Into the Unkown

The uncut grass felt like thorns against my neck, back, and legs. The hot sun made my skin sticky and wet, baking my body in the 105 degree heat. Flies and ants desperately hovered over me as if I were a carcass of an animal long gone. I knew she could feel it too, so why were we here? She looked over at me and smiled, something I hadn’t seen in quite a while. Something so simple, yet taken for granted.

I open my eyes. Just another memory of her. I reach across the bed and open the nightstand drawer, picking out her heart-shaped locket. I fiddled with the clasp, moving my thumb over it. She never told me what was in it and why she kept it so hush-hush. The red garnet gem in the center of it stared back at me, not giving me any clues or answers to my growing curiosity. I hung it across my neck and got up to get dressed.

Today’s the 4th anniversary of her death and they’re throwing a damn festival for her. Pathetic. She died trying to solve the city's troubles and all she got was a send-off into the city tomb and a couple of balloons with her face on them. I make my coffee and turn to the old television. “On September 16th, 2029, Rim Haneul sacrificed herself so that the people of New River could survive longer. She presented a truce with the growing gang, ‘Ares’, that sits outside our city’s walls, preying on our people. Today we celebrate her sacrifice of going out into the unknown and presenting the Ares with a 100-year truce in return for medical supplies and food. Thanks to her, we are free from attacks on the city for the next 96 years.”

When she died in the unknown, someone sent her body back to us, her locket still wrapped around her neck despite it being her most valuable item. Her mother decided I should keep it, since we were so close.

I finish my coffee and set the mug in the sink. I put on my holster and jacket. Out the door I go. Little kids were running around with pictures of her on their masks, balloons filled the sky with her name, and news about the festival filled every t.v I saw. It made my stomach whirl. Seeing her face again filled me with rage, she should have been here. I slip through the growing crowd, stumbling my way to her favorite food truck. She wasn’t a restaurant type of girl, and “Randy’s Garbage Truck” was her favorite place to eat.

“Jay! It’s good to see you crawled out of your dungeon.” Randy’s daughter, Vanessa, says while smiling at me pittyfully. I look up at her, smiling back as a courtesy. “You remember what she liked, right?” Vanessa nods and disappears out of my view. I look around and hold the locket in my hand, gripping it until the gemstone slices my palm. A few minutes pass and Vanessa returns, “old world carne asada fries and a large soda pop.” I pay for the food and take it with me to the top of our spot. Our little crack in the wall that overlooks the city and the unknown. The grass still felt the same as it did before, like thorns against my body. I set the food aside as my feet dangle off the edge. I took the locket from around my neck and held it in my hands again. It burned hot against my skin and I brought it to my lips, gently kissing the gemstone.

Suddenly, it slips from my fingers and tumbles down the giant wall. I watch as it falls to the ground into the unknown. I tense up and attempt to climb down the wall. I miss my footing and fall to the ground, catching another ledge before hitting the ground hard. The wind is knocked out of me and my body is sore. Not long after, I slip into unconsciousness.

When I awaken, I feel the nanobots in my body fixing my bones, painful, but I will be able to move when they’re done. I search around the dry ground for the locket with my eyes. Nothing. I move my hands along the dirt and find it, busted open. My eyes light up at the site of the tightly packed note that was released from the inside. I unpack it and smooth it out, placing it in view of the last ray of sunlight as it sinks behind the mountains.

“Jay, nothing’s real. Come find me in the ‘unknown’.”

The note sent shivers down my spine. As soon as my bones healed, I set off into the darkness. I hear her voice get closer and louder the deeper I go. I reach the edge of the darkness, her voice directly in my ears now. I look down, a large cliffside leading to the last remaining ocean due to global warming.

Everything goes quiet, her voice is gone. I look at the locket as it glows a beautiful blood red. “You brought me here, Rim. What do I do now?” I whisper. I wait for an answer and receive a chilling burst of wind against my neck. Before I can turn back to the darkness behind me, I feel a push against my back and am sent off the cliff. I try to look back but I don’t see anyone there. I fall towards the water, hard as concrete when I hit it.

My eyes open to Rim standing over me. “What? Rim? What happened?” I say frantically. My body aching from the fall that should have obliterated me. I look around the room, green luscious plants decorate the ceilings, extinct fish swim in the two tanks, and out the window I can see green hills and a beautiful blue sky, the opposite of New River. I look back at Rim, her locket hanging down from her neck, still glowing.

She smiles at me, “Welcome home, love.”