Where You Go, I Go

As Temperance walked down the path she kept an eye out for any signs regarding the safety zone. She had been alone for nearly two weeks, making her way through what once was the bustling city of Cleveland, Ohio. Though, buildings remained and remnants of homes still stood, the setting was an eerie silence. She had not seen any other survivors since the last air raid. She grasped the heart shaped locket that hung heavy around her neck.

Her mind wandered to a time before this, when life was normal and the country was still a functioning society. It felt like an eternity had passed when in reality, only been weeks had gone by since the start of the revolt. Life as the country knew it changed for the worse. The country had fallen into civil war, the new ruling government stifled citizens daily activities. Where you could go, what you could eat, where you could work. Everything had all now been regulated by authoritarian regime. A revolt happened in many of the major cities across the nation, a wildfire of anger and resentment spreading among the people.

Temperance remembered coming home from school the day before the bombings, her parents glued to the television. Their hands clasped tightly as they feared for what would come from the violence between the warring factions. She painfully remembered how her mother looked at her when she pulled her face from the coverage.

The child clutched her locket, remembering the feel of her mother’s touch as she grazed her cheek softly in that moment, kneeling before her. Temperance remembered looking terrified at her mother, yet in awe of the beauty of the women before her in that moment. She could still see clearly the moment as her mother removed the necklace from around her neck and put it around her own.

“No matter what happens, you have your father and me, no matter what. It’s alright to be scared, we are too.”

A tear rolled softly down the girls cheek as she focused on the feeling of her mother’s embrace in that moment. What she would give to feel that warmth and security again.

The child came to the intersection of an abandoned road, she still had not seen any others since her trek began. She decided to sit for a moment, her feet throbbing from all the walking. She took a bottle of water form her book bag and took in the refreshing drink with a mighty gulp. The sun glared overhead, the summer heat beating down upon her back. She had been walking for at least two days to the safety zone. She pulled a paper map from her bag, marking off each segment she passed on the route, eyeing it to see how far she had remaining until her destination.

Circled at the end of the route, scribbled in her fathers writing were the words, “Rocket FieldHouse." That was where she needed to go, they had converted the arena into a mass civilians shelter, equipped with food, water, and medical services. The government had raided and destroyed many of the shelters and hospitals in the surrounding counties, a travesty that had been done all across the nation to punish those in the uprising and further attempt to squash the ongoing revolt.

Temperance checked the street name to assure she was on the correct route and estimate her remaining journey. “Prospect Ave.” in bold white letters stood out along a green street sign. She wiped the sweat from her brow, took one more drink from her water bottle and placed it back within her pack. Stretching her arms and legs she continued north, fighting exhaustion and the heat. She walked with purpose while managing to stay alert to any signs of others. Her mind began to race back to her memories from the days before, when she still had her parents to protect her from the dangers unraveling around them.

“Whatever you do stay with me Temp, ok? Just hold my hand.” The words rang in her ears as her fathers words echoed from the past.

Her mind was pulled back from that memory, when the alarm of the city’s sirens burst through the air. She stopped in her tracks as her heart thundered in her chest. She could hear a sound humming in the distance. She looked to the sky for the impending sight of military planes. She stood frozen for a moment before her body snapped back and her legs began to pump her further down Prospect Avenue. As she raced, she noticed stragglers coming from random buildings, a surprising sight as it was the first she’d seen others in days. Men and women, some carrying children or holding their hands to keep up as they all stampeded in the same direction as she was.

As she pushed her body further her memories of the last night of her family together forced itself into her thoughts. The chaos and absurdity of people packing and loading into their cars, military personnel forcing their way into people homes, shooting without remorse as families pleaded and begged, screaming they were not guilty of perceived crimes against the new regime. The same sounds from the air she heard looming close as she ran, taunting her like that night as bombs fell from the sky, taking out blocks of homes. People and families gone in an instant. She could still feel the fear in her mother’s voice as she urged her father to drive them out of there as quickly as possible. Then the jarring moment her family’s van lost control and sped into a street pole. The sight of her mother, dead in the passenger seat as blood trickled down her face. Fires raged as homes burnt to nothing and her father's last moments with her.

“Temp, honey,” his words forced and dire as they escaped in pain and gargled blood, “take the backpack, follow this map, get to the safety zone, do you hear me? Get to the safety zone.”

“I can’t do this by myself daddy! Please come on!"

The memory of her father, reaching out to touch her face, the pain in his eyes as he made the excruciating decision to send her out on her own as his injuries would prevent him from being able to walk. His only option to give his daughter a fighting chance to make it. He’d have to send her on her own to save her. His heart breaking with the thought.

“I love you Temperance, more than you will ever know. You will never be alone, we will always be here with you.” His hand trailed to the heart shaped locket, that rested gently around her neck.

The tears burned as they streamed down her face, the sounds of boots pounding on the street inching closer to their vicinity.

“Go Temp, go.”

Temperance heard those words in her ears as she beat her legs harder, her lungs burning as the siren continued to scream for anyone around to seek shelter. Her heart dropped as she heard the boom of buildings in the distance behind her blasting from the bombs. She followed the random civilians who all continued on, screaming directions to the shelter zone. The planes now louder and thundering above them as they passed over. The cacophony of sounds around them adding to the chaos and despair as they continued to the only place they knew to go.

She could see it, the name of the building along the side, her body exhausted but still furiously racing forward. The monumental finish line of her journey, fulfilling the route alone.

As she grew closer though, her heart sank as the bombs rained down above the arena, the last two days alone, the exhaustion, the pain, all falling down around her. Her speed slowed as she realized there was nowhere to go, it was ending before her. The planes circled back, preparing for another drop. Temperance lowered to her knees, her eyes glued to the sight of the safety zone before her. She pulled the locket from her neck, the delicate chain snapping so that it now rested in her hand. Tears rolled down her cheeks, she took a look at the safety zone then pulled her eyes to the locket. Its filigree etching gracing the face of the gold heart. She opened it, to see a small heart shaped photo of her parents.

Their eyes locked on one another, their smiles bright and loving. Temperance gleamed at their faces, a quiet moment in her mind at the happiness in one small token. Engraved on the opposite side were the words, “Where you go, I go. Love always, me.” The girl took a deep breath in, the planes now above her releasing their next wave of destruction. She stared at the picture and the words beside them, with an exhale Temperance muttered,

“I tried but I’m coming too, please hold my hand, because where you go, I go."