Aeternum

Zeek’s mother, Kanya, helped her with the final touches. The gown was the most pristine white in the city, a gown worn by her mother twenty-two years prior. Her brown locks curled down her slender back covering a single mole on her right shoulder blade which was exposed from the gown's cut out back. She had never felt so clean, so pure.

She was a beautiful bride and the whole town was gathered for Zeek’s big day; the whole town’s big day. It had been a quarter of a century since the Great Rebuild began immediately after the fallout. “Solar flare” they attributed it to, at least officially. Although this day was a much-needed break from working the fields for everyone in the town, it was equally a solemn reminder of the world’s predicament. For Zeek, it was her birthday, her wedding day, and all eyes of the town were on her. She turned twenty one years old, the age when all girls were to be married; the age most girls reached peak fertility if they were lucky enough to be fertile at all.

Zeek lived in one of many cultivation districts. During the Great Rebuild, the government created these districts to replenish the country’s food supplies. Not only was fertility impacted, but much of the world’s plants and animals were now extinct. Occasionally she would hear her mother humming the tune to a song about a blue jay and, although Zeek knew better than to ask, she knew it must have been an animal because it sang, but what kind? Was it hairy and ferocious like the history book at school depicted some as?

Now, lands were barren, water scarce, and the population dwindling on the verge of extinction as well.

However, today was a day for celebration! Zeek had been paired with Quinton whose family was prominent in their district’s politics. Quinton’s mother had just been re-elected as the district’s mayor.

“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” Zeek’s mother, Kanya, recited at a near whisper, snapping Zeek from her thoughts like the surprise of a slap bracelet. Zeek looked at her like she occasionally looked at her trigonometry homework, a look that made even her have wrinkles on her forehead. Seeing the confusion on Zeek’s face, Kanya explained the tradition’s roots from before the fallout. As she did, she secured a small heart-shaped locket around Zeek’s neck.

“Did father give this to you?” Zeek asked surprisingly since she had never seen her mother wear it. Her father had passed when she was just five years old.

“No.” she replied. “Zeek, you know I loved your father very much. But just as you are paired to marry Quinton, so too was I paired to marry your father.” She paused. “Back then, before all this . . . .” She forced herself to continue. “Marriage wasn’t a duty we owed to the government. We could do as we pleased for the most part. We could marry, not marry, but when we did it was for love instead of duty.” Zeek looked down at the necklace. “That locket was given to me by someone else I loved the day I married your father. Her name was Bea. Zeek, you mustn’t tell anyone this because talk of love and times before the fallout are forbidden, as you know. But please take this and keep it with you. I hope you can find love in your marriage.”

Zeek had so many questions but she knew her mother and knew it best not to pry. That evening after the ceremony she changed her clothes and took off the necklace. She opened it up to a heart-shaped insert with the phrase, Aeternum. As she tried to close it, a part of the insert that was protruding snagged the locket’s clasp. She took it out to trim it for a better fit when, behind the insert, was an inscription of coordinates. She had learned about coordinates in school but had no idea where this one would lead to or why. She replaced the insert just as Quinton arrived to their new government-issued home.

The next morning Zeek woke up early and made her way to the town’s library to identify where the coordinates lead. It was easy for her to identify the place with the maps there and she estimated it was just outside the district’s parameter, maybe by a couple miles. She took the map back with her as she tucked it inside her bag. She was not permitted to work the week of her wedding because the government encouraged newly-wed couples to get to know each other before getting back into the fields. She told Quinton she would be spending that evening at her mother’s place gathering a few personal belongings. She needn’t bother her mother with the coordinates though because she knew going outside the district was forbidden. Nevertheless, Zeek knew from school that the district didn’t surveil the parameter because it was so desolate and dangerous outside that no one would want to go there. She made her way to the coordinates. It took her a bit longer to get there than she expected and was disappointed when she arrived to an old, rugged barn. She climbed onto the loft and sat down, feet dangling like a chandelier in the mayor's mansion, to guzzle her water. Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a dark, dusty wooden box, one that would remind you of treasure chest pirates in children's stories sought. De ja vu struck her when, as she got closer, she saw that, painted on the top and barely readable, was Aeternum. She opened the box with her hands despite feeling like her soul had first pierced it and found a notebook and several sealed packages.

Zeek opened the notebook and found envelopes of letters inside. They were all dated July 14 but each with a different year.

Dearest Kanya,

I hope this letter finds you well as it will be my final one. I still live on Isle Nilia and fear I won't be strong enough to make the journey here to leave you another letter. You see, I have been diagnosed with cancer and don't have long. I suppose this was inevitable, yet I regret not seeing your hazel eyes one last time. Join me. You will be safe here. Corn, if you can believe it! It's true, Kanya, we have food, water, an oasis. Canada has prevailed and we are under its jurisdiction.

Remember that summer night on Lake Erie? That kayak we went out in where you first told me you loved me? It is hidden in a barn closer to the shore beneath a tarp. My first letter has the map. I'll wait for you as long as I can.

Love,

Bea

P.S. The packages are for you, your favorite

Zeek continued to read each of the letters though it became difficult with the tears in her eyes made it seem like she was glaring out of a window in a rainstorm trying to read distant signs. As she tore through the envelopes she was stunned. Wait, each of these were unopened.

"Did mother never find them?"

Each letter promised Kanya a better, brighter future next to Bea. The letters continued, each one a plea for Kanya to make the journey. Zeek opened a package to find perfectly preserved seeds which she had never seen before. "Strawberries" one read.

Zeek gathered everything from the box and made her way back to the district. It was getting late and she didn’t know what those dangers lurked outside the parameter. When she got close enough to see the district’s lights in the distance, she stopped and took out Bea’s map. She eyed the barn’s location on the map and calculated she could make it there and to the island with the amount of water she had. She pondered her predicament as she didn’t want to devastate her mother with the news of Bea’s passing and remembered her mother’s words about love and duty. She folded the map and kept walking as she contemplated whether she would return or set out on a new path. She gently grabbed the heart-shaped necklace around her neck as she trotted toward her decision.