The lost locket

Year One Post-Pandemic 1-2 waves

Anna and her family stay in a vacation home temporarily in Victoria.

After his friend Jacob was jailed, Lucio moved to a countryside and there he started to like gardening.

Jila, a nurse, contracted the virus.

Everyone thought it was safer in other cities than where they resided.

Week 1

"Dad, how long are we going to stay here? I miss home". Ana's father wanted to say he doesn't know but does not want to scare his daughter.

"In a few weeks".

One windy afternoon she went to a garden with her two little sisters. She was in a red floral dress, her black, soft long hair was dancing along with yellow and blue flowers. She and her sisters saw a silver locket buried slightly on the ground of the small strawberry farm.

Ana carefully picked it up and put the locket in the middle of her palm.

"Wow, it's wonderful. It must be someone's necklace" Lily, her eight-year old sister, said.

"Why don't you open it?" Her second sister said.

Before they opened it, a young man suddenly appeared from a distance and walked towards them while carrying a watering can. While she watched him walk, Jewel put her arms in the back to hide the necklace.

"Hello!", Lucio said and smiled. There was a bit of awkward moment.

"Hi! Are we trespassing?". Ana asked.

"No, you're welcome here if you want to relax" , Lucio said.

"Thank you. By the way, we found a necklace. Do you know anyone who might have dropped it here?", Jewel asked again.

"Let me see", Lucio put down the watering can and took the necklace. At the back of it, 1914 was written. "It is about a hundred years old", he said.

"I told you Ana, it was from the queen. Open it", Lily insisted.

Lucio opened the heart-shaped locket. Inside was a picture of a man on one side and a little girl on the other, both smiling.

"I don't know whose property is this but I will find out" Lucio said

When they returned home, An's mom scolded them.

"We keep reminding you"

Week 2

All of them wear protective masks and equipment. Lucio came as a volunteer.

After the sunset, the tribe, Lucio, and Jila with her support worker, gathered around a bonfire. The drummers played a calming drum beat.

Lucio stood up from sitting for a long time, then Jila noticed the locket, opened and dingled from Lucio's pocket.

"Where did you get the locket?", she asked.

"A girl who I met for the first time found it in my garden. I want to find out why it was there. Why Ms. Jila?" Lucio explained.

"There was a story about a woman and a veteran"

Her family was opposed to.

"Was it during his time, since it says 1914?", Lucio asked.

"No. It was more years later. It was made during that time", she answered.

The following day Lucio made a prayer in front of Ms. Jila.

Week 3

Ana's sisters were not home, and her parents drove to the city to ask for help. She came to Lucio's garden crying while he was transferring strawberries into the pot. He coughed several times.

"What happened?" Lucio stood up and asked her.

"Lily and Joan were missing since last week. I'm going to leave", she expressed nervously.

"Where are you going?", he asked.

"Here. Why are you coughing?", she said.

"Look, I know a safer place", he said.

"I searched about the locket. The mother found this place and the enemies never knew how to get here unlike in many places. They hid here from the enemies and here she dropped the necklace", she shared.

"What else?", Lucio was curious.

Week 4

Ana packed up and went to Lucio's. He brought potted strawberries, sunflowers, and gardening tools to his car and drove to the tribe community. Some of the volunteers and tribe members left but few. He got a letter of appreciation from her, saying that to stay in this place is safe and peaceful. She also asked him to replace a picture of his loved ones and wear it. Lucio thought of Jila's and Ana's picture.

"Why me?", Ana asked

He promised to help find them.

Week 5

Lucio and Ana drove to the city from the tribe's area in the mountains' side. They searched around the city until late in the evening. They tried to keep moving despite getting weaker and weaker. Lucio fell asleep inside his stopped car while Ana was conscious. She opened the glovebox where the flashlight was located. She got off with the keys and a mask too and locked the car. She knocked to a resident's home and a man opened it for her although it was not safe. In a shaking voice, Ana instructed him to let as many people as he can to go to the tribe's mountain. The man gave her a bottle of water then she left.