Project Noah

Casey was always a difficult child. Argumentative, willful, and sometimes just plain mean. He never got along with any of his classmates, and the only beings he called ‘friends’ were in the forms of pets, plants and even insects. He spent his days after school playing with his creature friends all the way until suppertime when his mom would gently coax him back indoors.

His mom, Shelly had always told him to never go into the forest by himself, yet, he huffed to himself, as he did exactly that, she never wanted to accompany him, so really, HE is not to blame for having gone in alone.

He kicked a few pebbles angrily. His dad would have gone with him. His dad, now a five-star general, had always made time for him. Up until this latest promotion which had moved him away from the family, the idea being that Casey would finish the school year and then his dad would send for them.

As he traipsed through the forest, he saw a doe and began to follow it. The doe looked back at him, aware that he was on its trail but conscious that Casey would never hurt her.

As he continued to follow her, he stepped in a small indent in the dirt and twisted his ankle, not enough to be problematic but just enough to send a twinge of pain that caused him to lose sight of the doe through the trees.

As he looked down to check his ankle, he saw it, half of a heart-shaped locket, he scoffed, this is just the dumb type of thing that people give each other, that ends up with land-fills when friendships inevitably go awry. He put the locket in his pocket, to better dispose of it later. It would probably end up in said land-fill, but it was better than in the forest.

he returned home, muddy, and nursing a light limp, and was then loudly scolded by his mother who had been worried. nearly calling their small town constable. After he had bathed, she sat him down for dinner and began to tell him off once more. He rolled his eyes as he absent mindedly moved the peas back and forth on his plate with his fork.

He was aware that he was still a kid, but at thirteen years old he was grown enough to go into the forest by himself, he thought.

After brushing his teeth, his mom greeted him with a brand-new pair of pajamas, with a really cool animal print. Still upset with her, for berating him he huffed and puffed but once she had closed the door to his bedroom. He hugged the pajamas tightly and smiled.

While drifting off to sleep, he was awoken by a small pulsating light on the corner of his dresser. He sleepily rubbed his eyes and got up to look at what was emitting the alternating pink and green hue from the dresser. It was the locket. He picked up the locket, only to immediately drop it as the sound of screaming filled his ears. It went away as quickly as it started as the locket landed on the floor of his bedroom. He looked down, the locket was no longer flashing. He hesitated, picked it back up, and breathed a sigh of relief as there was no screaming. The only sound he could hear was the chirping of the crickets he so loved on a balmy summer’s night. He must have imagined it. Feeling at ease once more, he returned to bed and quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, he realized that alongside his new wildlife pajamas, he was tightly holding the locket in his hand. A bit confused, he set both the pajamas and the locket atop the dresser and made a note to properly dispose of the locket after school.

As much as he didn’t want the locket going back to the forest, he thought perhaps he would take it there and bury it. There was something about it that made him uneasy, as he continued to think about this, he noticed the locket sitting in front of him on top of his biology notebook. His heart rate increased, pounding in his ears. He was sure he had left it at home.

As he continued to ruminate, his attention was summoned back to the incredibly boring lesson plan his teacher had cooked up by the means of his name being called, louder and louder until “Casey!” his teacher snapped. “Are. You. Paying. Attention?” Casey raised an eyebrow and with a smirk, responded, “You know full well I wasn’t, Jeff.” He said his teacher’s name with emphasis. His teacher reddened. “It’s Mr. Peterson to you, and you’ve just earned your way to the principal’s office and probably home.” Casey, collected his books, threw the locket into the bottom of the bag, flung his book bag over his shoulder and smiled to himself. He really did have a way with adults. Jeff was right, he probably would be sent home today, which suited him just fine. The sooner he made it home, the sooner he would be able to get rid of the locket.

But as he turned around to do a cheerful salute and laugh in his classmates’ faces, he saw a sight that made the blood drain from his face. They were all on fire. All of his classmates, every single one of them with agonized expressions. He blinked. They were all now fine and staring at him, but none laughed. As much as he hated them all, they were much more scared of him. He gave them a winning grin and headed to the Principal’s office.

As predicted, he got told he would be going home, and would enjoy a week’s suspension. It was all well and good, he didn’t really want to be there anyway, he thought. That was until his mother opened the door to the Principal’s office and her eyes shone with a rage he had never seen before.

Once home, he was instructed to get ready for bed, and at supper time, he was informed that he would be sent to military school. His dad’s work had agreed to pay for the expense, and both parents had come to the agreement that Casey needed more stability and responsibility.

Casey knew he had been acting out, but it was all on purpose to get closer to his dad and now he was being told that his actions had had consequences that would result in him moving further away from both parents. He pushed his plate to the ground, ran to his bedroom, locked his door and openly wept.

As he wept, he became vaguely aware that his book bag was emitting the pink and green glow from the previous night. He had barely registered it when he saw the locket materialize before him. Anger welling up inside him, he reached for it, intending to throw it as far as he could, but as he closed his hand around it, he found that he could not loosen his grasp.

The screaming started anew, it was the screams of pain of millions of people overcrowded into a single note, and somehow, crammed inside his head. His mind racing, he opened his eyes and what was more, now he saw them too, flashes of faces upon faces, none belonging to anyone he knew. The locket started to burn, and just as he made it to the last two faces, those of his parents, his grasp released and he was able to drop the locket to the ground once more.

The next day, he gingerly picked the locket up off his bedroom floor and headed to the forest with the intention of ridding himself of it once and for all. He made it into the heart of the forest, where he had seen the doe and buried the locket one or two feet underground. He walked home feeling elated, took a shower, and meekly smiled at his mom as she once again told him off for going into the forest unaccompanied.

However, much to his horror, that night, he was once again awoken by the glow. This time, he didn’t attempt to pick up the locket, but as he failed to do so, it opened. He had not given it much thought to whether it would, or wouldn’t, from day one, this had just been a cheap trinket he could not wait to rid himself of. As it opened, a small pebble of light flew at him and nestled itself into his heart. As his heart pounded, the locket glowed in unison.

Five years passed, with constant nightmares of burning bodies, and near constant screaming in his ears. But this now was as mundane as standing in a long line at the coffee shop.

While sitting in traffic, he couldn’t help but notice news outlets on billboards reporting a considerable spike in spontaneous human combustion. Video after video, showing people jumping to their deaths, rolling onto streets in futile attempts to stop the fire clawing at their flesh. He sipped his coffee uninterestedly and continued driving along, opting for music instead. He’d seen this a million times before and worst in his nightmares. He scoffed. It was nothing but media sensationalism.

His phone started ringing, he ignored it, he could see it was his mom calling but he hadn’t spoken to her since she had shipped him off to military academy. The texts soon followed, many in rapid succession. “Z-Z-Z-Z ” He briefly recalled the email that he had received years prior from his parents. They understood that he didn’t want to talk to them, but that they would continue to reach out, and that they would include an alphabet letter in the subject line, so that he would know how important it is that he get back to them. However, his aunt Elise’s passing had only garnered the letter ‘D’, what could possibly warrant a ‘Z’? He hesitated, but decided to give his parents a call back.

His father picked up the line, “Son, you need to come home immediately.” Refusing to state a reason, but something about his tone shook Casey to his core, he had never considered his dad to be anything less than fearless. As he got home, he found both parents sitting on the porch. As he continued walking towards them, his dad called out for him to stop. As Casey stopped in his tracks, his dad explained that the spontaneous combustion was being caused by biological warfare. He rattled the information off faster than Casey could absorb it. Then he said “I know you found it. I know you have the locket. My sources tell me it's you” Casey took the locket out of his pocket, and saw a glint of relief fall across his dad’s face. He started to explain further. “The group that initiated the biochemical weapon, believes it to be in the best interest of the earth, as the biochemical weapon is engineered to affect only human DNA, but they don’t know they’re being manipulated. They’re going to wipe off the entire human race!” but before Casey could ask questions, both parents combusted. Unlike what the news had shown, this particular heat was so unforgiving that they quickly perished as if they had stepped foot onto the sun’s surface.

Casey fell to his knees, as he did so, his heart stone started to flash, as did the locket in his pocket. He heard a soft hum and saw lights of a matching hue streak the sky. As he gazed up, he saw a beam of light engulf him and closed his eyes. Once he opened his eyes again, he saw a woman, reaching her hand out to him. He saw that she was wearing the other half of the heart-shaped locket. He smiled at her, he had never been happier in his life.