The Second Coming of the Tell-Tale Heart

It was cold. We didn't anticipate how cold it would get. We heard all our lives about how cold a nuclear winter would be. It didn't prepare us, at all.

The band of people I had joined was, for the most part, knowledgeable and capable. But still, we all were in a bit of shock. We had all the things to get though a catastrophic event. We didn't have all the things or the brain bandwidth to understand that there was no going back. This was the "new normal". We had to adapt to survive. We were in uncharted territory. We were making the rules up as we went. And trying to figure out how to survive and how to avoid those who would exterminate us, if given an opportunity. There was no way to determine who was friend or foe, until you engaged. And then, it could be too late.

We trudged along, as quietly as we could, but still trying to make good time. To where? We didn't really know. A better place, a better situation. A safe place, whatever that could mean. Underground bunkers? Taken or destroyed or too much an underground trap. Deserted areas? Where, exactly, would that be? We would need natural resources. In the middle of an actual desert would be impractical. Places with many resources would most likely have attracted others, and we couldn't know if we would be welcomed or shot on sight. Dense forests? A possibility. Limited visibility, so we could maybe hide out. Resources could be present.

The one thing that was certain, things that had been considered valuable were no longer so. That Rolex? Does it tell time? Great. Other features maybe helpful, useful. But it's not worth anything more than that. Status symbols are definitely obsolete.

We came across a house that was particularly well preserved. We all needed a break from the elements and this place looked empty but inviting. Although I personally had an unsettling feeling, I went along with the group. I was a fairly new comer to the group and I wasn't ready to test how valuable the group felt I was by vocalizing my apprehensions.

We entered the home which oddly was wide open. And just as oddly, not ransacked for anything of use or value, in the "new time". We came in through the back door, into what clearly was the utility room. A pristine room with a washer and dryer, a clean and oddly dust-free counter designed to fold clean laundry or place items as the home owner entered the home.

As we passed through this room we entered the kitchen. A spacious room with a large island, with ample counter space. With a large, deep sink, which was also a bit disquieting, dripped occasionally. Had someone recently used this? Was the water still working here? Was it potable? Could we filter it for our use? We had several ways to test unknow items and the ones who conducted these tests immediately set upon this task.

The rest of us, which I neglected to mention earlier, was 10 more of us, with 4 scientific minded individual working on the above-mentioned project. Anyway, the other 10 of us wandered through the house, instinctively staying in small groups. Not just pairs. Too easy for one of a pair to be taken out, leaving a lone person to fight, and more than likely, lose. We tended to work and explore in groups of 3 or 4, so we had 3 different exploring parties checking out he house.

There seemed to be a door that lead to a basement, which we hoped might hold some useful treasures. Our experience had shown that basements were places where people felt that they would be most protected and those who had the foresight to plan, had stocked with supplies. If the planners had perished, for whatever reason, there still may be things to glean.

My group of 4 cautiously made our way down the basement steps with the one on point using a flashlight, the rest of us following down without the use of any other light. Batteries aren't easy to come by, anymore. We've got to be careful in the use of flashlights and such.

Although it seemed like we all held our breaths on the descent, we all seemed to take a collective inhale when we reached the basement floor. The flashlight slowly scanned the room, looking for items we might be able to use. With 4 pairs of eyes and with a few years of training, we were pretty sharp in our evaluation. We moved towards items that caught our eyes, as our eyes adapted to the darkness and felt more secure in our surroundings.

I paused, still feeling that niggling feeling of trepidation. I was trying not to be obvious maybe just trying to causally look around. Suddenly, I had an overwhelming feeling that I had to look to my left. There, hanging from a nail against one of the wooden columns holding the first floor up above the basement, was a tarnished heart shaped locket. I felt an undeniable compulsion to go to the locket. I couldn't seem to stop myself. I knew this was a trinket, an item that would be worth nothing in "the new time", but I felt a complete need to go to it.

As I approached the locket, I was suddenly called to by another member of the group for assistance. For some reason, this annoyed me greatly. As if I had been broken from a trance, or a woken from a perfect dream. This feeling gave me a start. Why would I have such a reaction?

I turned away from the locket and went to assist the person requesting my help. Momentarily, I was distracted from the heart-shaped locket. However, soon that assistance was no longer required and I immediately felt the pull back to the locket.

I was trying to fight that pull, thinking that it was just foolish. I tried to find ways to busy myself, but inexplicably, there seemed to be an undeniable pull back to the locket.

I finally relented and headed back to the locket. It almost seemed to gleam in the dim light, almost a beacon. I actually looked around to see if any of my group seemed to have any interest in it, as I did. The others all seemed to be oblivious to it.

I approached the locket and reached up to remove it from the nail it hung on. As soon as I touched the chain, I felt a jolt of energy, almost electric. Suddenly, I had no real concept of where I physically was. I was transported to another place, but it was not a place with which I was familiar or even a place where I wanted to be. I felt compelled to open the locket. As I examined the photos I felt yet another jolt. As if these people were known to me. The logical part of my consciousness that was still functioning assured me that I could not possibly know who they were. It was clearly a very old image. On the right side: A woman with her long hair piled upon her head, in a very turn of the 20th century manner. The blouse she wore was also very period for that time, complete with cameo broach at the close of the collar. A faraway look upon her visage. The man, on the other hand, seemed to have a more modern appearance. Modern hair style, shirt and jacket. Clean shaven. And piercing eyes, looking straight out of the left side of the locket at me. I could not seem to tear my eyes away, once I looked at those eyes. I don't know how long I stood there, staring into the eyes of the man in the locket. But, finally, something outside of my "trance" caught my attention, and I was able to look away. I felt the locket become warmer in my hand, as if there was a rage or anger emanating from it. I instinctively dropped it to the ground. When the locket hit the ground, a small puff of smoke expelled from it. I tried to convince myself it was just dust on the basement floor, and that was dispersed when it fell. But it was again odd that there was actually no dust on anything in the basement.

I suddenly lost my reluctance to speak up and said loudly "I think we need to get out of here. I can't tell you exactly why, but I have a really bad feeling". The others in my group turned to look at me, but for some reason decided that maybe they should listen to me. They gathered what they thought may be of use and we all nearly ran up the stairs.

We reached the main floor and for some reason, the last one up slammed the door shut. Maybe they began to feel the same foreboding I originally felt or just the way we had to live, the instinct was now to put space between yourself and any potential danger, however possible, to do so.

The door slammed shut and there was immediately a large "bang" coming from the other side. We all looked at one another, a bit in shock. I felt a very strong urge to get out of that house and get far, far away.

It seemed that the other 2 groups exploring also had a similar feeling, as they seemed to materialize in the kitchen to suddenly without our contacting them. Or before any of us had time to vocalize anything about our own experience. We seemed to instinctively know that we needed to be out of there.

We quickly exited the house, the same way we entered. But, instead of the pristine room we had walked in through to enter, the room seemed dingy, oppressive, dark, and dusty. I felt myself almost unable to breath. I wanted desperately to push my way to the door but tried to compose myself and just go along as the group went.

We made it outside, seemingly intact. We evaluated what we had removed, and found it to be pretty much negligible. Either of no value or completely random and strange. The people who had brought items out looked at them in their hands, almost in disbelief. As if they really didn't know what they had or why they had taken it. I immediately thought of the locket. I wondered if whatever had drawn me to the locket was attached to these other items. As we all tried to appraise the items, I decided I would speak up, again. I said " I think we need to leave these things here. I think we are going to regret taking any of these things". Immediately, every single person nodded and vocalized agreement. They immediately dropped them on the ground. We asked the people taking the samples, etc., if they had determined the water was useable. They kind of got blank looks upon their faces, as if they had forgotten that had been their task. They stammered a bit, having no answers to give. We all, almost in unison, nodded, understanding.

We got ourselves together, and walked quickly away from the house, not even giving a backward glance, despite the biting cold and the fact that night was coming. As we strode away, I still felt like I could hear a bang-bang-bang of something trying to break through the basement door.