Keta Smith

Dear Stephanie,

"Mom, please get up. We have to go now." "No, I won't make It. You have to get out of here Stephanie." Things were quickly becoming dire In the small, abandoned shack they had been calling home since the outbreak began. But she knew how to survive. They had been in complete destitution since her father was taken away so many years ago, surviving was her skill set. A life that she had become accustomed to. A life that she vowed to keep her son from living, but that vow was broken the day the world started to bleed from every crevice of Its body. A bottle of water was worth more than gold in this world. Or sharing a scrap of stale molded bread was like dining at a Five- star restaurant. Now she was being forced to make a heartbreaking decision. To leave her infected and dying mother behind while she made the unforgiving journey to SanAntonio, Texas, with her young son. "I need to give you something." Linda directed her to a small box on the wooden table. "What Is this Mom?" she squinted her eyes in the darkness at the shiny object her mother retrieved from the small box. "This locket was a gift from your father on our wedding day. She caressed the locket between her frail fingers as tears fell slowly down her cheek. "He told me that It would be extremely important to us one day. I have to tell you why your father was taken away, I should've told you a long time ago. When we're in the marines, your dad knew and saw a lot of things. More than I did in fact. He started to change when we came home for leave, saying he wasn't going back. I was going back with or without him but he was dead set on not returning. He wouldn't tell me why though. So I decided to return and he went AWOL. I found out I was pregnant and I returned home. You stayed with your grandmother until I was discharged. It was hard raising a child without him, but I managed. All I had was this locket, I used to think he cared more about this thing than he did us." she chuckled. Stephanie kneeled in front of her mother and wiped away her tears. "Why is It so important mom? What are you not telling me?" The wind was picking up sending waves of cool air through the broken windows of the shack "Aaron wasn't crazy. He had his reasons for not returning. he told me why this locket was so Important and that you would need it one day. Now that day has come, and you have to get to him before It's too late Stephanie." "Tell me why! What if we don't make it, what if I get sick too and Carter ends up out there alone Mom!" "You'll make it if you leave now. It's a two-hour drive to the address he wrote on the note. Go now!" Stephanie rushed to gather what items she could and wrapped her mother in her American flag quilt, determined to get her to the SUV they had found. "Come on we're leaving you can't stay here. That sickness is saturated in the air there has to be somewhere someone left. You were in the military Mom, you have to know something please!" Taking shallow breaths, Linda pointed to the locket now encased in her daughter's palm and said weakly "Guard that locket with your life, Stephanie. You have to have it when you find him, your father will explain everything to you once you and Carter arrive. You are very special Steph, you're so brave and you've been the best daughter a mother could ask for. Your son will know how special and brave his mommy is one day because he's special too. Whatever you do, don't lose that locket it's all you need to keep you and Carter safe. I love you and tell your father I always believed him." Then silence loudly filled the air as Linda took her dying breath. "Mom! No, come on I can get us there please get up!"