Pandora's Locket

Tick. Tick. Tick.

I have never had a birthday.

Birthdays are reserved for those lucky enough to have been born, rather than created.

Yet here I find myself with an uncomfortable feeling that plagues me on this date, as if this day is meant for me. It’s funny to think I should even be tracking the days, or that dates should matter anymore, as the passing of time has little significance in the After. There are no reasons to follow such constructs- no jobs, no schools, no business to run. Those who survived the Before are so few, there is no one to occupy such positions. What was once considered currency now has no worth. Time has no meaning. There aren’t even any clocks.

So why am I following this terrible ticking sound?

Tick. Tick. Tick.

I’m the only one who can change this.

With heavy feet I step alone into the darkness, as I do every night. I prefer to avoid the heat of the daylight. My stride is nearly soundless until the inevitable clattering that comes with traversing a literal wasteland. I scold myself and wince at the cracking of old water bottles and empty containers that once held food, medications, alcohol. The mounds of hand sanitizer and nostalgically scented soaps are usually not empty, instead partially used and abandoned. I still wear a mask to cover my face, but now it is only to keep from inhaling the ash that is continually falling. Shaking the debris from my wings, I decide to give them a stretch and glide quietly over the terrain. The dark hue helps me blend into the night sky well enough, unless you catch the glint of iridescence in my feathers.

I have foggy memories of what things were like in the Before. I’ve grown used to this black snow and burning embers, and the way it has turned the world into a giant ashtray. I don’t try to wipe away the flurries anymore or become incensed by the way my hair is permanently smudged grey. This is just the way of things. There is no place or reason for vanity.

Holding my breath, my focus on the ticking sound intensifies. I try to quiet the stride of my wings again, careful to not attract attention. For miles there is not a soul in sight, but I know better. I know what lies beyond the ash and the dangers that will ensue if I’m found out. I follow the muddled tick-tick-tick as it serenades through the scorching air and wonder if the sound is only in my head until it begins to get louder. The heat is unrelenting, but I hardly notice anymore. I remember when the trees were all on fire, and a memory flickers in my mind.

I had tried to stop him. I had a mission to protect this world- it is what I was created for, after all. My counterpart was meant to protect the world with me, but he became consumed by the power of Pandora’s Locket. He saw a world that did not deserve our protection, a world of broken hearts beyond repair, so he ripped the locket in two pieces and tried to take the power to control time for himself. He unleashed unspeakable horrors in doing so. As the world burned he erupted in flames along with it, wearing an inexplicable smile. I reached for him but touched nothing but smoke, until I grasped one half of the locket. I screamed as it burned my hand, branding its heart shape into my skin, and was then swept into a furious storm. Winds whipped flames into my eyes, lightning consumed everything around me…

I try to shake the vision from my mind, eyes blurring. I glance at the scar embedded in my palm and then close my fist, shoving it into my pocket. Lately, recalling memories feels like a bad dream, like someone else’s memory is playing in my head. But the pain is always very real, and the last thing I always see is that smile going up in smoke.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The sound beckons and propels me forward. I absentmindedly reach for the object in my pocket and trace my fingers around smooth edges, feeling a strange sense of reassurance. Grabbing the small chain attached to it, I pull the shape out and study it for a moment in my ashen hands. Small and silver, the heart was the plain half of the locket. It was useless without the other half- the half that resembled a pocket watch. There was, however, a date inscribed on the back of this part of Pandora’s Locket- today’s date. TICK. TICK. TICK.

I examine the hinges where the other half should be, then tuck the doomed trinket away.

The ticking grows louder as I near what looks like a colossal tree, untouched by the fires. Can it be? Slowly, I realize I am in the Garden of Eden, and here everything has turned to stone. I lower myself to the ground with hesitation. Shards of ice prick my spine despite the smoldering hellscape around me. It was here where it all began. It was here the other half of the locket had remained all this time, waiting to be found again.

I follow the ticking through a long trail of broken boulders and statues. The farther I walk, the more ominous the stones become, and the louder the sound booms in my head. While everything around me is covered in soot, the statues seem immune to the falling ash. I glance at the ground behind me and notice the grey path left by my footprints.

Suddenly the ticking stops. The sound of silence is alarming after following the ticks for so long. I feel the quiet expanding in my head, putting pressure between my ears. The silence is too loud and becomes volatile in my mind. I look ahead through the fog and find myself facing a towering angel of stone. “Wait, I recognize this…” I mumble to myself as I inch closer, squinting to examine the features. As I reach to touch the statue’s face, lightning cracks and I’m suddenly barreling backwards. I try to recover and fly swiftly into the air as I watch the stone angel break into pieces. All at once there is a deafening ringing, and I throw my hands over my ears. I see something in the fractured remains. The missing half of the locket is beaming a blinding light, and the ringing sings out like the call of a thousand Sirens luring me to my demise. Without another thought, I grab the fiery clock from the rubble and slam the heart shape into its counterpart from my pocket, hearing a satisfying click as the ringing ends. There are strange, unearthly bells musing in the distance. My body feels like it’s on fire but I’m swimming in water as the world around me is enveloped in crashing waves. Everything goes white, then completely dark. I feel nothing. Perhaps I cease to exist.

Bearing the restored Pandora’s Locket around my neck, I abruptly find myself back in the Before. I am cloaked in golden light. The world is no longer an ashtray.

Has the clock been reset? Have I been re-born, or rather, rebuilt? Recreated? Perhaps this is my birthday. Perhaps it is the world’s.

I hold the locket in my hands and open it gently, when a familiar figure approaches.

“Do you happen to have the time?” he says with a smile.

Tick. Tick. Tick.