One for sorrow, two for mirth. Three for a wedding, four for a birth. Five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.

That's the rhyme my mother used to repeat to me in a drowsy singing voice while she put me to bed. Now, I hum the tune to myself as I wait in bed for sleep to pull me into his icy grip.

"One for sorrow," I sing softly, a small smile appearing on my face. "Two for mirth. Three for a wedding, four for a birth."

Many times has my voice been praised. 'Oh, you sound just like an angel!' They'd say. That I sound like tinkling bells and a cool spring breeze, or a young girl singing to her dolls.

"Five for silver," I continue, opening my eyes and staring up at the dark ceiling. "six for gold," I close my eyes back and cushion my head on my forearms.

"Seven for a secret never to be told." I finish in a whisper of a melody. I sigh and smile. I take a breath and start singing again.

"One for sorrow, two for mirth. Three for a wedding, four for a birth." I sing quietly. "Five for silver, six for gold..." My eyes open again, wider this time when I hear the almost ghostly voice of my mother join in. "And seven for a secret never to be told..." I whisper along with her.

I close my eyes tightly, fighting back tears.

"I miss you, mama...I miss you so much. Why did you have to leave me?" I whisper sadly.

One for sorrow

I remember the day like yesterday. Five years ago, when I was eleven years old, I let out an ugly sob, a noise nobody expected from a girl with such a lovely singing voice as me to make.

The tears fell off my face in torrents as I stared down at the ornately decorated coffin I was numbly shoveling a hand full of dirt onto it. According to my dad, this was what they did at Jewish funerals after the service...or whatever it is. How would I know? I was too out of it to notice anything but the pale wood coffin. I especially didn't notice the single black crow flying into the sky.

I remember the sharp pain of biting my lip hard enough to draw blood. The death of my mother...that was something nobody had been expecting. My dad apparently got back from work one day and found her dead in her bed, her arms down my her sides, as if she had been expecting it.

He had rushed into my room, crying harder than I had ever seen anybody cry. He buried his head in my neck and cried so hard that I had started to cry. When I asked him what happened he just looked up at me with a tear stained face.

"Oh, Danielle...I loved her so much...she adored you..." He muttered, sniffling. I hadn't actually known what he was talking about until I pushed him away and ran into mom's room.

Two for mirth

My twelfth year as a human on this Earth. It was the first day of school in September and I was just getting over the death of mom from the beginning of summer. I was walking to school, looking at the ground, but when I looked up, I saw two crows perched on a tree. I didn't look back up after that.

I walked into school and had a run in with a sassy brat of a girl, and the obviously quiet girl came to my rescue and punched her in the nose. She got suspended for two days, but being friends with her made seventh grade the highlight of middle school.

Her name was Nathalie and she was the quietest girl in the grade. When she got angry, though, she would completely explode. People stayed away from her for both of those reasons. But...I didn't, for some reason.

I had so much fun being her friend. Sadly, she moved away the next year for some reason. But back to grade seven. I sang for Nat when we hung out, watching her doodle intricate pictures in her notebook with a smile.

Three for a wedding

Around the beginning of May, Nat told me that her older brother was getting married in a couple weeks. Of course, she begged me to come as the only other kid her age. And of course, I agreed.

I remember her taking me by the hand, running for at least ten minutes to the nearest mall. We bought the most beautiful dresses. Mine was a light lavender colour and full of ruffles and bows...just something mom would have liked.

The wedding was spectacular, but in a cute, small sort of way. Nat and I stayed for the actual wedding-ing, but as soon as that was done, we rushed to the food table and 'stole' a bunch of snacks. Those were also pretty good!

As we sat and ate our treats, we tossed crumbs at a group of three black birds, their feathers gleaming in the happy light.

Four for a birth

The summer before eighth grade started, Nathalie told me she had to move away. Her reasons were vague, including her brother and mom and yada yada, nothing important.

It really was terrible, because she moved away a week before the day that we mourned for the death of Melissa Herson. I had wanted to spend the day with my one and only friend, but those plans were ruined. I ended up spending the entire day in my room...I remember making a mountain of used tissues.

The rest of the summer was just the now-open wound of mom's death healing up again. The first week back in school I spent basically going through the motions. I was really out of it...

Until I met Lucas. Lucas was...he was sweet, he was smart and adorkable. He was so nice to me and we hung out literally all the time. On weekends, after school, all the time. We were so close. Still are, actually.

He called me up sometime in December and told me with excitement that his mom had given birth to a baby girl. When he told me that he convinced her to name the baby Melissa...I cried so hard into his chest that I think I soaked his shirt.

The four crows cawing in the sky didn't even register on my radar of anything happening around me.

He just sat there with a small smile on his face as he rubbed soothing circles into my back. We were even closer after that.

Five for silver

We were pretty much normal until one day when Lucas came over to my house around the date of Valentine's day. We were literally just chilling on my bed. I remember I was reading a book, and I had lent him one of my DC comics. I think it was Batman.

But back to the subject at hand. We were sitting on my bed listening to music. I forget what it was, but Lucas was taking a looooong break from his comic to just watch me with a straight face.

I looked up at him with a confused expression. "What? Am I off?" I asked him.

He responded with a quiet "No...you're perfect." I watched as his face turned bright red and he bit his lip, looking away. "I m-mean..." He looked back at me with a set expression of courage. "I mean...you're perfect. That's exactly what I mean. The perfect person. You." He rushed out, closing his eyes while he waited for my answer. To this day, I'm still pretty impressed with how quick I managed to come up with it.

I can imagine the exact thought process I was going through to decide what to say, actually, and my brain decided on one thing. I looked over at him, my apparently perfect lips twisting into an apparently gorgeous smile, and said exactly this: "Lucas, you flatter me. But are you gonna tell me what this is really about?"

His eyes were the size of the moon, and he was so obviously flustered that he could barely squeak out a "Yes!" But he gathered himself and looked at me with a new admiration in his eyes.

He got off the bed and kneeled on the floor in front of me, taking out a small box. I had no idea what to do. I was thirteen, three years ago. He looked up at me hopefully and slowly opened the box. I looked into his shining emerald eyes as he said to me what I had subconsciously wanted him to say for ages.

"Danielle Juliet Herson, will you do me the absolute favour of being the boyfriend of the most perfect girl in the entire universe?" He said to me softly, opening the box and holding up the prettiest silver bracelet I had ever seen.

I had nodded with a closed mouth, reaching down with a shaky hand and taking the box. I set it on my bed and pulled Lucas up to his feet, right before rushing forward and kissing him lightly on the lips.

Five crows watched from my windowsill as I enjoyed my very first kiss.

Six for gold

We were officially an 'item' after that. Our ship name that our classmates came up with was Lani. Lucas was honestly one of the best things that had happened to me since mom's death, aside from Nat. But that was short lived, and I needed to try to hold on to this 'Lani' for as long as I can.

A month later, in March, Lucas came up to me in the cafeteria and tugged me by the arm outside. I smiled at him, holding tightly onto my tray of food so that it wouldn't fall. He lead me out into the green field of grass where people sat to eat instead of the crowded cafeteria.

He brought me over to a tree with six birds, crows, circling in an odd pattern over it, and sat down under it, patting the space next to him to ask me to sit. I nodded and sat down, picking up my fork and taking a bite of my salad. He smiled at me and tilted his head to the side that made my cheeks tint pink.

"Dani, you know that today is our one month anniversary?" He asked me, blushing lightly. I had, in fact, known, but I wanted to see what he had to say first. I just nodded and took another bite of my food.

Next thing I knew, he was holding another little box. He held it out to me and smiled. "For you. Your anniversary gift." He chuckled at the awed expression on my face and looked down.

I remember opening the box and staring down at the delicate gold bracelet. It looked very similar to my silver one, but it was just as beautiful.

I bit my lip, smiling as I picked it up out of the box. Lucas took the bracelet and helped me put it on, on the same wrist as the other one.

We're still dating, three years later, and I haven't taken either bracelet off since then.

Seven for a secret never to be told.

As I go over the rhyme again, I look to the side of my bed and a faint smile appears on my face.

"One for sorrow, two for mirth..." I sing along with my mother's ghost. The pale, glowing form of Melissa Herson's eyes are closed and she's sitting on the rocking chair next to my bed.

"Three for a wedding, four for a birth." Mom sings louder than me, smiling into my room. She opens her eyes and looks right at me, lifting a spectral hand and brushing a strand of my brown hair out of my face.

"Five for silver, six for gold," I reach a hand up and place it on hers. My hands rests on hers and I smile.

My mom sighs and sits on my bed next to me, leaning down and pressing her cold, dead lips to my forehead. I fiddle with the bracelets on my wrist and let out a small breath at how cold mom's lips are.

"And seven for a secret never to be told." We finish together as my mother's form drifts away, turning into seven transparent black crows and flying out my open window in a v formation.

A secret...Like the one secret I have, the one that my dead mother comes back from the grave every night and sings me to sleep with her ghostly voice.

"Seven...for a secret never to be told..." I murmur as I drift off to sleep. 

A/N: So yeah. One shot. Random thing I came up with.   Yeah, yeah, I know there are different versions of the poem rhyme thing, but this is the one I found and used. 

Kinda creepyish, to be honest, but what can ya do about it! Tell me what you thought of it in the comments!