All Heart

In a colorless shell of a once thriving world a masked traveler wearing a black hooded trench coat walks labored carrying all he owns on his back. As he approaches what seems to be a pile of debris a glimmer of light shines through. He sifts through the rubble in anticipation of what he’s stumbled upon. After a few moments he unearths a heart-shaped locket.

He opens the locket revealing a picture in pristine condition of a beautiful pink-haired woman with her eyes closed. He quickly becomes mesmerized by her image as it appears she is alive and moving. Her enchanting green eyes open abruptly startling the masked man causing him to drop the locket on the ground. In the distance he hears a commotion coming from one of the buildings. He quickly hides behind the pile of rubble, peering through hoping not to be seen.

A tall muscular figure approaches the locket noticing it on the ground and picks it up, he begins showing the woman’s picture to his crew. The shadowy figures all gather in a circle as the muscular man places the locket back on the ground in the center, slowly stepping back into his place within the circle. They all kneel in unison as a colorful pink smoke begins to erupt from the heart-shaped locket. The masked man watches in shock as the smoke dissipates revealing only the woman from the photo walking directly towards him wearing the locket he had removed from that very same pile.

The woman reaches out her hand to the masked man helping him up. “You don’t belong here Griff” says the woman. Griff is stunned upon hearing his name. “I don’t understand, how do you know my name. What is going on?” He says hesitantly. “You are lost, I was sent here to make sure you get home safely, but you must make a sacrifice in return” she replied. Freaked out, Griff panics and attempts to flee. He looks back and the woman is gone. Turning back to the direction in front of him he is appalled to find the woman standing once again directly in front of him. “Why is this happening to me? Who are you?!” he screams. The woman unfazed by his distress calmly replies “As I said, you are lost Griff and I am here to help you find your way back home. I can show you why, but we don’t have much time...”

The woman reaches out her hand placing it on Griff’s head transporting them both to what appears to be the past. They sit side by side on a park bench. The sun is shinning. The birds are chirping. The wind can be heard rustling through the leaves of the bright green trees. The sound of traffic is even a welcomed sound. Griff cannot believe what he’s seeing, “This place is beautiful, but how are we here? Why are we here?” The woman sits in silence waiting to reveal the nature of their visit. Griff is confused, but his attention becomes averted to a sweet elderly lady walking her dog. Simple moments like these are a distant memory of a world he thought he’d never experience again.

Suddenly the sound of an old truck back firing pierces through the park scaring the dog. He rips himself loose from the old woman’s grip. The dog is headed straight for the street. Griff attempts to get up to help, he’s stuck “I can’t move!?”. He looks at the woman who remains still as if unbothered by the events transpiring before them. In a flash we see a young boy on a skateboard rushing towards the dog without hesitation “I got him Mrs. Sally!” In one swift motion he scoops the dog and throws him out of the way of an oncoming box truck saving the dog, but unfortunately not himself from the impact. “Why wouldn’t you let me help?!” Griff screams. “The past cannot be changed” the woman replies reaching once again to place her hand on his forehead.

They are transported to the exterior of a bar. It’s late, but the moon is full and bright. It’d been a while since Griff had seen the sun or the moon. The world he’d become accustomed to was a dark charcoal soot covered wasteland. As he takes in his current surroundings breathing in the crisp night air, the door to the bar bursts open. A group of men barrel out the door laughing and inebriated. A tall muscular man leads the pack noticing something on the ground and picks it up, he begins showing it to his crew. They all gather in a circle, passing it to each other to examine it. Griff able to move freely this time attempts to get a closer look. Its the heart-shaped locket, only this time the photo is not the woman. Now in the locket is a photo of Mrs. Sally and her dog that he’d just seen.

The bar door opens again abruptly, this time a woman emerges who looks identical to the woman who Griff is with on this Journey. She searches anxiously for the locket. “You looking for this sweetheart?” Says the tall muscular man teasingly as he swings the locket to lure her over. “YES! Thank you!” She says excited reaching for it. The large man pulls it back from her outreached hand, “No no, not so fast sweet heart. Where’s my reward?” As he bends down and puckers his lips. She appears disappointed and disgusted, “Please, it was my grandmother’s. I can give you money!” The man laughs “I’d really rather have that sugar”. Frustrated the woman turns away to head back to the bar. The other men form a blockade to not let her past.

The bar door opens again, this time revealing the young man who was hit by the truck. He’d survived, grown now he walks with a considerable limp. “Kathy you out here?” He calls out. “Yes, help!” She screams from inside the circle formed around her. The young man hustles over pushing the guys out of the way “What the hell is going on?” He yells angrily. The muscular man grabs Kathy “this friend of yours doesn’t want to pay me my reward for finding her precious locket”. The young man heated now reaches for Kathy, but is restrained by a few of the men. “She’s no fun anyway” says the muscular man as he throws Kathy to one of his friends. “Look man, I don’t know what your problem is, but just give us locket and let us go our own way. I’ll pay you if necessary, there doesn’t have to be any trouble” the young man says. A bellowing laugh comes from the muscular man as he lunges towards the restrained young man only to be struck with an unsuspected kick to the face from the young man who manages to break free.

A brawl ensues as he starts exchanging blows with each member of the group, putting up a valiant effort. Soon the barrage of blows becomes overwhelming. The young man falls to the ground, but the crew does not hold back, continuing to beat him while he’s down. Kathy struggling to get loose screams “please stop! Just let us go!“ The tall muscular man now knelt down next to the young man’s body grabs him by the hair to lift him up to give Kathy a clear view of the damage that had been done thus far. “I’m sorry, I love you...” the young man mutters peering through swollen eyelids at his love. The muscular man looks back at her grimacing with with blood in his teeth “all of this could have been avoided with just one little smooch” he says laughingly. “Fuck you!” Cathy cries out. Angered by the remark he continues to bludgeon the young man with heavy hammer fists until he becomes unrecognizable.

Kathy clutches her chest as if stuck by lightning and passes out. The woman reaches towards Griff’s forehead. Griff dodges the gesture “Why are you showing me all this? I don’t want to see anymore tragedy. I can’t watch this shit!” The woman replies “I must show you, we need to get you home. Just one more stop I promise.” Distraught and reluctant Griff reaches for the woman’s hand to place it upon his head.

This time they are transported to the interior of a hospital room with two beds. Griff walks over to examine the patients revealing that they are the same man and Kathy from the scenario before. A doctor and nurse enter the room discussing the diagnosis of both patients. “This couple was brought in a few nights ago. There was an altercation outside of a bar leaving the man comatose with a high probability of brain death. The woman suffered heart failure with no previous history of heart complications reported. The odd thing is they are a perfect match.”

Griff looks at Kathy, then towards the woman beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together. She walks over to gently remove his hood and mask revealing a face that has seen its fair share of battles, both physical and mental in nature. He is the young comatose man. “Griff you’ve always been so brave. We’d not have met if you hadn’t saved my grandmother’s best friend. You’ve always been there for me and I cannot live without you. I need you to stop fighting and come home” the woman says with tears in her eyes. Griff clutches the woman tightly and suddenly the EEG monitors go off.

Present day Kathy sits in a diner eating breakfast. A Breaking News update flashes on the screen “A bank robbery gone wrong. This was the story for a group of unidentified men earlier this morning. One of the assailants triggered what looked to be a homemade suicide vest killing only himself and his fellow assailants. It appears we are now getting word that we’ve acquired the photos of the group.” The images of the men who had assaulted Kathy and Griff flash on the screen. Kathy in shock and excitement reaches to place her hand on her heart revealing a scar on her chest. She smiles.