Dystopian Destiny

The reflection in the material of the dome surrounding my home showed a young female with short hair, gray eyes and a sad expression on her face. Staring at the reflection of the golden chain that held the purple heart-shaped locket, I watched as the reflection also sighed. My mind drifted back, back to a time when the cool wind caressed my skin, when the smell of fresh air was intoxicating, and the grass swayed back and forth in the breeze. Back before the Incident, as we referred to it these days. I remembered explosions, smoke, screams; most of all the screams, as our world slowly dissolved into nothing. Those long days when Lucas and I limped wearily from place to place looking for food, water, anything.

One night as we caught a glimpse of this dome, its brightness casting a glow upon the barren landscape, Lucas stopped me. “Lili,” he started after clearing his throat, “it’s time for us to part ways.”

“No!” I cried. I could barely hold back my tears. I had lost everyone I had ever loved except for Lucas. He’d been my rock, my inspiration to keep putting one foot in front of the other for many days now. “Why? Why? I don’t understand.”

Lucas held me gently, “you are more than ready to be on your own. You are strong, you are courageous, you are resourceful. I, on the other hand, am dying. You must have sensed it; you have to have realized that I’m growing weaker every day. I simply cannot make it any further. You go on ahead, they will take you in, I’m sure of it.” Reaching his hand into his pocket, he drew out a purple heart-shaped locket hanging from a golden chain. He leaned into me as he fastened it around my neck. “This will keep you safe, it contains a source of power that only you can access. It’s in your blood, no one can activate it but you.”

As I glanced down at the locket hanging from my neck, I swear I could feel a heat emanating from it. It felt ‘different’ but ‘right’. I looked up to say something to Lucas, but he was gone. I turned around and around, peering through the growing darkness calling out to him, over and over and over again.

Silence surrounded me, silence and the glow from the dome. Stumbling wearily, grieving, I made my way across the expanse towards the dome.

Six months had passed since that day. And, yes, the people inside the dome had taken me in. I found many, many others who’d lost it all, some walking around with blank, staring eyes, some walking around determined to make it work. I guess I fell somewhere in the middle. I know some days I sat in my favorite spot, looking outside towards where Lucas had left me, seeing only my reflection in the dome. Other days, it felt like life could be turning back towards some sort of normalcy. We got up, ate, exercised as a group after which we were subjected to boring lectures, day after day, making our way through til we went to bed at the end of each cycle.

I still heard Lucas telling me about the locket, that it was the source of my power. Problem was, I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. My life before the Incident was boring, as much as I could recall. There was nothing special I could remember ever happening to me or anyone in my family. What could he have been talking about?

I had stared into the purple facets of the locket; I had swung it back and forth in an attempt to hypnotize myself into remembering. I had clasped it in my hand and felt the heat coming off it, but never once felt anything other than that; no surge of energy, no lightning bolt, no rush of certainty that I was something other than your typical girl of seventeen.

Standing up and tucking the locket back inside my tunic, I turned around as Eliza, the first friend I’d made inside the dome, came rushing up to me. “Lili, you have to come, now!”

I allowed myself to be dragged around the corner and out of sight from where I’d been sitting. “Where are we going?” I asked with curiosity. “What’s going on?”

“Just com’on,” insisted Eliza, “you have to see this.”

I forced my feet faster to keep from being dragged all over the dome. Eliza was very insistent when she got something in her mind. Releasing my hand, she raced in front of me beckoning. “Com’on, Lili, com’on!”

Speeding up and racing alongside of Eliza, I stopped short as we entered the main cargo bay. The outer doors were just closing, and I could feel the gravity being restored as they slid shut. Parked inside the cargo bay was a ship, but not just any ship. I gasped as I reached inside my tunic and pulled out the purple heart-shaped locket. It was an exact replica of the ship sitting inside the bay. There were lights flashing all over the ship and I could feel my locket pulsing in time. Quickly tucking it back inside my tunic, my thoughts were all over the place. What was going on, I thought, why does that ship look exactly like my locket? My mind couldn’t form anything coherent as I found myself moving closer and closer to the ship.

“Stop Right There!” a guard suddenly appeared blocking my view of the ship. “You can’t go out there.”

“But, but…” I stuttered, “I have to.”

“Ummm, young lady, no, you do not have to go out there,” replied the guard as he grabbed my arm and turned me around towards the inner corridor. “You go stand over there with the rest of the gawkers.” Giving me a shove in that direction, he released my arm and stood resolutely between me and the ship.

With a sigh, I made my way back towards Eliza and the others.

Sometime later, after we’d been called to dinner, we were subjected to another lecture, most of it as boring as always, except this time, they made mention of the ship. None of the officials seemed to have any idea where the ship had come from and since landing, no one had stepped outside the ship. They did announce that guards would be posted throughout the whole 25-hour day/night cycle and that we were not allowed to go near it for any reason.

As the evening wore on, everyone appeared to have lost interest in the ship except for me and Eliza. But her interest was in no way, shape or form anything like mine. All I knew was that something was happening, I felt it deep inside; an awareness, a sense that somehow, I was connected to that ship. I mean, when you’re wearing a locket that was an exact replica of a ship that randomly appeared from nowhere and has not stopped pulsing since I first laid eyes on it, it had to mean something.

As I stepped inside my sleeping cube, the door slid shut leaving me alone with a pulsing locket. Sitting on my bed, I pulled it out from beneath my tunic and stared at it. Maybe now my questions would be answered, maybe now I’d figure things out about my ‘supposed’ power. The power that Lucas had alluded to. Holding the locket tightly in my hand, I concentrated all my thoughts and energy on it. I deliberately slowed my heartrate to match the pulsing and as I sat there, I got the distinct feeling that I was tuning myself to the locket. Again, this sense of ‘rightness’ came over me. A warmth filled me from my toes to the top of my head as I sank deeper into a trance.

Coming back to myself with a start, I realized several hours had passed and my locket was no longer pulsing. Opening my hand, I was startled to see that the purple stone inside the locket was glowing. It had never done that before. Without thinking, I stood up from my bed and stepped towards the door. It slid open and I walked, trance-like out the door. Following my instincts, I made my way back to the main cargo bay. The ship was still there, waiting. Without thinking too much about it, I knew it was waiting for me.

Walking towards the ship, the guards moved away and didn’t try to stop me. As I made my way across the cargo bay, one facet of the ship suddenly scrolled up and a pathway scrolled down. I set a foot on the pathway, felt a slight tingle and walked slowly up towards the opening. I stepped through and as I stepped over the threshold, the pathway scrolled up and the facet scrolled down. I was trapped inside with an overwhelming sense of ‘welcome home’.