The cursed gift

The day started like any other day. I woke up early. Took a shower and got ready for work. I grabbed a quick breakfast on the way in to work. About halfway through the workday you realize you have not gotten your best friend a birthday gift yet, you panic and start to look up things they might like. You find a heart shaped locket that would be perfect for them.

After work you go and pick it up. As you are checking out the store owner tells you that there is something special about this heart shaped locket. They would not tell you why it is special. You were thinking that was strange. Once you left you did not give it a second thought. When you arrived home, you tried to open it and it would not open. You where ok with that because it is such a beautiful locket.

The day finally arrives where you are going to give it to your friend Jennifer. Your friend opens the package and is so excited when she sees it, you tell her you tried to open it and could not get it open. Jennifer notices something written on the back of the locket. Neither one of you can read it because it is in a different language. Jennifer tries to open it. It starts to open but something comes out of it. She snaps it back shut but at that point it was too late.

She had unknowingly unleashed a curse on the planet that destroys all technology and the memory of how to make all technology. That essential takes the planet back to the Dark Ages.

20 years later

It has been a rough 20 years. The only technology we have back is lights. That is all the smartest people in the world could come up with in 20 years. You and Jennifer have been on the run for the last 20 years because the World blames both of you for what happened.

The two things you cannot figure out is what was written on the back of the locket and what happened to it. After Jennifer opened it, it disappeared. You two have spent the last 20 years trying to find it. It is nearly impossible to find out information without technology.

You and Jennifer have been traveling the world trying to find out information about the locket and what was written on the back of it. You finally make it to New York Public Library. You and Jennifer go into the rare books collection. You are hoping to finally find something. You are looking through books and suddenly you hear Jennifer screaming. You run over to her, and she is pointing to a page. You take the book and start to read. The first thing you see is a picture of the heart shaped locket. Then you see a translation of what was on the back of the locket.

It says whoever opens this heart shaped locket will unleash a curse that will destroy all technology and the memory of how to make it. They look at each other say we knew all that. Jennifer says does it say anything about how to reverse the curse. They look at the page again. They finally see something at the very bottom of the page in small print. It reads to reverse the curse the person who opened the locket has to hold the locket under the waterfall and say we demand that this curse be broken, and that the world be restored to normal.

That sounds easy enough, but they have no idea where the locket is. They keep looking in the book hoping to find a clue. They finally find a passage that reads the locket will be in a city with no people in it. You have spent the last 20 years looking all around the world in cities with no people in them. They look at the passage again. It says a long-ago city with no people in the West of the United States.

It takes you and Jennifer 6 months to reach the West. It took another year to search all the city with no people. You were focusing on old mining towns. You and Jennifer finally find out where the locket is, but it is protected with traps. You and Jennifer must go through a series of test. These are not your normal traps. These are things that would be easy if we had technology. There is everything from word puzzles to memorizing to memory games. You finally make it through them.

Once you reach the locket there is one finally test. There are levers on the wall with numbers above them. All you must do is put in the exact date and time of when the locket was open. you look at each other and shake your heads. You both know the date but not the time. It takes two days of meditation and memory tricks to remember the time. you finally get the locket.

It just happens that there is a waterfall only a day’s walk from where you are. You reach the waterfall and stand under it and say the words. The locket opens and there is something written on the inside. It says the world will back to normal in half the time it took for you to reverse the curse.

11 years after reversing the curse the World is back to normal. The ultimate Question is was it worth it to reverse the curse? Are we better off without all the technology?