“The Heart-shaped Locket”

“The Heart-shaped Locket”

It all happened so fast. One minute, everything was fine; the next minute, everything was chaos. I was in history class watching a documentary on George Washington when it happened. Well, I should say, I was supposed to be watching a documentary on George Washington, but instead was staring out the window enjoying the beautiful, baby blue sky when, suddenly, the sunny sky turned blood red. Then, without warning, a massive meteorite crashed into the side of the school with an ear-piercing crunch. The next thing I knew, teachers and students were running down the halls while screaming their heads off. Some people were bleeding from various parts of their bodies, and some were even missing limbs. As I watched the gruesome scene unfolding in front of me, I comforted myself by grasping the heart-shaped locket that my mom had given me right before she died earlier this year and thought to myself, what the fuck is going on?! Thankfully, my history teacher was able to hold his composure during the madness. As he scanned his room of terrified students, he calmly said,

“Schools out until further notice. Please--calmly--exit the school and call a ride home; if you do not have a ride home, I would be more than happy to provide one.”

Like magic, the class did as their teacher instructed.

When I opened the front door and entered my house, I saw my dad and grandma sitting on the edge of their seats as they watched the news. As I shut the door, they broke their gaze from the TV and looked up at me with relief in their eyes.

“We’re so glad you’re safe,” they said. I smiled, then walked over to them and began watching what looked like something straight out of a horror film. People were eating other people on live television, and as if that wasn’t alarming enough, the people eating other people didn’t look human. They had grey-ish, green skin; red eyes; and plump, blue veins protruding from all over their bodies. According to the news, this horrifying mutation was caused by the fumes from the meteorite.

Just then, we heard a knock at the door. My dad ran into his bedroom to grab his shotgun after instructing us to wait until he returned to open the door.

After my dad returned to the living room with his shotgun, he slowly opened the front door. To our surprise, the figure standing outside was my grandpa—or used to be my grandpa. As soon as we realized that my grandpa was now one of the creatures we saw on TV, my dad immediately began to shut the door but was unable to because the creature possessed superhuman strength. The creature forced the door open, then tackled my dad to the ground and began eating his face off. While the creature was distracted, I quickly grabbed the gun and aimed it at the back of his head. A tear rolled down my cheek as I whispered, “I’m so sorry,” and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The creature’s brains splattered all over the walls as its body went limp. My dad pushed the lifeless body off to the side and slowly sat up. His face was mangled—his nose and upper lip had been bitten clean off, and he was missing a chunk of his tongue, causing him to speak with a lisp.

“Shut the door and lock it,” he said as he slowly stood up. I did as he instructed and then went into the bathroom to grab the first aid kit.

When I returned to the living room, I saw my dad kneeling on the ground while eating my grandma’s neck. I stood and watched in silence as I pissed myself in fear. He ate through her neck until she was decapitated and then looked up at me with blood dripping from his mouth. I frantically ran towards the gun, but he grabbed my leg before I could reach it. I kicked him in the mouth in hopes that the pain would make him let go, but he didn’t flinch. I kicked him again and again until I finally reached the gun. With tears running down my face, I aimed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

After I calmed myself down, I checked my body for bite marks and noticed one on my leg. I was terrified that I would turn into a zombie myself, so I picked up the gun, cocked it; then, with tears running down my face, I put the barrel in my mouth. Before I pulled the trigger, I opened my heart-shaped locket to see the picture of my mom and said goodbye one last time.

BANG!