Secret

I used to dream of the glistening blue sky, the fresh sweet morning dew on the ends of the long grass blades. I thought maybe this was all a nightmare I could wake up from. Crying myself to sleep, hearing gunshots be fired, screams of humans fading into the background. I am tried of living like this, but in the end I always wake up back to this place.

My mother threw me into this room with the hope I'd see it through to the end. All that she left behind was her heart shaped locket with a secret hidden inside. Another day of being in the same place that I barely even want to get out of bed. Sadly time will not stop for me, so I get up getting ready to find more supplies. I ran out of water a few days ago and have been relying on the rain. Yesterday it stopped raining therefore I must find some today. I clean my equipment like if it was shiny jewelry enough to see my reflection. I look into my own eyes and see my desperation for sleep bulge in my bloodshot eyes.

In the reflection, I see my mother's heart shaped locket on the table behind me. It always brings me luck, but I fear one day it would run out in a critical moment. My mother has worn this locket since my father's death before this apocalyptic time. I sighed and wore the locket around my neck, ready to go, I take a deep breath as I step out the door. Rubbing the locket three times, as my mother did too, to ensure my life would see another day. Running around the city cautiously to avoid confrontation with any man or thing, I hear a scream from a child in the building next to me. I stood before the back door, which is wide open, contemplating if I should risk my life for a child I did not know.

I hate this, I want to run away, I want to ignore this! My heart is beating against my chest like a drum being hit to the rhythm of war. I can feel my mother's heart shaped locket slightly bouncing against my heart as if it was telling me to risk it all. I grip my fist and bolt into the building running hall to hall, floor to floor, following the screams as I stopped before the door. Slowly I approach as I feel my warm blood run cold and twist the glass door knob opening the door. The child stood before me with a wet slimy skin, blisters covering him head to toe, crying as if it felt something. It looks at me for a moment and released a scream that shattered all the windows and mirrors! I can feel the vibrations of the footsteps of the dead running to this room. I feel the locket moving side to side as my legs begin to carry me, jumping out of the top floor where the child was hidden, head first to the street below.

Time around me floats softly against my memories like a sweet embrace of a mother holding her child. My mother was right after all. This locket helped me remember that we live and we die. Time will stop ticking for the dead, yet moving on for the living. A secret I ended up taking far too soon, but never have I smiled so big seeing my mother hold me one last time. Falling into the dark abyss turning into a glimmering light as the heart shaped locket shatters revealing a secret no man can deny again.