What's in the Box?

My mother, Dora, gave me a heart-shaped locket the day she left. I had never been able to open it. It sat around my neck for six years, only ever reminding me that I was on my own in a grief-stricken world.

The story goes that the locket had been in my family for centuries, millennia even. I’m not sure how much I believe that story, but the fact remains that it was my last link to any kind of family. Even if it is some $20 trinket from a secondhand market, I’ll keep it until I die.

The world as I knew it erupted into chaos when I was still young. When the stock market crashed in 2022, the American economy was blown to smithereens. Major businesses began to shut down, everyday necessities became million-dollar items, and without Corporate America, other countries watched their economies go six feet under. I think the public execution of the Queen is when the apocalypse was officially declared. After that, there was no coming back.

In the camps people had begun to build after the initial collapse had settled down, there were rallies calling for the execution of those they believed to be at fault for the state of the world. Those people were mostly the money-hungry dominators of Wall Street, blaming the collapse on their greed. And I have to say, I’d be stupid to disagree with them. I think that greed, before and after the collapse, was the reason why all the world’s grievances existed: disease, hunger, poverty, war, and anything else. If people would just recognize the fact that there is no need to be overly wealthy in any form, then they could exist in harmony with one another. But whatever. At this point in time, there’s no more hope to hold on to.

It was three years after the collapse when my mom left. I was twelve at the time. We were living in New York, but when it became clear that cities were hotspots for the most destruction, we fled North into the Canadian wilderness. With it being nine years, nearly a decade, since the end of the world, I decided to travel back south and see if there was anything salvageable from my childhood home.

It took me a few months to get here, but I had to make the journey completely on foot and out of sight of all looters and bounty hunters. The locket I wore would be worth a pretty penny on the black market, should one of them get their hands on it. It was not only made completely of authentic silver, but also had an eye made of blue and white jade on the front. Someone could feed a family for a year with this locket.

When I saw the city skyline for the first time in all those years, my heart fell through my body and into the depths of Hell. Only a few of the massive skyscrapers that once commanded the view were still standing. Not only was I now sure that I wouldn’t find anything salvageable, but I had also lost hope of even finding remnants of the building I used to call home. I decided to proceed anyway, since I’d come all this way.

It took me another day to reach the part of town I’d used to live in. The night before, I witnessed a man tending a fire in an old trash can and could smell something dead burning. I decided it was in my best interest to find somewhere secure for the rest of the night, before anyone saw me and determined I was a good thing to set aflame.

I turned the corner onto my old street, expecting to find nothing but ruins, but was completely taken aback to find the house in perfect condition. It was as though a bubble had been placed around the house, never letting anything touch it for the entirety of the apocalypse. Seriously, there wasn’t even a smudge of dirt on the front door.

I debated not going in. There was something not right about the whole scene. It was something not human. It was almost … divine. Something I couldn’t comprehend. There was no way that the years of destruction had avoided just my house.

But what can I say? Curiosity had always been known to get the better of me. So after about an hour of sitting on the curb opposite, staring at the building in pristine condition, I stood up and made my way to the front door.

The doorknob was cool to the touch and felt heavy when I twisted it. Upon closer inspection, it did seem that there was a little bit of damage, as though it had sat vacant for nine years. It was simply squeaky hinges and dust covered surfaces. Not like it had been through a decade long apocalypse.

Setting foot inside invoked a feeling in me that I wasn’t expecting. It made me miss my mom. It made me miss when this was more than a house, but a home. I missed baking cookies in the oven and drawing pictures for the refrigerator. At one point, my mom had set up a karaoke machine and I would put on concerts for her, complete with bright pink makeup and all. That was back when my only care in the world was becoming a popstar, a dream that had since been dismissed.

I hadn’t realized it, but I started to cry. The world was hopeless, destined to die, and there was nothing I could do about it. I can’t tell you how long I stood there crying, looking at the remnants of my past life, reminiscing about the way things used to be. What brought me back to reality was my locket. It had started to sing like a teapot left on the fire for too long. Hot air had begun to blast from the sides. I watched as a crack started to split up the middle of the eye. It wasn’t long before the stone, now halved, fell completely off.

What the hell?

Out of nowhere, I noticed the hallway had lit up, but it didn’t seem to be coming from a bulb. It was a searing, bright-white light that I had to shield my eyes from. I left the jade on the floor and slowly walked in the direction of the light. It was hard to see, but the closer I got, I realized it was coming from the jar that my mom had always kept on a table in the hallway. She had owned this old, clay jar for as long as I could remember. It had carvings on the sides that I used to watch as a kid. I swear they used to move when no one was looking.

“Put it in the jar,” a woman's voice said loud and distinct. It took me off guard and I spun around to see who was there, but I saw no one. I realized that it was my mom’s voice. Somehow, she was here with me and was telling me what to do to fix this. I had no idea how this was all even possible, but with no better option, I jerked the locket from my neck and threw it in the opening of the jar, with no time to think twice.

The light, which had been without bounds, redirected itself upward into a beam that broke through the roof of the house. Particles of debris fell around me, but my attention was solely focused on the locket, which had risen from inside the jar and was now open, facing the exposed sky.

I wanted to be worried and scared as I watched this happen, but I felt these emotions impossible to come by. I almost couldn’t even remember what it was like to experience them. With that said, it had even started to become difficult to comprehend the last nine years. I knew the timeline in my head, but I couldn’t make sense of it at all. In fact, for the first time in forever, I only felt hope.

The locket closed and fell into the jar with a thud, the light going with it. A wall of clay appeared from nowhere, sealing the opening shut and closing it completely. It was from then on that the world began to start again. People had begun to give, rather than take. Their bellies stayed full, and no one wished to fight anymore.

It wasn’t until years later that I realized I was not aging. I looked the same as I had in my youth, yet I was the crisp age of fifty-two. This is why, dear daughter, I will never attempt to get the locket out. Breaking this jar will unleash pain and greed, hunger and disease, hatred and jealousy. All these things, you’ve been lucky enough to remain blind to, so you may not understand how harsh and destructive they can be, but trust me you don’t want to find out.

Leaving this jar sealed is the only option, a box better left unopened.