Bleeding heart

“You know, if they find me, we're done for.” Lucia said, with her head turned away from me. I was standing over her as she lay across a large, tattered sofa with her hair fanned out behind her. Her dark skin contrasted with the white dress she wore, and her eyes had a permanent faraway look in them. Like she was dreaming she was somewhere else. Sill, the most striking thing about her was the gold, heart-shaped locket hanging around her neck. This is what they were all looking for - what they would kill to have. Even from deep down in our bunker, we could hear the chaos that reigned outside.

I smiled sadly. “It's not the best way to go, I admit. Really, I had hoped to die of old age surrounded by family, but at this point, beggars can't be choosers I guess.” I said with resignation, trying my best to lighten the mood.

“I'm not talking about just us.” Lucia snapped her head towards me. “I'm talking about all of humanity. If those people get their hands on this locket, humanity is done for.”

I shuffle on my feet. “Isn't humanity already done for?”

“Almost...” She whispered, and clutched the locket. For a moment I thought back to when we first came down there. It was somebody else's bunker, God knows who, but one of Lucia's old acquaintances tipped us off about it. He gave us a set of directions and a small map, and told us if we could find it we should go down there and never come out. He was supposed to meet us at the bunker, but two months later with no sign of him, we had to assume the worst. It was happenstance that we met when we did; we were strangers before civilisation collapsed, and I had no knowledge of survival - if it wasn't for them finding me, I would've been long dead. I travelled with them for just two days before he gave us those directions, thus making me Lucia's protector.

Since being in that bunker together, we'd learnt a lot about each other, but she's always been slightly secretive about that locket.

All I knew was this: everything had been destroyed, and that locket was the last valuable thing on earth.

“Lucia...” I started. “why do they even want that locket so bad? It's not like they can do anything with it. There's nothing left.”

“I don't know, truly. But I assume it's because they think it will give them power, or authority, in a world which now lacks those things.” She mused. “This is the only item left of any value. I suppose they think that in turn, having it will give them value and people might respect them. Maybe they're right...” Lucia trailed off. “But if that's the case, does that mean our value as human beings is based on the things we own? Without this locket, is my life worth nothing?”

“I don't think that's true.”

“Isn't it?” Lucia asked, “everyone out there seems to think it is. I can't think of any other reason why they might want this.”

It's not something you'd want to admit, you'd hope that people might be better. I thought about all those things we learnt, how from a young age we were told that every person had something unique and valuable to offer. At that moment, I thought it was all a lie.

Lucia had a point, but something else was bugging me. “Okay, well if that's the case why would humanity be doomed if they got it? Why do you bother keeping it safe? And why should I bother protecting you?” I said feeling pangs of anger.

Lucia looked into my eyes. For once, that faraway look of hers had disappeared. “I know what you're thinking. That I'm only wearing this locket, and fighting so hard to keep it because I want to feel some importance as a human being. But that's not true.” She sat up. “Inside this locket, there is a key.” With one hand, she opened up the heart, revealing a small, silver key.

I looked at it, wide-eyed. “What does it open?”

There was a loud bang from the ground above our bunker. Lucia panicked and quickly shut the locket. They knew we were down there.

In a matter of seconds, she regained her composure, but kept a vigilant expression. “I don't know. And nobody else knows about the key - they can't ever know about it. If they do, I'm afraid of what they might open with it.”

Another bang sounded. That time closer, louder.

She looked frightened, but didn't move. “This key... It is the key to our hearts. Tiny, secret, and shut away somewhere that nobody knows.” That far away expression back in her eyes. “I hope that one day we can live without fear of one another and use this key to open all our hearts.”

The alarms began to sound and we looked at each other. Lucia stood up and held my face in her hands with a desperate expression. “They know I have the locket and they'll hunt me forever, but they don't know about you.”

I stared into her eyes, tearfully. But there was no time for arguments. I nodded as she unclasped the locket from around her neck. One last time, she opened it, and let a single tear fall on the key. We hugged finally; it was just a few seconds but I would remember that moment forever. Lucia putting the locket around my neck as we embraced, her tears soaking into my dress, then us quickly letting go so I could make my way towards the most hidden exit.

Before I ascended, she called to me:

“for the record, I don't think it's true either. Even with nothing, you were worth something to me.”

I smiled at Lucia then closed the exit before they burst in. I ran and ran up those stairs, all the while trying to block out the noise. Her screams, the alarms, the violence - a reaction to all the horrors of the world. I felt a deep and burning hatred well inside me.

But just as quickly as it started, it stopped.

I lifted a hatch to the world above ground, and there was silence. The only sound that could be heard was my heart. Almost destroyed, but still beating.