The Light Inside the Locket

Has the world ended or am I just dead? Confused, I look up from staring at my now lifeless body. My honey brown wig lays next to it, leaving my cornrows exposed. My neon-yellow stiletto shaped acrylics are covered in dirt. My eyes aren’t wide of wonder as they usually are, but wide of shock. Or is that amusement? Either way, something is definitely wrong.

The last thing I can remember was a global pandemic. It was all over the news that the world was ending due to the planet being so overpopulated and its lack of natural resources. People were vanishing by the millions with no said cause. Fires spread throughout cities wiping the populations out. Roads were collapsing. People were killing each other. Oceans were flooding the cities. It was to the point that whomever was left alive, were in full panic mode until it was their time to go.

There were but a few non-believers of the world ending, including me, being that I haven’t physically seen anything out of the ordinary on my end. The non-believers believed that the pandemic was a tactic by the government to wipe out the population and start anew.

Granted, people were freaking out so badly that most of them killed themselves before they could even find out the truth anyway. It could be that they’ve seen things that I haven’t. Maybe those close to them really have vanished.

Personally, I’ve always lived off-grid. I’ve never concerned myself with the news, or rumors, or anything that was not in my control. I wasn’t into politics. I had no outside influences telling me what I should believe in, or forcing their perceptions on me.

My parents both died when I was 13, so since then, I have taken care of myself, thanks to the house and inheritance that they left me. The day they’d died, they also left me something else -

A heart-shaped, golden locket. I’ve always felt like I had a piece of them when I wore it, so I never took it off. It made me feel safe, like they were still here with me.

I looked around. The weather was incredibly dull, the sky was dark. Everything about my small home-town, Winslow Arizona, appeared normal.

Except, it’s eerily quiet. There’s nobody around. There’s no cars. No insects buzzing or birds chirping, not even the wind is blowing. It seems as if the whole world has vanished.

I look back at my body. Why is it the only one here?

It comes to my attention that who or whatever I am now. . is staring at what I used to be, before I died. I immediately go to the window of a building to look at my reflection and . . . . I see nothing looking back at me!

How can this be? What am I? I look for my reflection again. . still nothing.

Except -

A light ?

I see a shiny, gold, glimmer of light coming from my dead body!

I instantly gravitated to the body that was once called Thalia. It was like my attention to the light simply pulled me there! As I scan my body once again, I notice that something in my hand is causing it to glow. It’s nearly blinding how bright it is!

I peered into the opening of my right hand, and the oddest thing happened. The glowing light was no longer there. It was now inside of me!

Well, it wasn’t. . . technically, inside of me but I could FEEL it!

It was some sort of necklace. I could feel the brightness of it, the durability, the weight of something being supported by the chain on my neck. I could feel that it was my golden locket ! I hadn’t even noticed it was gone before!

Why am I suddenly wearing it? Who am I now that Thalia, the old me, is dead?

I focus my attention on that question. Like clockwork, I'm instantly transported somewhere else.

Whatever or whomever that I am, is now inside of some kind of bubble. It reminds me of the roundness of the bubble from the heart-shaped golden locket. I still can’t see my body, but this time, I can’t see my surroundings either. . . .only feel them.

The bubble feels like a sticky film. Though this may seem scary, since I just realized I died and all. . . I feel oddly content. My surroundings feel safe. The bubble feels like the color pink . . . . like I'd imagine love to feel. I know that the golden locket brought me here.

I must have fallen asleep. I wonder how long I've been in this bubble?

For some reason, I feel that I’m running out of time. I focus on who I remember Thalia to be. I fell asleep once again.

I wake up to the sound of voices. I can hear them , but I can’t see them.

“We’re so proud of you Honey.” They say in unison..

“We’ve waited for this day to come.”

“What day? What’s going on?” I say.

“Wake up.” They say.

Suddenly my dull, pink surroundings start to get bright. I feel the brightness opening somewhere above me. It is almost as bright as the locket was.. However, this time. . the light feels discomforting.

Then, the realization hits me . . . I am IN the locket!

I AM IN THE LOCKET!

I'M INSIDE OF THE LOCKET!

I repeat it over and over and over again. Overwhelmed by shock. . .or was it amusement? I fell asleep.

I’m awakened by the bright light again. I cannot see it, but I feel it. I feel it getting closer to me every time I wake up. There’s a knowing deep within me, telling me that this is what I’ve been waiting for - A knowing, telling me not to panic.

The light starts to pull me in.

I am now SCREAMING in agony. The light is SO bright. I can feel it all over me. It feels like it is piercing me.

The light starts to pull me closer and closer to it and I notice that I can slightly see, though it’s incredibly blurry.

What I see almost makes me wish I was blind again.

I'm covered in that dirt stuff that looks somewhat like the dirt on Thalia’s nails. . .but now it looks a little more like a gross, sticky, reddish , murky mud. It feels like the film from the bubble I slept in.

I look below me. What once seemed like the inside of a heart-shaped, golden locket, now looks like. . . a murky, bubbly. . .heart-shaped. . .

Womb?!

OH MY GOODNESS was I in a WOMB?!

So does that mean that this murky stuff is --

I am suddenly feeling nauseous. This is all too much.

After falling asleep once again, I wake up to the truth flowing through me.

Once Thalia died, the world that she was in died too!

The heart-shaped locket wasn’t just jewelry, but a portal to new life! My parents had given me that locket, to keep my consciousness inside of the human body. Once my human body dies, I become only the consciousness inside the necklace until I am reborn into a new one, where I will then meet my parents.

Once I am fully out of this womb, there will be no more Thalia. Her memories will be gone. Her life will be gone. The heart-shaped locket and the fact that I was literally living in a womb will be of no recollection to me anymore.

I’m not sure if it’s the pain from the bright light, the joy of being reborn, the reality that I lived in someone’s murky womb for however long, or all of the above. . . but I cried like a baby for the first time since I’ve died, on the way to my new life.

To my surprise, I woke up as Thalia.

My honey brown wig was on my head. My locket was on my neck. The birds were chirping. People were on their bikes. It was as if nothing ever happened.

“I had been dreaming? How can that be?”

I get up from the blanket at Forsyth Park and sprint home .

For the first time, I was going to watch the news.

“The population clock is down to 1 million. Suicide rates are at 87%. Find cover if you can!” says the Fox5 news reporter.

I click to ABC News, the governor of Winslow Arizona is approaching the stage.

The hair stands up on my skin.

“DAD!?”

“I know that this will be difficult for you to understand if you are watching this, but if you are watching this, consider yourself one in a million. You were built perfectly. You have highly intelligent, artificial DNA that cannot be destroyed. Together, we will make the new world great again. Welcome!”

As the crowd applauds and yells, A lady comes on the stage and grabs his hand as he exits. .

MOM?!

I stare at the tv. Immovable. Frozen. I am speechless. I am hurt. I am confused.

I’ve never bothered to go into my dad’s office, but I’m desperate for answers.

Once I get in, I see a note with my name on it.

Thalia,

There’s a lot that we’ve kept from you and we are truly sorry about the pain that it's caused you. We owe you the truth.

Everything you’ve dreamed about thus far, is true. You have been reborn, and you will continue to be reborn , because you have an abundance of life. In fact, we named you Thalia, because it is Greek for abundance.

We are not human. We live through a human experience. We are actually the “aliens” that there’s so much talk about. Our DNA is special. It cannot be destroyed.

Yes, the world has ended, and yes, you did die with it. But our gift to you, your locket, has given you the ability to remember. Everyone else will be born into new lives, unable to remember anything from their past life, but with your locket, you will remember! All the answers are already within you Thalia. As you’ve learned through your rebirth, just focus on them.

Love,

Your Parents.

I rip off the necklace.

“I DONT WANT TO REMEMBER!

I DONT WANT TO BE REBORN!”

The End.