The Cleave Accord

The 2030 Cleave Accord was a lie from the very beginning. It was introduced to preserve and increase our limited resources due to the baby boom of 2022. Between climate change and overpopulation, humanity and wildlife were suffering greatly. Oxygen levels were decreasing exponentially. The food supply was dwindling rapidly. We had never known times like these. The government officials and greatest scientific minds of the United States all came together to come up with a plan to save their great country from what they believed was causing its ruin: overpopulation. As soon as the news report announcing the Accord ended, Halle was in motion. Halle, forever the paranoid anarchist, had us packed up and moved out of the country and into her family cabin in the Canadian Rockies.

“Nothing good can come from the government being united on a decision that involves “fixing” or “eradicating” the population problem.” We got out of there just in time. A week after we settled down in the Rockies, the U.S. went on a nationwide shutdown. It was January 1st when after months of being on lockdown, the U.S. government announced the Cleaving Experiment.

A gas, that once unleashed into the air above the country, would eradicate anything threatening the countries resources and overall well-being. All the elite and rich were ushered into underground bunkers, and the rest were ordered to do their civic duty and sacrifice themselves for good of the country. Regardless of them trying to make it sound like it was noble, the people knew what it was. The chaos that ensued after the announcement was hell. Broadcasts were on every channel. Even other countries tried to intervene, but the Accord was already in motion. Barricaded and trapped in the country, it was just a countdown until the mass murder of innocent people. It was mortifying to watch.

The day the gas dropped I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted the result. The gas didn’t just kill. We saw in real-time how the gas rotted the human body from the inside out in a matter of days. Black blood would leak from every hole. Their skin would darken and blister. They were burning from the inside out. The symptoms would just increase and increase until they literally dropped dead. It took 3 days for the streets to be littered with dead bodies.

It didn’t take long before the U.S. lost control of the gas. It started spreading faster than they could track it. People were dropping dead all over the planet, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when Halle collapsed from a fever mere months after the gas drop. We’d gotten more time than most.

“We knew it was going to come to this, Sasha. One way or another.” Halle’s voice rattled when she spoke now, but I ignored it and kept brushing her hair away from her face like my mom used to do when I didn’t feel well.

It was only yesterday when Halle started showing signs of being sick, so I don’t understand how it could get so bad so fast. A scream had jolted me out of my sleep this morning and a loud crash had me racing towards the bathroom before I'd even fully registered I was awake. I shoved the door open and was met with something I could’ve gone my whole life without seeing.

Halle was smashing her fists into the bathroom mirror, shards sticking out of her hands and wrists, and wailing like she was dying.

“No no no no no.” Black blood was leaking from her wounds, nose, ears, and eyes. She looked possessed, like something out of a horror movie.

Halle held her hands in front of her and took careful steps towards me, trying to show me she wasn’t a threat. She was bleeding. A lot. It was all black. She was turning into a thing of nightmares and all I wanted to do was cry.

“You’re bleeding. I need to dress those.” It was a weird kind of tunnel vision. She was hurt and I could fix it. I helped her over to sit down on the bed and got to work. I worked slowly, not meeting her eyes.

I kissed her freshly wrapped wrists, I fluffed the pillows stacked behind her, I turned down the lights to be less jarring, and then I eased down on the bed next to her and worked on wiping the blood away. I felt her eyes watching me the whole time, and I could feel myself falling apart. I changed rags and water too many times to count, but it was worth it to see her looking like herself again.

When she was as clean as she was going to get, I kissed her forehead and began to push her bangs back from her face. I don’t know how long I’ve been at this, but it seems to calm her down. She has stopped shaking for now. She is sweating more though. I can feel the heat rolling off her body in waves. We don’t have much time left. She let her chin touch her shoulder and I let her meet my eyes for the first time since starting the process of getting her comfortable.

“I am so sorry, Sha.”

“Why are you sorry? You didn’t do this to yourself.”

“I knew I was sick longer than you did. I just wanted us to be us for a little longer. It was selfish of me, and I’m so sorry.”

“How long have you been sick?”

“It doesn’t matter. Long enough. I had a plan, so I could spare you from having to see this, but I put it off for too long.”

“Are you kidding me?” I choked out.

I was so angry I wanted to scream.

“Spare me? So, what? You were going to slink off to die in the woods like some random cat. No, we promised we would see this through together, no matter who went first. I’m glad you waited because you don’t get to cheat me out of being here for you.” I lashed out.

Halle watched me with so much intensity, I felt it in my bones.

“I know, Sunshine. I’m sorry. I’m glad I waited too. There is no one else I would want here with me.”

The silence following her words was a weight in my chest I struggled to breathe around. This is not how this was supposed to go. This is not how any of this was supposed to go.

“No matter what you or I did, this was always a possibility once they dropped that gas. We talked about this.”

I wanted to scream. I wanted to break something. This wasn’t fair.

“I left something for you in the night table for you, Sha. Get it for me?”

I didn’t move. I just looked at her.

“Please, Sunshine? This is important to me. It’s in the purple velvet bag in the first drawer.”

I leaned over and opened the drawer, and pulled out the bag, and just looked at it.

“Halle, what is this?”

“Eyes on me, Sunshine.” She was wheezing with each breathe now. I met her calm glazed eyes, and almost lost it. Just looking at her you’d never know she was dying.

“I sent this up to Uncle Jordan to stash here for me months ago. I had a cabin trip planned before everything went to hell, and I was going to surprise you. Happy Anniversary, Sunshine.”

“Halle…”

“Just give me this before I go, please.”

I pulled the drawstring pouch open and turned it over in my palm. A beautiful gold heart-shaped locket the size of a dollar coin fell into my hand. "You are my sunshine…" was engraved on the front. All the tears I’d been holding back came punching out of me with a force that bowed me over. I clutched the locket to my chest and rested my head against Hal’s shoulder and howled. She kissed me on the forehead with more effort than it should’ve taken, and my heart shattered all over again.

“Sasha.”

I took a deep breath and sat up to look at Halle. I searched her face committing it to memory. We didn’t have time for me to break. She nodded at the locket still clutched in my hand.

“Open it.” I fumbled with it while still trying to wipe tears from my eyes. Inside on one side were the words “You make me happy…”, and on the other side was a picture of us on the beach. I was sitting between her legs and looking up at her, while she looked down on me. The sun is glaring perfectly over us and we look so happy and in love. It’s our favorite picture together.

“Halle…”

“I love you, Sunshine. I didn’t get to love you in all the ways I wished to this time, so I’ll take a raincheck for next lifetime. Yeah?” My smile watery at the use of my favorite Erykah Badu song, and held her eyes as I clasped the locket around my neck. It fell perfectly in the center of my chest.

“I love you too, Hals. I’m going to hold you to that raincheck, you know?

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have one last thing I need for you to do, okay?” Her hand shook wildly as she reached up and tapped the locket. Her hands were covered in blisters. I grabbed her hand and kissed her fingertips.

“Anything.”

“Come here and lay your head in my lap. I want to sing to you one last time.”

I didn’t hesitate. I climbed over her and took her face into my hands and kissed her pushing every bit of love I could into it. Pulling back, we smiled at each other.

“Till next time?”

“Till next time.”

I settled on the bed with my head in her lap, and let the tears fall. Her hand slowly worked over my curls until they couldn’t anymore.

“You are my sunshine…my only sunshine…you make me happy…”