Lucees Heart-shaped Locket

Lucees Heart-shaped Locket

A dystopian short story by Geraldine Wise

Pimento Mikes

It had been threatening to storm for days. The forecast was something Kennedy never listened to, too many words and maybes. There was lightning in the valley behind her, and the sky was getting darker. As the cool wind began to blow around her tiny cabin, she decided she should go to the grocery store before it got too late.

Lucee and Kennedy met not long after Covid43 was announced. They traveled together everywhere, and they knew and met each other’s needs: Food, warmth, comfort, and protection. Kennedy loved the silence, it was nice to hear her breathing next to her, it made her feel protected. They had a deep connection not everyone can have with others.

The storm came in faster than she anticipated, the raindrops were getting bigger and faster. As she sped past an old, abandoned gas station, she couldn’t help but think of the owner Pimento Mike.

Kennedy and Pimento were good friends until he died. The old “Pimento” filling station had been withering away since he passed. His son, Junior, inherited the station and didn’t want anything to do with it. Per EPA rules and safety practice, he had the old gas pumps removed and encased with concrete. Leaving behind the concrete pads without the pumps. What was odd about the entire probate was Pimento Mike's only request was to have the gumball machine sealed in the concrete. It was as if he knew his son would abandon the filling station. Young Mike didn’t want to sell it, and he didn’t want anyone else to use the place, his own demons let it rot away.

After getting a few necessities, she drove back to her cabin. It rained the entire way to the cabin. As she had supper cooking, she went to sit outside on the deck, it was a nice cool evening, the storm was moving away, and she could see lightning in the distance.

She turned on the old radio and found a local station that had the clearest local station. They were repeating “News flash: by proclamation of the State Governor and President of the United States, all citizens must remain indoors, do not leave your homes; anyone found outside will be immediately detained!”. That proclamation played on a loop for the rest of the evening.

“Another Covid scare? What’s going on now?” she quietly asked, not really expecting an answer. Lucee didn’t acknowledge the question.

Covid-43

Covid-43 was something everyone had to get used to since Covid-19. By the time the Centers for Disease Agency (CDA) realized it was mutating, the vaccine was being circulated around the world. World leaders were eager to force the vaccine on everyone in the world. Once it was seen to be effective on rabbits, mice, and puppies in a lab, they rolled them out and made the vaccine available for free.

Five years later; no lifelong clinical trials were conducted. A majority had an anaphylactic reaction and died immediately. A few others drowned in their own secretions. Death came quickly and it was merciful. No one wanted the new ‘Rona’. The vaccine seemed to enhance and take over the host. There aren’t any scientists to test its validity. You can imagine how hard it is to cage one of the Rona-ragers and test it.

The CDA didn’t exist. The ones to really feel sorry for are the lab assistants, they had to make sense of the left-over notes and video transcripts and find a reversal for the vaccine mutation. Sorry bastards, they had no clue. The Rona-rage mutants killed everyone in a lab during the clinical trials. All they did pre-Covid was clean beakers and lock up the lab.

Those with the mutation didn’t age as nature intended. Instead, the mutation stopped people from dying unless there was an impact on the brain to stop its primary function-staying alive. This meant injuring the brain enough to make them stop.

Kennedy used to think the Covid43-mutants were not actual mutants, just fired up assholes. When the mutants were agitated their adrenaline amped up. Adrenaline was like a super serum, it increased heart rate, improved lung expansion, warm blood flow was amplified to muscles, increased metabolism, and sugar levels increased, the brain was hyperexcited. They had an audible wheeze, red eyes, hunched back, darkened thick skin, sweat, and deep breaths. Everything a body needed to “Rage on”. Making them superhuman, indestructible, and unpredictable.

Kennedy and Lucee did what they could to stay alive, that meant hiding. Kennedy became good at not being noticed because she was only 5foot 2inches and weighed 110 pounds. Kennedy wore a machete on her back like a quiver. An 8inch bowie knife strapped to her right ankle just in case the machete gets lost or stuck in something. It wasn’t unusual to see someone “packing” to defend oneself. Everyone knew about the ragers, so they were prepared.

The Heart-shaped locket

Pimento Mikes was a thriving business before Mike’s wife passed. Mike couldn’t wait to retire and pass on his legacy to one of his two sons. Junior was the most likely candidate firstborn and showed an interest in small business.

Pimento Mike's filling station was at a perfect location. It was the first gas station entering town from the east and the last station from the west. Almost everyone had to stop for gas or to at least take a break, walk, and use the clean restrooms. His business thrived for more than forty years. Not very profitable, but it kept him and his family comfortable.

He first saw the heart-shaped locket around his wife’s neck. She was giggling saying “Look what I got instead of the bouncy ball? Don’t I look cute?” He knew she was kidding, but she did look cute. She was the love of his life. Pimento was happy and contented.

A few weeks had passed, nothing out of the ordinary, just strange occurrences. His wife sat on the porch in the dark singing as loud as she could, not to upset her he asked her to come back inside. He was afraid she was going to attract the Rona-ragers. He didn’t want that kind of attention. When he went out to urge her to come inside, he saw the same locket on her neck “are you still wearing that trinket?” he asked.

She quickly snapped “ITS MINE!”

“I’m not going to take it just surprised you're still wearing it, is it bigger?”

She fondled it and looked at him with hate he never thought he would ever see from her eyes. It scared him and made him shiver.

“Honey let's go in, ok?”. She stood still for a while then she walked inside and laid on the couch. He shrugged and thought at least she stopped singing.

A few days later he noticed she was wandering in the garden and was sobbing uncontrollably. Maybe she’s depressed, I need to get her to the doctor right away. The diagnosis was “exhaustion”. She wasn’t sleeping? He had no clue because she would fall asleep in random places. The Doctor prescribed sedatives. Pimento crushed them into her tea to get her to take them. She was a different person, not taking care of herself. One evening he drew her a bath and started to bathe her, when he tried to take the heart-shaped locket off she became furious!

“ITS MINE, ITS MINE! YOU CAN’T HAVE IT!!!!” she screamed.

Pimento fell back and told her “I don’t want it, just trying to clean you up, honey”. He left the locket on; he swears it was three times bigger than before. Later that night after the sedative kicked in and she was asleep in their bed, he took the locket off. He could see it was bigger than the first time he saw it. When he took it off, it was surprisingly the same small size in his hands as it was in the gumball machine.

The very next morning, his loving wife was back to her old sweet self. Pimento thought it was the sedative and getting some much-needed rest. He was glad all she needed was rest. Junior came to his store and helped like he usually does when he accidentally dropped a display. Pimento became unhinged!

“What’s wrong with you boy!!!” he screamed.

Junior teared up and ran away. Mike didn’t realize how angry he got. He was ashamed and put his hands in his pockets. He pulled out the locket that was twice its normal size. He jumped back because he realized these weren’t even the same pants he put the locket in! “What the hell is going on!” Pimento thought. “This damn locket is cursed,” he thought, “I need to get rid of it”.

Pimento went to the town dump and threw the locket into the deep end of the canyon “I hope I never see you again!” He walked away, noting the locket was its original size and a cheap piece of tin, not heavy or shiny like it was before. “Good riddance,” he said as he walked away feeling relieved.

Two days passed and everything seemed normal. His sweet wife was more loving than ever. She came to have lunch at the store with Pimento, it was a treat to eat and flirt with his beloved. He felt happy and glad things went back to normal. As she was leaving, she looked toward the gumball machine and exclaimed “Hey there’s another heart-shaped locket in there!” she giggled as she put another quarter into it to try to get lucky. As Pimento sprinted to her, the same locket rolled out into her hands. She laughed and said, “I did it”.

“Please honey, don’t put it on” he begged.

It was too late, she had it out of its plastic bubble and putting it around her neck by the time he reached her, distressed, and defeated. “Please, honey don’t put it on” he pleaded. She only said, “doesn’t it make me look cute?” then she walked out of his store. Pimento fell to his knees and sobbed uncontrollably. That night he crushed a sedative in her tea and brought it to her on the porch as she started to sing.

“Drink this honey and come to bed” he pleads. She nodded yes. Later that night, he thought she was asleep and tried to take the locket off. She quickly grabbed his hands and growled in a deep voice “don’t even try it asshole”. Pimento fell back, that didn’t sound like her at all. He let her go and laid down next to her afraid to fall asleep. He could tell she never slept by her irregular breathing.

The next morning, he jolted awake, she wasn’t next to him. He heard loud singing outside. “What the hell! Whaaaat??” he exclaimed defeatedly. His boys were crying from the living room window looking out in terror. When Pimento looked out, he screamed as loud as he could “NOOOO!!”. He quickly ran to the door, his boys stopping him and holding him back, “NO daddy, Nooo, it’s too late!!!”.

He looked in horror as his beloved wife was singing loudly and throwing rocks at a Rona-rager. She was obviously trying to enrage it. She was successful. The Rona-rager scratched her head with his claw-like hands and split her face in two in one swoop. Blood sprayed everywhere. Pimento and his boys screaming and wailing “NOOOOOO!!!!”. Pimento saw a shiny object fly off, he knew it was the locket about the size of a gate lock, ten times bigger than before. The Rona-rager continued to annihilate her body, tearing it to shreds until nothing remained but flesh in the field.

Pimento and his boys continued to look on in horror. Not knowing what else to do but scream and cry for what seemed an eternity. Kennedy and Lucee ran to the field, picked up the locket, and went in a different direction. Pimento knew they would deal with it.