The Purple Locket

I had this bad feeling about what I was going to do, but the loneliness was putting so much pressure on my chest I was starting to get worried. The voice in my head kept telling me to just stay put, but I've been sitting in the same 3 places for 473 days now. My green couch that had a blue spot from the place the sun hit it every day, my loud squeaking bed with springs I could feel with every turn, and my favorite yoga mat I meditated on daily. I needed a new place to sit, and I needed to know I was still alive, that my life still had some kind of purpose. All the waiting, hiding, and praying had to be for something. I had hope one day humans would be able to rebuild and I would be a part of it.

I prepared for months. Making weapons, drying food that would last me for at least two weeks, and reading as much as I could on survival. I was lucky to have found a house filled with books and supplies, but I did feel bad for the man I found in his recliner when I first walked in. He was holding onto a rifle so tightly I wondered if he had heard something horrible before he died. I eventually buried him in the basement, when the smell became too much to handle, next to the indoor greenhouse he had built where there was exposure to soil. I thank him every day for the delicious arugula and hundreds of canned goods he collected. I hope he’s in peace.

I sat down staring at the doorknob for hours. I wondered, who decided to make it gold and why gold? Why were there so many scratches on it and where was the key because I never did find it. My mind wondered like this a lot these days, especially with no one to talk to. I kept staring then realized opening the door was going to be the hardest thing I would ever have to do since finding this place. I lost all my friends and family to the attacks and thought for sure I would never make it. I had no idea what I was going out to or who. But I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to talk to a human, something other than plants that would just lightly wave their leaves at me because of the breeze that sometimes came in from a tiny crack in the boarded-up window. The crack I got all my sunshine from and let rainwater run through so I could collect it in mason jars. And now here I was standing in front of this dingy white door with no way to predict what could possibly be in this world now. No way to even look out because I could only see about five feet through the crack.

Four months ago, I thought my heart was going to finally stop because the isolation was just too much and now it was about to burst out of my chest as I slowly gripped the cold metal and turned the knob even slower. Hearing the release of air as the door opened for the first time in 15 months was the greatest mixture of emotions I had ever felt.

The grass had grown very tall. Taller than I've ever imagined grass to be. Maybe that was a good sign. Maybe it meant the Earth was regenerating, healing from all the damage we put it through. I was scared to take the first step though and just stood there taking in the fresh air while holding my hands out in front of me to let the sun touch my skin. “I have to do this”, I whispered to myself, and I lunged forward while quietly saying a small prayer hoping no storms, attacks, or animals would harm me on the journey.

I was five steps in, pushing through as I crushed blades of grass under my feet, then I felt myself step on something hard. It seemed like a small piece of metal, so I looked down and begin feeling around with my hands, ripping through the grass as I pressed into it. I found it and picked it up. It was a necklace, purple and shaped like a heart. It was surrounded by what looked like tiny tubes and I noticed small hinges on the side of it so I started trying to pry it open as best I could. It was so small that my fingers slipped off about 4 times until it finally unlocked. A note dropped out into my hands. It was folded up and I had to slowly unfold it as to not tear it because it seemed to have been in the locket for a very long time. I read it.

The world is changing,

we need to change with it,

or it will consume us,

like we consumed it.

I read it over and over until I suddenly realized I was distracted and started screaming at myself that I was already messing up. Not only was I losing daylight, it was also possible the attacks were still happening. I couldn’t die out here. I've worked far too long for so many months. I quickly stuffed the necklace into my pocket and scanned my surroundings. I saw nothing but grass, grass everywhere and in every direction. My heart started pounding again because what if someone or something was watching me. What if something was about to attack me? There were a lot of animals looking for prey when I first found this place and they could be hidden anywhere in this field. Or maybe they died off by being exposed to the drastic temperature changes without any shelter to protect them? I hope they did die off because how would I fight them.

I kept walking and I walked until it started to get dark. I hadn’t found anything yet. No buildings, no animals, not even a cricket chirping. I wondered if crickets still existed. I thought back to my science class in 6th grade and remembered my teacher saying something like, "roaches would survive no matter what, even in an apocalypse". Where are all the roaches, I wondered. After about 9 hours, I had a newfound confidence that there were no animals around so I couldn’t be their lunch. That reminded me, I needed to eat. I stomped on a small patch of grass to even it out and sat down. I had enough food to last me 14 days, so I needed to ration out carefully. I pulled out 6 dried apple slices, a can o, and water. I took my time to eat chewing with intention, the way I had to learn to eat so my hunger pains would lessen. When I was finished, I peered off into the field examining every view in every direction because I started to slightly recall woods that had to be close by. I decided to head west. I walked and walked until darkness fully washed over, then I set up my sleeping bag deciding to just risk it in the middle of the tall grass and I slept.

I woke up to the first sunrise I had seen in over a year. It was beautiful and I almost forgot the long nights all alone, the days I almost starved, and the night I watched my parents get killed over supplies. All my pain gently glided out of me as the sun appeared and then I saw it. Trees. The woods are right in front of me. I packed up quickly and ran towards them as fast as I could. When I reached the trees, I heard them. Birds, lots of birds. Which means there were probably insects and…animals. Fear shot through my veins. I took a deep breath and the words, “the world is changing, we need to change with it, or it will consume us, like we consumed it” escaped from my mouth. I traced my fingers around the heart in my pocket and I reassured myself that I could do this. There are animals around and I just needed to stay vigilant, maybe this meant humans too. I went back and forth deciding if I should start screaming. What if someone is out there and they needed me as much as I needed them, and we never crossed paths because we never heard each other? But what if I screamed and a wolf attacked me? I decided to stay silent. I walked for 6 hours, not seeing a single animal, not even the birds. I was relieved but exhausted at the same time. I needed to find someone. I couldn’t be in this fight alone anymore. I took two more steps, and something jerked me off the ground. I was instantly upside down inside of a net.

I watched as the necklace fell to the ground and remembered my knife was in the same pocket. I coordinated my hands as fast as I could to catch it before it fell out too. The world is changing, we need to change with it, or it will consume us, like we consumed it. I found my pocketknife and started cutting the rope while looking around in a panic. I screamed, “Help! I’m a person! Please help!” The rope broke and I fell to the ground. I grabbed the locket and quickly looked around; I needed to protect myself. Then I saw him charging for me.

His beard was covering most his face and his clothes were torn. I screamed at him again. “Please! My name is Amory! I need help!” He didn’t stop running towards me. I could see his anger in every movement as his feet hit the ground. He yelled something inaudible, and I could see he wanted to harm me. I tried to stand up, then saw my ankle was possibly broken. The pain rushed in instantly. All I could do was wait for my end, but then he fell. I watched him for at least 45 minutes until I realized he was not getting back up.

The world is changing, we need to change with it, or it will consume us, like we consumed it. I cleaned and wrapped my wounds, finished off a bottle of water and started my walk back. I needed to heal first and try again. The world must really be ending. We consumed it and now it was consuming us. I had to walk back so slowly it took 3 days. I collapsed the moment I reached my porch. I stared up at the sky and daydreamed about children laughing, holding my family, and eating bread. I reached in my pocket and felt the necklace was still there. I sat up and put it around my neck, twisted it around and closed the clasps. Moments later I felt a painful clench on my chest right where the heart of the locket rested. I looked down and saw liquid was filling the tubes. Immediately afterwards a needle from the clasps pierced through the base of my skull and I fell.

I woke up in what looked like paradise and heard a voice. “Welcome, Amory. We thought you would never get here.” She laughed and I saw a purple locket around her neck. I stared in disbelief and confusion. She smiled and said “we figured out a way to release our consciousness from our bodies and become one, but once our body dies our consciousness is no longer under our control. Unfortunately, your body is not in a safe place right now. The clasps on the locket will unhook in 24 hours and you will wake up so you can heal your body then place it somewhere safe.” She explained to me, for the next 4 hours, how a group of believers in a new world created a serum that injects into our brain and allows our consciousness to connect with whoever has a purple locket on. She tells me that my body will wake up every 24 hours and I will need to feed and hydrate it, but we are together now and will heal the world we ruined. I’m overwhelmed, but I’m not alone anymore!

“Amory,” she says in the most calming voice, “…we will get our world back.”