The Cremation Ashes Necklace from My Best Friend

As I walked out of the hospital, an old man suddenly stared at the necklace around my neck and said, "Young lady, you're pregnant, yet you're wearing the ashes of a stillborn child. This is a trade of life for death. Your child has been exchanged into someone else's womb!"

The necklace was a gift from my best friend after her miscarriage. I hadn’t wanted to wear it, but she insisted and made me put it on. This morning, she found out she was pregnant again, while my previously healthy baby suddenly had no detectable heartbeat.

A chill ran through me. When I got home, I put the ashes necklace around the neck of a pregnant black dog.