Marianne

Aida, a twenty-something year old woman with rustic brown hair that drags to her hips, glides through a barren cityscape, almost seamlessly. She's taken this path hundreds upon hundreds of times over the last few months, sometimes making three trips in a day. She's holding onto the hand of a young man, no older than fourteen. His black hair covers his eyes, dusted with the ash and debris of the fallen world.

"Luca, you need to keep up. I can't keep guiding you like this," She says to him, though she never stops moving -- nor does she let go of his hand.

"I'm sorry Aida, I'm trying. I'm trying," he replies softly, catching his breath in between words. She looks back to him, turning the corner as she does, her eyes filled with the sorrow of a thousand souls.

In front of the two stands a tall tower. Damaged, but not broken. Nearby buildings are razed, tormented by memories of long ago. Piddly tasks once being done by gray workers whose lives faded into the traffic on their way home, doomed to repeat the same day until they withered into older versions of the same dull person. It was probably once a glorious office building, drowned out by the glory of other surrounding ones.

Luca stops with Aida, catching their breath before continuing past overgrown greenery that seeps into the streets below and eerily climbs what remains of the city above. Splashes of color -- pinks, blues, and purples -- are few and far between. The building is left open for travelers alike, almost like they knew the world was always going to be overtaken by the Mutation.

As they enter the building Aida turns on her flashlight, clung to the sack she carries on her shoulder. They're still holding hands.

"Are you ready to split up?" Aida says to Luca.

He nods in reply, though there's hesitation in it. Aida can tell.

"We don't have to. But we'll have to come back more if we don't." She reminds him.

"I'm ready. Just scared," Luca replies softly, still catching his breath from the routine sprint through the city.

"Then let's stick together today. We'll try again tomorrow," Aida smiles at him.

He smiles back, grateful. They locate the stairs and begin climbing flight after flight. There's strikethroughs on each level they've visited:

Floor 1

Floor 2

Floor 3 until Floor 8.

The two arrive on Floor 8. The space is vast and empty, desks littered with dust, papers, and general clutter from the gray workers that came before.

"Let's get to work," Aida says, her grip on Luca's hand easing slowly until only their middle fingers are left touching. She turns to him again and pulls his hair up from his eyes, the debris floating back into the world as she does. She stares at him for a brief moment; he stares back. She turns away, leaving him to examine the front half of the office while she takes the back.

Luca pulls out gloves and begins delicately pushing things away from one another. He examines everything before doing so, taking in the mundanity of the past. He browses through papers titled "WORKPLACE ETIQUETTE", "EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!", but it's not what he and Aida are looking for.

Aida, as opposed to Luca, isn't as tidy. She doesn't care for the past besides this one thing. All she wants is this one thing -- it's all she can think about. She promptly rummages through folders and binders and papers alike. They couldn't be more different in their approach. She can cover three desks by the time he covers a foot of his first.

She swiftly moves from desk to desk. Her frustration grows after each one, working faster and more furiously at each passing pile of papers and objects.

She's pushed through her half and is creeping up on Luca's side of the office. He stops and turns to her.

"You're not gonna find it like that."

"Yes I will. We have to find it," she replies, a mix of rage and fear in her voice.

"I know we do, Aida. But slow down. What if we've missed it on the other floors because of how fast you go?" he questions.

"We didn't."

"How do you know?"

"Because, Luca, I just know!" The tone of her voice is so intense now it stops Luca in his place. She takes a beat. "I'm sorry, okay. I'm sorry. I just need to find it."

"I know. Let's keep looking."

Aida nods, tears pooling in her eyes, waiting patiently to break the floodgates. She grabs his hand, crossing off Floor 8 as they climb the next flight of stairs.

The next floor seems bigger, though it'd be impossible. There's more desks -- more things to search through. There's also a hole at this level, the dimming sunlight breaching through without remorse.

"Okay. I'll take the back half again," Aida says, letting go of Luca's hand faster than before. She's determined, maybe too determined for her own good. Luca works faster, too, not reading the words on papers this time, instead searching solely for Aida.

Time passes. Most of the desks are free from their belongings. There are only a few left to search. The sun has mostly set, though hues of orange remain to give a shimmer of light for the two as they finally meet at a desk.

"Last one. We'll come back tomorrow," Luca says innocently.

Aida looks panicked, but she agrees regardless. They search the desk together. Aida opens a drawer without an ounce of hope in her. But it's there. That stupid heart-shaped locket that she's been looking for -- it's there. Luca stops what he's doing and looks up at her. He doesn't say anything, instead watching the tears that have been built up for months flow from Aida's eyes. He embraces her, her weeping wails being carried into the vast sky.

"It's her," Aida whimpers. She opens the locket to reveal a stunning woman, hair as red as a fresh cherry. Freckles line her face in abstract patterns. Her smile was one that could be felt from across the room. The other half of the locket says:

"TO AIDA, LET ME GIVE YOU THE KEY TO MY HEART, MY BEST FRIEND, LOVE MARIANNE".

The last bit of orange has disappeared from the sky now, a blanket of darkness with splotches of speckled virtue fill the endless void in its place.

"Aida, it's time. We gotta go," Luca says. She nods, and the two turn toward the stairs. Before they can get far, something stands in their way. Luca's heart freezes, his face turning pale. Aida bumps into him, taking her eyes away from the locket for the first time since grabbing it. She stops and immediately pushes Luca behind her.

In front of the two stands a Mutated -- a humanoid creature created from a bio-weapon. They're agile, but move with disgrace and in randomized patterns.

"We've searched for too long," Luca drops his head.

"No, Luca. I won't let us die here," Aida says. She looks for anything to distract the Mutated with. There's a plethora of papers and objects lying on the floor from their rummage, but nothing seems to be the right choice. The Mutated lumbers towards them, unphased by their presence. Aida and Luca back into the office, waiting for the Mutated to follow.

"When it gets in here further, run, Luca. Run faster than we did earlier," Aida whispers to him. He nods in understanding, studying the beasts every move.

"A bit further...okay, now!" Aida screams. She takes the flashlight off her sack, throwing it into the hole of the building. The tumbling light distracts the Mutated enough for Luca to make a break for it. Aida starts to follow, but the Mutated is faster than she. It leaps onto a desk, startling her. She drops the locket in the scare, scrambling towards the wall behind her.

Luca is out the office door, but turns to check on Aida to see the Mutated blocking her escape. He panics briefly, thinking of something he can do.

Aida braces against the wall, accepting she'll be gone in seconds. Something whirls past her face, though, and the Mutated turns to where it landed.

"C'mon!" Luca screams, "Aida, c'mon!"

Aida is stunned. Too much has happened too quickly that she doesn't know what to do. She turns to Luca, then to the monstrosity, then to the locket. Luca sees this.

"Aida, no! I need you! We found her, okay? But I need you now!"

Aida looks toward Luca, then back to the locket again.

"I need my sister, Aida. Please!"

Finally, she comes to. She stands, only to stumble against the wall again. The Mutated turns toward her and Luca now, crying out an almost-human scream. She looks at the locket one last time, but returns her gaze back to Luca. She forces herself to run, faster than she ever has, and grabs his hand. She holds it down every flight of stairs. Even in the unwelcoming blackness, Aida rounds the same corners, through the decimated streets that she knows too well. Not once does she turn back. Her and Luca's hands still gripped together like they were created that way.

She finally looks back, toward the building first. The Mutated standing in the hole where they found Marianne, claiming it's territory with pride. She glances down towards Luca, holding onto him tighter than she's ever held onto anything before. He pushes his hair back himself, the remaining debris of the city floating into the atmosphere as he does so. Aida begins to slow, relinquishing her grip on her brother's hand.

She collapses almost immediately after, falling to crumbled Earth, letting loose wails of anguish.

"Aida, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Luca tries to console her. He reaches his hand for comfort but she swats it away.

"We have to go back for her, Luca," Aida says through her cries.

"Aida, we can't. How can we take on a Mutated?"

Aida's mind is blurry. An endless stream of fog has made its home there for quite some time. Some days it's heavier than others, but it's always there. It refuses to leave.

"She's my best friend, Luca."

"And you're my sister, Aida!" He screams at her, pure, unadulterated, unbridled rage in his voice. For so long he's remained timid to her.

Aida turns to him, her eyes violently red and drained of joy. The fog is easing it's grasp on her mind. The two stare into each other's eyes -- both filled with more stories than any soul should ever have to tell with their eyes. Luca collapses with her, crying into his palms.

"I miss mom," he weeps. "I miss dad. I miss the you before you thought you had to take care of me. I miss the world. I wanna go back!"

They're exhausted. Both have been running and surviving in a demolished world for months. The fact of the matter is that nobody talks about the grief of living through an apocalypse -- the heftiness of the weight that comes with it. The toll it takes to not know when you'll run into somebody with different virtues than you. Not knowing when you'll be able to sleep restfully through even an hour of the night. But, Aida and Luca know this. They live it everyday.

Aida reaches her hand out to Luca. He doesn't hesitate before grasping it in his. They squeeze each other and rise away from the destroyed city. Aida wants to look back, but she doesn't. The locket is gone -- Marianne, is gone. But Luca isn't. And knowing that she has somebody to carry the weight of trying to live as normal a life as one can after doomsday arrives with her, brings her an unquestionable amount of peace that no locket can do.