it I was amazed! It was a ruby ring and the ruby’s perimeter was about three inches. I put it in my treasure box and went downstairs.

1 hour later…

Dinner was liver and onion soup. At bedtime I just couldn’t get to sleep; I kept thinking about the ring. And then it happened: my treasure box started to rattle, then BOOM. Next thing I knew I was hovering over a strange village. It looked like the 1600’s! There were women in silky dresses and men in suits. Most were in horses and buggies going around the dusty cobblestone roads. A man gestured for me to come. I wasn’t sure he was gesturing to me but I was willing to take the chance of shelter from the rain.

I noticed he was wearing a robe with silver moons and stars lining the edges. Then in a mystical voice he said, “Which would you choose, to go back home and not have the ring or stay here with the ring?” I didn’t know what he was talking about, one: he can’t have known about the ring and two: I didn’t have the ring!

He must have known what I was thinking because he said “check your pocket”. So I reached into my pocket and to my amazement I felt the ring! “So do you want to go home or stay here?” he asked. “I want to go home,” I said quickly. “Hold the ring to your heart and think of the luxuries of your home”, he said. So, I did what he told me to do. Then I was home, in bed and I went to look in my treasure box, empty. So I went to sleep, and dreamt of a diamond ring…