Forever In Debt

I didn't know they were enchanted.

“It’s useless,” she sneered over her shoulder. “Why d’you wanna keep it? Look for something that can, ya know, help us!”

I was tired of scavenging. The search parties were never fun and everlasting; somebody was always in need of something--yet--most times, it often felt like there was nothing else to be had anymore. We were almost out of resources. We were running out of time.

“It won’t hurt if I keep this.” I couldn’t stop scanning the sheet music. Such an artifact was rare--near extinct even! We had been trapped underground for so long I had forgotten that artistry and culture had actually existed in the world. “I’m pretty sure I’m the only person for eons that can read this.”

She was tired of my whimsy. “It’ll be good for fuel later,” this quip came with a smirk as she hauled a half-filled plastic tankard containing the last dregs of gasoline the rest stop could provide us into our trusty wheelbarrow. “We need water and food.”

“We always need water and food.” I grumbled, folding the treasure and gingerly placing it inside of my least-filthy cargo pocket. “We’ve used all the resources here, Yellow. We have to move on.”

Yellow gave me her back and left me in silence. Annoyed, I shifted my weight and continued to drag the wheelbarrow behind me. We did three loops about the rest stop, picking through the remains we’d already scoured for the umpteenth time, praying that the leftover rear view air fresheners would magically transmute into something we could actually use for survival.

“Our group has gotten too big.” I wipe my brow and shimmy my position to glance outside and check the position of the sun.

We can’t be outside after dark.

“It’s getting impossible to feed them all.”

“Bullshit.” Yellow bares her teeth at me, and I take in the beauty beyond her filth. She looks and acts just like mom, no matter how much she denies it. “We’ve been doing just fine.”

“We’ll run out of water before the week’s over.” I wasn’t aware that I was whining, but the look on Yellow’s face gave it away. “We should’ve skipped this commune shit. We were better off--”

“Dead?”

The silence is heavier than the molten, humid heat that surrounds us. Yellow’s chest heaves as she stares at me through the confrontation. I’m well used to these; we argue more than anyone else I’d ever known, we always had--even before the Decline.

“No.” I swallowed to buy time, even though my body was too dehydrated to produce spit. “Of course not.”

Yellow is my younger sister. People said we look alike, and sometimes I saw it… but still, we’ve always been two entirely different people. She tried so hard to be a leader, to be strong, to present good lies with solid foundations. But I knew she’s hurting. She hadn’t been right since mom died and then dad disappeared… right before the fall. I was able to track her down after the technology died--but it wasn’t easy. She’s never left my sight since.

“We were better off without them.” I finish my sentence and throw a few cans of canned spaghetti that somehow everybody missed into the wagon. “Do you see anything that can be used to transport water?’

“There’s never anything, Green.” Yellow snaps just as I expect her to. “We tried all the taps, just like we’ve been doing for months now. The reservoir here has been dead.”

There were scraps of rags and rope. I remember bending to scoop them up. I remember the sheet music falling from my pocket, and my terror as I rushed to recover it.

“Is it that deep?” her snarls never surprised me; everything I did since the Decline made her angry somehow.

“It’s important.” I growl in return, unfolding the treasure just to sight read the notes one last time before I tucked it away somewhere really secure. “This band hasn’t been around since the late 20th century. It’s archaic.”

“It’s gonna get us killed, you keep playing with it.” Yellow settled the scraps I’d forgotten into the barrow and placed her hands on her hips. “But unfortunately… I think you’re right. We might haveta leave soon.”

There was another round of silence, but this one was easier than the last.

“Let’s get outta here. Sun’s going down.”

The wheelbarrow was reliable and easy to shove along. I never minded hauling it about; I was the only other person in the commune who would… and that was only because I was smart, I was built pretty sturdy, and I was fast.

Cardio always counts for something in any apocalypse scenario.

“Oooh!” Yellow stopped short. I nearly ran her over. “Look at this!”

From the heat razed, long-dead topsoil, she kicked at a glimmering something for a few moments with her tattered sneakers before stooping down to pluck up a strange chain entangled around a pendant of some sort.

“How cool!” Yellow wasted no time to unravel it.

“Hey!” I dropped the wheelbarrow. “Wait!”

“Will you ever stop complaining?” It was Yellow’s turn to whine as she revealed her own salvaged treasure: a grungy, heart-shaped locket. “Ya gotta admit…this is cooler than your stupid sheet music.”

...but it didn’t feel right.

“Don’t put it on.” I tapped my pockets for the paper and unraveled it with furor. “It’s really effin weird that you found that and I found this all on the same day.”

“You’re being stupid.” Yellow rolled her eyes, fumbling for the clasp and the chain. “And since you’re not gonna help me--”

“Wait!”

I watched her place the relic on. Nothing happened. I released the breath I wasn’t aware I was holding in my lungs and would’ve just gone back to rolling the wheelbarrow had she not--

“Hey!”

“Whatcha complaining about anyways?” Yellow plucked the music from my grip. She wasn’t the best at sight reading, but she had no problem squinting at the lyrics in the setting sun. “This isn’t even a whole song. You don’t even know who this band is.”

“It’s important to preserve culture!” I ground my teeth. “Give it back.”

“Of course,” Yellow smirked at me, holding the music just out of reach. “Forever in service to your useless advice.”

“That’s not what it says.” I snatched the music and returned it to its safe place. “Let’s get outta here.”

Yellow giggled as I returned to the wheelbarrow. Her detour has cost us precious moments. We had a twenty minute walk or more before we returned to the commune that day.

The third round of silence is my fault. I saw the barricaded fences and gates as the Color Guard waved us forward. The sun was nearly at the horizon. We made it back without a hitch.

“You’re kinda right though.” Yellow twirled around to walk backwards as we approached the entrance gates. “It’s funny that you found that music today. And I found this box-shaped heart that it’s talking about!”

My heart hitches in my chest with an unknown emotion. The girl was more clever than I gave her credit for--in that short amount of time she’d skimmed the whole thing!

“Yeah,” I’ll never forget that feeling. One moment we were laughing and then--

She vanished.

Time stopped. My heart ran fast as ice filled my veins.

The only other person I had left in the world vanished.

Right before my eyes.

I don’t remember much else from that day. The Color Guard shouting and just as bewildered as I was. The sheer anguish that erupted from my soul as I launched forward and planted myself on the dead grass before me.

She was just there! I ran my fingers through her sneaker tracks.

She was JUST. RIGHT. THERE!

“Group needs scouts to go out and mark the new territory before we’re able to salvage supplies from the new place.”

The announcement rattles my bones, shocking me out of my reverie.

“You game?”

“Yah.” I grab the gold chain of the box-shaped heart necklace and fling it about my neck, my own filthy nails trembling to secure the clasp about a loop--any loop--as so long as it remains secure.

It’s been two months.

I can never let her out of my sight. I have to get her out of there.

I at least owe her that much.

“Of course.”