"Dystopia's Heart of Gold"

The aurora illuminated the night sky with a vibrant ray of glistening gold bringing in the new day just as it had every other night before it. The incandescence billowed over the land, slowly lighting the darkness as it gently poured over the forest like a chalice poured out from the east. Modest waves of purple danced among the gold in the sky for but the briefest moment. The musty air was redolent of tree sap, dirt, and algae, and the fog that was always so prevalent enveloped everything in its path. An almost symphonic eruption of sound resounded in the distance.

"I don't want to do this," Stacy moaned. Inhaling a deep breath, she quickly released it and heaved a burdensome sigh. Her forehead was wet with droplets of the morning dew, and her eyes smarted as those same droplets accumulated and rolled down her face. Her buoyantly light auburn curls danced under the sun's penetrating rays. She reached out her left forearm and began to wipe her eyes.

Flashback

Young Stacy's left forearm is over her eyes.

"Aw, are you crying?" a boy mocks.

"No," young Stacy defends herself while sniffling.

"Nobody wants you here, you snot-nosed cry baby!" another girl around young Stacy's age sneers just before shoving Stacy to the ground. The gravel shifts beneath Stacy as she slides to a halt. A warm burning sensation emanates from Stacy's palms. Turning her hands over, she looks at her left hand and then at her right hand to find both slightly smudged with rows of tiny droplets of blood. An adult begins to walk over at this point. The little girl who had shoved young Stacy starts to cry.

"Are you alright?" the teacher asks the girl. The teacher then turns to Stacy, "How could you do this? No free time for two weeks! You have no right to lay your hands on anyone in this school," she pauses before continuing, "especially not with your condition."

We see a set of parents in a meeting with the principal and a teacher. The mother has beautiful auburn curls that flow gently past her shoulders. She sits graciously poised, listening to the berating comments of the school's authorities. "To express concern or empathy toward a "victim" is a crime because it makes the other party an "abuser," and we all know that our society doesn't have any abusers. Stacy needs to learn that she can't live by her own opinions. This disrespect of others needs to stop. She doesn't seem to understand that she has no right to tell any other student that they are doing something wrong. I don't know what she sees at home, but she is not a judge. No one is permitted to say that anything is wrong since we all have the right to do whatever we want. This law is known, and everyone should agree that it is okay. If someone doesn't agree and thinks that doing what we feel is wrong, they need to learn their lesson and require discipline." Upon saying, "discipline," the teacher slaps a ruler against the desk.

Outside of the office, Stacy watches as a handful of kids converse.

"I like shoving people to the ground." Stacy overhears the first kid state.

A second child responds, "I don't shove people to the ground, but you should be allowed to shove others to the ground if that's what makes you happy." The two children giggle.

Stacy shakes her head but says nothing as the third child in the group shares her thoughts.

"You're free to do what you want. Of course, anyone can shove someone else to the ground. Just because you enjoy it or feel a certain way about it doesn't make it right." No sooner had the words left the girl's lips did a security guard who had also overheard drag her away to the Discipline Room.

A muffled voice is heard behind a closed door, "We can't have the next generation plagued with knowledge. We must teach everyone. We shall be the ones to distinguish right from wrong. You must agree! You aren't allowed to say that anything is wrong."

Present Day

"If they truly wanted me here, then I wouldn't be going through all of this by myself," Stacy whispered under her breath this time.

Something seemed to stir just above her as she began crawling on her hands and knees. Startled, Stacy looked up to see something of awe.

His intricately placed feathers were darker than any night sky that she had ever seen with specks of white stardust as if to whisper that hope still existed. His eyes were dark, darker than a night without a moon.

She stared at him, captivated by his majesty. Just then, they heard the sound of a twig cracking, possibly 20 feet away.

With one fell swoop, the majestic creature vanished.

"Doon?" a male voice yelled from a distance.

"Seriously?" Stacy firmly retorted.

"There you are, you doon," he teased.

"That's not my name. Stop calling me that." Stacy replied in frustration. She wasn't only frustrated with the name he had used. She was also bothered because of what was potentially just taken away from her.

The male shrugged, "Did you find us some food yet, or have you just been playing around in the dirt this whole time?" Rolling her eyes, she went back down onto her hands and knees. He watched as her gaze seemed to freeze on a particular patch of moss. "Anything?" he fervently asked. Stacy lifted her hand and haphazardly flipped it in the air signaling him to be silent and leave her alone.

"Of all the people to send, of all people, they send him with his stupid little black book. What does he even write in that thing anyway?" she muttered to herself.

"Hurry up!" he stated impatiently. Stacy ignored him, entranced by how the green color of the moss seemed so vibrant now as to be alive. Slowly, she reached out her right hand to touch it. The male had been cracking a peanut shell in his mouth when he looked over toward where Stacy had been, only to find that she was no longer there. "Doon?" he breathed in surprise. Looking frantically in every direction, he yelled, "Doon! It isn't funny. Doon!"

The volume of the male's voice sounded faint in Stacy's ears as everything around her seemed to melt away slowly and yet somehow quickly at the same time.

Emerald, sapphire, and ruby swirled with colors that she had never known existed. They all seemed to blend as one. The colors fell like walls around her until they seemed to collect themselves on the floor beneath her feet like a droplet of water gathers itself. Darkness found its place along the walls of time as Stacy stood in the middle. "Who do you seek?" A whisper tickled Stacy's ears. Turning her head towards her left shoulder first and then towards her right, Stacy looked to see if anyone was there. "Who do you seek?" The voice asked a second time.

"Who are you?" Stacy inquired of the voice. "Why am I here?"

The voice moved away, "You are here because you matter. Your existence matters. You are here to see that you are never alone." A light began glowing from within Stacy.

"What in the world?" she inquired. The illumination filled the space in time between the walls. There, outside of time, He stood. Those once seemingly dark eyes were now made known to be full of the depths of the universe. Those once seemingly dark feathers speckled with stardust were the fullness of existence with the hope He carried. "You belong. For I am empowering you not merely to activate your unique abilities for personal gain, but that through you, I may be made known. I have placed my Light within you. I will be with you wherever you go. Do not hate anyone, for I love them all. You will encourage those around you and help them reach their full potential. No one is ever alone, and they all matter." At these final words, the figure walked away into the darkness against the walls of time.

No sooner had she slipped away did she find herself back in the forest mid-sentence, "and why is nothing ever enough for you? What is your obsession with money? First of all, it's not like you would have any use for it right now. Secondly, there are more important things in life. Do you honestly believe that if you came into $10,000 or even $20,000, you would finally be happy? No one even uses it anymore." Before she had even glanced back at him, his eyes had already fallen shut. His mouth hung like an open door on a broken hinge, and his arms rested snug around the little black book. "I can see it now," he whispered. As he drifted into a light sleep, he began to mumble sweet visions to himself. "I won, finally!" he twitched, rocking his head gently, side to side. "$10,000! No, wait, now it's $20,000! It's all mine." At this, he awakened only to realize it was just a dream. "Man! That money was so real I could taste it!"

"That's disgusting. Have you ever eaten money?" Stacy mocked.

After genuine thought, he replied, "Yes, as a matter-of-fact I have, and it was very chocolaty."

"That wasn't real money." Stacy laughed.

Just then, a shimmer caught Stacy's eye. She started to bend down and reach towards where she had seen the shimmer. Her hand reached out and arrived at a place just above the soil where something had glistened. Just then, heavy rain began to fall, forcing them to head back to their base. Stacy would have to come back out tomorrow. Hope tickled her heart as they ran back to the camp, for she knew something had changed, and this time she would never be alone.

At this point, movement in the forest begins to reveal the tiny shimmering spot in the soil. We see the ground and moss. Wet soil slowly begins to slide off a golden heart-shaped locket. It is sticking part-way out of the dirt as the raindrops fall on it.

Back at the camp, Stacy dreams of a woman, a little girl, and a heart-shaped locket. The woman leaves her with these final words, "Find the locket, for it holds the key for the friend who you need to help you accomplish all you must do in order to save the world."