Against All Odds

Don’t you find it funny that we always thought that the world would end with a zombie apocalypse, nuclear war or even machines becoming self-aware? As it turns out, us humans didn’t need a glaringly obvious supervillain to show up and destroy our way of life as we knew it; we were perfectly capable of doing that all on our own.

There wasn’t one singular event that caused the race war to begin in America. There was a series of events that involved white police officers harming or causing the death of a person of color. Peaceful protests as well as riots broke out across the country; both groups had been met with police resistance…sometimes extremely forceful resistance was used when it was completely unnecessary, which led to a distrust between citizens and law enforcement. This pattern continued for years to come in America. Our unofficial race war in America began to influence other countries negatively, who began their own race wars. Some race wars stayed within their own country, while other wars were aimed at the people of other countries. I think ultimately when it became a worldwide event, it was the beginning of the end. It became every race for themselves. I could never get behind that mentality. I just couldn’t wrap my head around how we as a human race could hate each other purely based on the different skin tones we all have because of the race we were born into. When the official race war started, I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. I didn’t want to lose my friends; I didn’t want to lose him. In the end, it wasn’t my choice. They weren’t willing to risk their lives’ to be in mine, and I can’t blame them for that.

I looked down at the heart-shaped locket around my neck and grasped it tightly in my palm. This was my most prized possession these days. It brought me loving memories and comfort during my time on this hell on earth. I wanted to open it, I wanted to see his face once again. I’d have to sneak away at dusk. This would be the least dangerous time to be out in the open, and hopefully my group wouldn’t notice my absence.

When dusk arrived, I set off immediately. I had done this plenty of times before at this point. Anytime I wanted to see him, I had to sneak away. I already had my destination in mind. I was going to our spot. The spot where we had our first date. I could see it in the distance. A beautiful big willow tree by the lake. He brought me here on our first date. He had prepared a picnic feast for us. It had been the sweetest gesture I had ever received. This is where he won my heart.

I settled onto the ground beneath the tree and leaned against its trunk. I let out a sigh while gazing at the scenery around me. Even at dusk, this place was beautiful. I slowly and carefully unclasped the locket around my neck. I admired the tiny gold heart in my palm. It doesn’t matter how many times I look at it, it never gets old. He gave this to me for our one-year anniversary. I thought it was so cheesy and cliché at first, but now…I’m so grateful for it. I opened the locket to reveal a picture of us. Tears immediately flooded my eyes. We had such big smiles on our faces, and you could tell that, in that moment in time, we didn’t have a care in the world. Every time I saw this photo of us, I was in complete bliss. Nothing could ruin this feeling.

Suddenly, I heard a gun being cocked behind me.

“Damnit.” I internally thought to myself. I really messed up this time. I slowly turned to meet the face of my soon-to-be murderer.

“Holy shit.” I said aloud. I was looking into his eyes then. Not through a picture in my locket, but in person.

“Allie...?” He questioned, not believing it was really me.

“Darrell!” I gasped and began running towards him with my arms wide open, eager to pull him into a hug. He dodged my advance and made sure to keep a safe distance between us.

“What are you doing!?” He exclaimed. “Are you trying to get us both executed?” He questioned.

My face fell. I forgot that even hugging him could be seen as a traitorous act. We both looked around then to make sure we were the only ones out here. After we were both sure that we were the only ones around, I saw his eyes land on my locket that I had dropped on the ground in my excitement.

“I’m starting to think you are trying to get yourself executed. Why the hell do you have that?” He questioned me angrily.

I stared back in shock. I was speechless. Here I am, in sorrow every day, missing him, and he…just doesn’t seem to care. “I-I..” was all I could manage to choke out. Tears began to stream down my face.

His face softened then. “Come on Allie, you know I didn’t mean it that way. You can get killed for having that with you. You know that.” He whispered.

I walked back over to my locket and reclasped it around my neck before looking back over to him. “I don’t care.” I stared blankly at him.

He gawked at me then. “You’re still stubborn as hell.” He flashed that winning smile my way and I could feel my heart melt.

I smiled back at him before sitting back down against the trunk of the willow tree. I flashed another smile while patting the ground beside me. “Come join me, there’s no one around.”

“How would you know that?” He asked me.

I shrugged. “I come out here a lot. No one is ever around at this time. It makes seeing you here even more surprising.” I said.

He bit his lip and hesitantly sat down beside me. “I missed you…I mean, I miss you all the time, but this time I decided I needed to come here.” He said, answering my confusion from before.

“Darrell, why are we doing this? Why aren’t we together?” I questioned.

He gave me a sort of dumbfounded look before saying, “Have you by any chance heard of the race war?”

I swatted at him playfully. “Obviously.” I said flatly. “I meant, why didn’t we try fighting for us?”

He lifted my hand and brought it to his lips. I was shocked that he was willing to show any affection towards me, I knew he was still nervous. “There just weren’t many interracial couples that we knew at the time Allie, who would have stood beside us?”

I sighed. “It just shouldn’t be this way. No one can control what skin color they’re born with, so why is this stupid war even a thing?”

He smiled at me and pulled me in for a hug then. “I don’t have those answers my love.” He said as he began to stroke my hair. “My god, how I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too.” I mumbled into his chest. “I wish this moment could last forever.”

He pulled me away from him then and stared into my eyes. “Maybe we could…no.” He thought aloud.

“Run away together?” I finished his thought. I know that had to be what he was thinking because I was thinking it too.

“You’d risk your life to be with me?” He asked.

“Yes.” I answered with no hesitation. “I love you. Nothing can change that. It’s been hell on earth without you. I can’t lose you again.”

He nodded and pulled me into a hug again. “I love you too.”

We both stared out at the lake in front of us.

“Do you remember our first fight?” I asked him.

“Unfortunately, yes. I hated fighting with you. I felt awful every time.” He said.

“Well, I remember after we had our first fight, I was crying, and you came over to me and apologized. I told you how I was so scared that we were going to break up after having that fight, but you told me that, no matter what, against all odds, we could make it through any situation.” I said.

He smiled then and intertwined his fingers with mine. “Against all odds then?” He asked.

“Against all odds.” I agreed.

We went back to staring out at the beautiful lake ahead, contemplating our next moves, knowing that no matter what, we were in this together.