Purpose and Hope

“Just a little further.” Nia grunted. She reached down and grabbed her daughter’s arm helping her up a loose pile of ruble. They had been traveling for almost a month now and had suffered. Their bodies were hurt, the daughter’s flesh ached and her blood seemed to cause friction within her own veins, the mother’s even more so. Nia had bruised several bones during their exodus, her ribs hurt everytime her diaphragm moved, her ankles wanted to buckle whenever she put weight on them, she’d broken and set and rebroken fingers and toes, her dark skin had begun to become thin and leather-like from the sun and the wind. All of this was to get her daughter back home. Before the event she would’ve flown home, or taken a train, or driven a car, but there were no more roads, no more comforts, no more plants, no people. Well not entirely no more, there was still “Them”.

They were being chased by a man named Robert. There were no children in this new world, they were all taken days into this rapture, Miasha being an exception. Robert believed that to be extremely significant, and he was correct. He thought that Nia’s child was the key to controlling the current world, and because of this, he chased them relentlessly.

Nia walked past cars less than a decade old that seemed to have rusted for centuries; buildings that crumbled into dust from the force of the wind; dead trees that had been so quickly aged that they had petrified before they could rot. She reflected on Imani, her love, and the mother of her daughter and briefly hoped that they would be reunited. Those hopes perished almost as quickly as they came. Robert had the key. She had seen it in a previous encounter. He wore it on his neck, an indicator of what he had done. Imani had taken the key and vowed to meet them at this space, if Robert had it then Imani was dead, there was no other way it could’ve happened. Imani, who, in her brilliance, gave their daughter an extremely powerful gift that kept her with them. Imani, who’s sandy brown skin and beautiful brown eyes Miasha had inherited.

Nia finally saw it. The gate to their home. She would be able to save, not only her daughter’s life, but possibly the world. She would need to make a new key, a task that wasn’t easy to do once, much less a second time, but she would find a way.

Nia’s blood froze as hands gripped her ankles, in that same instance Robert, with his technology that allowed him to move through solid matter as if it was air, ascended from the ground. He rose quickly, his hand grabbing Miasha’s throat, lifting her into the air as his full figure became visible. Several other men also rose from the ground. Nia struggled, but four of them quickly swarmed her, seeming to hold her every muscle into the ground, as the scene, an image from hell itself, played out in front of her.

Nia watched in terror, her muscles strained and her tendons felt like they may snap, but regardless of how hard she struggled, she could not prevent this. She tasted dirt and tears as she was held to the ground, wishing she could sink into the earth to get away from these men and save the last connection she had to the women that she loved. She prayed to every god she could think of, hoping for a miracle, a momentary lapse in the men’s focus, a momentary lapse in the physics of the world, a bright light that could beam her daughter away, anything to save her child. But she could only weep, and strain, and grit her teeth, while the warmth of her body seeped into the cold ground. Robert held the platinum key up to Miasha’s chest. She watched in horror and bewilderment as this event, the thing she hoped to never witness, happened before her eyes. The key began to hum with energy, the woman opened her mouth knowing what was to come as the vibrations from the key reverberated through her body. A man near Robert fell to the ground in agony, his teeth shattered, as the humming of the key turned into an intense whine.

Robert’s expression never changed. No sympathy or remorse, not even a glimmer of satisfaction at having finally completed his goal.

“Hidden inside a precious chest.” He said, voice so monotone the woman almost couldn't hear him speak over the keys high-pitched whining.

The flesh on Maisha’s chest began to glow and ripple, steam rose from it as the key's energy, substantial as it was, caused the water in the child's body to evaporate. The girl's sternum began to crack and contort until finally her chest, shirt and all, began to split and open. No blood poured out of the cavern between the two separating halves of the girl’s chest, just steam and an intense glow that seemed to mimic the audible frequency of the key but on a visible spectrum. Nia lost the last of her strength as Robert reached into the child’s chest. Although she stopped struggling, her captor's grip never loosened.

From her position on the floor Nia couldn’t see inside her daughter’s chest, but she knew what Robert was looking at: a small chain maybe three inches in length, golden and beautiful. The chain was designed to look like the roots of a tree, only about the size of dandelion roots, wrapped around the girl’s aorta and the thick tube of her vena cava. On the end of the chain, resting against the girl's softly beating heart was a keyhole, not something with a keyhole on it, but the void itself. It very nearly looked like a macabre heart shaped locket. Had Robert had any emotions left, he may have pondered it’s perplexity. Nia knew exactly what lay on her daughter’s heart, she was there when Imani had put it there.

Robert continued moving the key towards the girl’s heart. Once he had gotten the key a few inches away from the black cavity of the Keyhole, Robert’s hand stopped. A force, like two magnets with their North poles facing each other, put an invisible wall between Robert and his prize: the final layer of security, a precaution both Nia and Imani hoped would never be tested. The force pushed harder against Robert, then gave in a little, then pushed again, all in tandem with the girl's weakening heartbeat.

Nia took her eye’s off her daughter for the first time to look past the gnarly scene towards the gate, the gate to the sanctuary they had spent the last month travelling too. Her failure seemed all the more cemented by the closeness of her almost-success. Three- Maybe Four- Hundred more feet and everything would’ve been fine. Maybe if she would’ve been quicker- maybe if she hadn’t needed rest- maybe if she would’ve killed Robert- maybe if she could’ve saved Imani- all of these thoughts seized her brain, not a rush of questions, but like a heavy layered blanket, one thought on top of the other, smothering her mind. She blinked, a quick motion that took less than a second, then looked back at her daughter in despair. She looked at Maisha’s face, cooling and lifeless, her skin as pale as swarthy skin could be, her eyes being held close with such an absence of force that made it seem like they may open again.

Robert pressed harder, the force keeping the key away fading quickly. For the first time since he had finally touched the girl he showed some vehemence, too brief and fleeting to be called passion, but the words he spoke seemed… inspired.

“It’s mine.”

The key’s ringing finally steadied into a pitch so high it was barely audible, a pitch that was better perceived in the bones of the onlookers rather than their ears. He pushed the key into the void held in place by the chain, and for an instant, an attosecond of time that could hardly be perceived, everything in the world that was left, stopped. Waves didn’t move, buildings ceased their crumbling, even the flames on the sun paused mid-flicker. Nia’s heart was frozen in pain and Robert’s eyes were bright with fulfillment. The moment after Miasha’s heart was unlocked, everything changed. A strong wave of energy, more intense and bright than a neutron star, exploded from Miasha’s body. Robert felt a moment of peace as his entire body, every atom, was shredded from existence. The men holding Nia down finally ceased as the energy flew through them forcing them to brace, but leaving them otherwise injured. Miasha began to fall, and, with energy she didn’t know she possessed, Nia stumbled forward to catch her daughter. As she held her daughter’s unmoving body the men around her began to double over, their insides bombarded by an energy they couldn’t ever comprehend. Nia cupped Miasha’s cheek as her tears fell on her face. She put a hand in her daughter's hair, curling her fingers to gently scratch her scalp.

“I love you.” Another wave of energy pulsated from the girl and Nia’s mind went blank.

Epilogue

It had been 15 years since the world became habitable again. Although no one knew what had given humanity a second chance, people understood that things needed to be different this time around. What was left of humanity numbered in the tens of thousands, a number that still dwarfed the populations of the planet's other fauna, but because Imani, a woman who never let go of hope, the love of her life Nia, and the bravery of a young girl who was the culmination of all of the goodness of her parents, as well as her own distinguished grace, the planet had a chance.

Nailah and her child walked up the hill towards the center of Earth’s new life, the smell and sounds of grass and plants and small animals steadily presented themselves as they began to walk.

“Just a little further.” She grunted

The Child gasped as they entered a section of the deep forest, a wall of trees made nearly a bowl about 40 feet in diameter and it was these trees that produced the vines leading up to the place. In the center of the “bowl” a large tree stood erect, reaching much higher in the sky than anyone would’ve expected a tree to reach, high enough to be visible for miles away. Near the large tree were several smaller trees, Nailah walked past them unflinchingly but her child noticed that the trees almost seemed to resemble men, in various states, some doubled over, some appearing to be running away from the large tree, and some with their branches seeming like hands raised in worship.

“This is life.” Nailah began. “And death, and everything else. Man tried to use a great power here, but it was not his to use. This was not a sacrifice, it was not the outcome that was wanted, but because of this we are alive. Thank this tree and never forsake this earth.” The mother spoke with so much conviction that it seemed to still the life surrounding them.

The Child nodded, not fully grasping the words their mother just spoke, but still feeling the immense weight of gratitude this place seemed to draw out from it’s visitors. The Child stepped forward preparing to offer some type of act of appreciation to the tree and was frozen as they noticed.

The “tree” almost seemed to be made of several other trees that wrapped into themselves as it extended into the sky. At the “base” of the tree, where the large tree seemed to unravel and split, there was what seemed to be a woman holding a young girl in such a tender embrace that it made the child begin to cry.