The Locket Closes

07/21/2045“This is all I have… I have nothing else. Just take it... Please.” The Tinker evaluates the man in front of his counter. A sandy shemagh concealing the man’s face, the Tinker’s brow furrows. The man’s voice sounded vaguely familiar, like a lost memory of a friend in another life. The man was old, that much the Tinker could deduct from the man’s posture and voice. His arm outstretched, the man held out a small heart shaped locket. The Tinker stared at it for a moment as revelation set in. “Is that what I think it is?” “Does it matter? Battery probably died years ago… and no one has computers anymore anyway…” “Yes… I’ll take it.” The Tinker responds, snatching it from the man’s hands. He Pockets the locket before turning around and grabbing the requested materials for the man. “Two days’ rations, a shower pass, and one bullet.” The man greedily snaches up his new belongings, tearing open the decades expired MRI and taking a bite of a cracker. “Thank you sir.” He tells the Tinker in between bites. “Showers are out the door to the left. On a ten minute timer. Swipe the shower card and you’re good to go.” The man nods before turning around and exiting the store. The Tinker waits patiently for the door to close before jumping over the counter with the gracefulness of a man far younger than him and running toward the front door. He locks it, flipping the open side around, and rushes off toward the back office. Upon entering the office, the Tinker carefully grasps a small bookshelf before pulling it away from the wall to expose a small crawl space. Dropping to his hands and knees, still clutching the locket close to his chest, he enters the crawlspace. After crawling a couple yards through the small space, the Tinker reaches the exit of his hidden tunnel and stands up in a small, dark room. A desk lines the far wall. Approaching it, his hand springs into action, flipping a few switches in order to turn on his half century old Windows 98 computer. As it starts up, the Tinker moves to a workbench against the adjacent wall and gently places the locket down on the table. He grabs a brush and begins to slowly and delicately clean the dirt encrusted locket. Soon, the faintest glimmer of gold sparkled in his eye. A few minutes later, the locket is able to be opened. The Tinker opens the locket ever so slightly, praying to God that this small dream would come true. Not that he believed in God, after what he had seen, how could there even be a God? After the Great War, pretty much all of the religious people had died off due to their refusal to acknowledge that the fallout was not a signal of God’s return, but instead God’s final act of wrath. A small blinking red light emitted from the inside of the locket. It works. It still fucking works, the Tinker thought to himself as a smile formed. It must be recording right now! He quickly flips the locket over and pops off the back to reveal a micro-sd card slot… with the sd card still inside. If my life was a movie, the Hallelujah chorus would be blaring right now. The Tinker pops out the micro sd card and approaches the now booted up computer. After surveying and selecting the proper adapter, he clicks the sd card into its rightful place and waits for the videos to flash onto the screen. He hadn't been this excited in years. A few moments later a cluster of files flashed onto the screen. He clicks on the first one, bringing up the image of his face from moments before. He laughs out loud as he watches the video of him opening the locket and the smile forms on his face. He quickly exited out of the video and clicked the next titled 06/06/2049. 06/06/2045 - PlayingBlinding light. Rustling. A face flashes on the screen for a moment before disappearing. It appears again. A man’s bearded face, sunburnt and weathered, almost indiscernible from a strip of leather, is displayed. The same man who bartered with the Tinker appears on the screen. “I’ve tried. I’m sorry. I held out for as long as I could. I have nothing left. Not like it matters. No one will ever see this anyway. I don’t even know if this thing is still recording. But if you can see me,” the man looks toward the heavens. “I love you both. Goodbye.” The locket closes. 03/21/2045 - PlayingThe Man takes a bite of meat. He smiles at the camera. “Thank you. Thank you for watching over me.” The locket closes. 03/20/2045 - PlayingThe Man holds the clasp close to his face. “I haven’t checked in for a while, but I just wanted to tell you that I miss you…” Tears fill his eyes. “I’m almost out of food and I don’t know how much longer I can keep going… but if you’re up there. Please send me something. Anything. A rabbit. A deer. Something.” The locket closes. 12/21/2043 - Playing The man shivers before taking a sip from a flask. “It’s fucking cold… It’s Christmas… or close to it. I found a flask of something at an abandoned cabin a few days ago. It was a good Christmas gift… It’s fucking cold.”The locket closes. 08/23/2036 - Playing Hands open the locket, but the man is not viewable. Instead, two gravestones are seen. “I miss you both so much.” The locket closes. 04/19/2032 - PlayingSunlight. Sky. Clouds. Blood. Bodies. Bullets. The pendant’s camera points skyward as bloody hands pull away. Loud sobbing is heard as the man, bruised and bloodied, enters the frame. He picks up the locket and holds the chain close as he continues to crawl. His sobbing is heard as he finally stops at something and wrapping his arms around a naked body in front of him. The locket bounces around his hand as he sobs and heaves, displaying the scene around him in flashes. Two Naked women. Five bloodied men. The man sobs more. “I’m sorry I wasn't strong enough. I wasn’t strong enough. This is all my fault. I’m sorry.” The man continues to sob. The locket comes to a rest on the beaten and bloodied face of a 18 year old girl. “My daughter. I’m sorry.” PAUSE The Tinker pauses the video. Tears in his eyes. He exits the video and clicks on to the next one. 04/16/2045 - PlayingA bearded man with crazed lust and hate in his eyes appear close to the camera as women scream. PAUSE“FUCK!” The Tinker exits out of the video again. He skips over multiple videos until he finally clicks on another one years before. 11/11/2029 - PlayingA young woman, presumably the man’s daughter, lies next to a fire. She holds the locket up to her face. “Abby.” The man’s face, his beard well trimmed, enters the frame. “I love you.” He kisses her forehead. “I love you too daddy.” They hug. Branches snap around them. “Hands up!” The man turns around before leaving the frame. Abby screams. The locket closes. 02/14/2027 - PlayingThe backs of two people, the man and a woman, presumably Abby’s mother, are seen. The clasp must have snapped open. “We’re going to be ok.” The man says. “I have friends who live here.”“How do you know if they’re still alive?!”“Abby!” The beautiful yet stern voice of the mother is heard for the first time.The locket closes.10/03/2026 - Playing“Run!” Gunfire can be heard. The locket jiggles as the wearer, presumably Abby, runs. The locket pans the scene, a gunfight takes place inside a well lit bunker. Armed guards fight against unseen enemies. The man runs over and grabs Abby’s hand before an armed guard runs toward them. “We are being overrun! We have to leave now Mr. Pres…” A gunshot rings out and the armed guard drops. The locket closes.03/01/2026 - Playing“Dear diary. Since the end of the world we have been living in daddy’s bunker with his guards. They say we can go home soon. I hope the war ends soon, but daddy said they may fire more nuclear bombs. I just want to go home.”The locket closes. 02/15/2026 - PlayingA ten year old girl lies in bed staring at the camera. “Dear video diary. Today was scary. Daddy said the Russians may attack us but we’d be safe. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I asked if he could call the Russian President and make peace but he just laughed and shook his head. I’m scared.”Suddenly an alarm blares and Abby screams. Men in suits rush into the room. The locket closes. The Tinker, tears in his eyes, clicks on the last video file on the list. 12/25/2025 - PlayingAbby opens her locket for the first time. She looks up. “Daddy, I love it.”The man enters the frame. “It records my darling. Every time you open it. Then, in twenty years, we can open it and watch it. The sound of someone rushing into the room can be heard. “Mr. President, I have the President of Russia on the phone. He needs to speak to you immediately.”The man, the President of the United States, kisses his daughter Abby. “Merry Christmas my darling. I’ll be back soon to open my presents.” The man exits in the frame. Abby looks at the locket and blows a kiss. “Hello Diary.”The locket closes. NO MORE FILESThe Tinker sits back and sobs. He stands up. I have to give this back to the President. The Tinker ejects the sd card and rushes back through the crawlspace. He rushes through his store and outside, scrambling to look around. He checks the shower, it’s empty. Where did the man go? A woman screams. The Tinker looks around. The Man stands above the street on the roof of a building, his gun, now loaded with the bullet he bought from the Tinker in exchange for the locket, in his hand. The Tinker rushes towards him. “Mr. President! Don’t!”How do you know who I am?” “I recognized you!” “So you know it’s my fault. It’s all my fault! You all know it’s true! I was supposed to lead you all! But I failed. I brought the stars down on the world! I caused this!”Tears stream down the Tinker’s face. The man whose life he had just watched, a man whom he had hated for 20 years, he now needed to save.After what he had just watched, how could he not feel for the tragic loss this man had experienced.“Don’t do it!”“It’s too late!” A gunshot rings out. THE END