Echoes

The clatter of debris being tossed aside filled the air as she searched the ruins of an old house, scavenging for anything that might be valuable enough to trade. She was growing more frustrated by the minute. This was the fourth house El had searched today and she'd had very little luck. A few old dishes and bits of silverware were about the extent of it. Things she would likely use herself. Everything else seemed to have been picked clean by others before she got here.

After a bit more searching, she let out a growl and kicked at an old chair. El would find nothing here. Turning, the young scavenger started to make her way out of the crumbling structure. Her brown eyes were focused on the ground as she gingerly maneuvered her way over the less than stable floorboards. If she wasn't careful, they could give way below her and send her to the floors below much quicker than she wanted; likely with broken bones.

She had nearly reached what remained of the doorway when a glint of silver caught her gaze. Narrowing her eyes, she tried to make out what it was. She crouched to sift through the small pile of wood fragments and crumbled drywall until she uncovered the source. It was a little heart shaped locket and when she wiped away the dirt on it, El found that there was the letter "E" engraved in curling script. It's chain was broken. That's probably how the sentimental piece of jewelry was left behind when the owner fled the attack.

"Perhaps this day wasn't so wasted, after all," she mused.

Silver and other metals were highly valued by the traders. Even a small bit like this could get her a good amount of food. Rising, she stuffed the locket into her pocket and continued to make her way out of the house. Once out on the street, she paused once again to take a drink of water from her canteen. Looking around, she contemplated her surroundings. This was once probably a very nice suburban neighborhood full of friendly people, laughing children, and barking dogs. It wasn't even really all that long ago. Barely even fifteen years.

*~*~*

An hour later, El banged on the heavy metal door to her family's bunker. As she waited for someone to open it up, her eyes scanned her surroundings cautiously as she tightly gripped her staff. Rover attacks could happen at any time. She wouldn't be safe until she was inside. To that end, she banged on the door again. Finally, after a long minute, she heard the scraping of the bars as they were laboriously pulled back and the door opened.

"Took long enough," El grumbled at her younger sister as she hurried inside.

"Patience is a virtue," the girl quipped.

The older sister rolled her eyes as she helped Lyanna push the door closed and get the bars slid back into place. After the door was secure again, she headed into the living area just as her father came out of the sleeping area. He gave her a questioning look.

"Not much to find," she grumbled, stopping at their dining table and pulling out the little that she'd found.

Her father's bluish gray eyes scanned the meager haul with dissatisfaction. Then, his gaze landed on the locket and a look of disbelief spread across his face. His hand was trembling when he picked it up.

"Where..." he cleared his throat. "Where did you find this?"

El shrugged carelessly. "In a house in some old subdivision near the river."

He blinked furiously and his eyes looked misty as he tenderly wiped off the locket with the edge of his shirt. His fingers fumbled a bit as he opened the little silver heart to look at the faded pictures inside. Curious, El and her sister peered over his shoulders. She was fascinated to see that it was actually a locket that could hold four pictures.

"I can't believe you found this," her father said hoarsely.

She was about to ask what he meant when she recognized one of the pictures. Her eyes widened.

"Mama?"

Her father nodded, sinking into the nearby chair. In the picture, her mother sat up in a hospital bed smiling down at a tiny baby in her arms. It took her a minute to realize that the baby must've been her. This picture was from the day that she was born.

"I got this locket for your mother the Christmas right before you were born," he told them with a bittersweet smile.

The three of them looked at the little images for several long minutes. There was the picture from her birth, a picture of her father on their wedding day, a picture of her mother with her parents, and a picture of her mother's grandparents. El couldn't believe that she hadn't recognized where she was.

Lyanna was a baby and she was barely six when they had to flee their home, but she had vague memories of playing in that front yard while her mother tended to the flowers she kept planted. Back before all of the fighting and the world as they knew it ended. Ten years later, her mother grew very sick. They were fairly certain that it was cancer, but all of the medical equipment that once would have been used to diagnose something like that was now unusable and useless. The world's power grids had been wiped out during World War 3. So had anything that could have possibly been used to treat it.

When they fled their home, anything sentimental like pictures had been left behind. After her mother died, El often wished that she had a photo so that she and her little sister wouldn't forget her face.

"You look like her, El," Lyanna said softly.

"Things were so much better then," El replied, just as softly.

She looked in the general direction of where she'd found the locket. She had gone out today to find things of value to trade. What she found, though, turned out to be priceless. She wondered if she would be able to find more fragments of better days.