The Damselfly Locket

Amanda peeked between the rails in the staircase, at the lounge where the rest of the students were gathered. Colors of red, white, and green, covered the packages. Sounds of laughter, sights of hugs and twinkling lights, could make almost anyone forget where they were. Amanda had vague memories of a tree and gifts. Family and friends gathered around, a big meal being prepared, and the warmth and happiness she felt.

All of that was gone now. That horrible morning while opening gifts, her mother had given her an odd, metallic, heart shaped locket with a picture inside of the three of them. While her mom was hanging it around Amanda’s neck, a loud bang, the door collapsed inside, and men in military uniforms filled the room. Her parents were handcuffed and shuffled outside. Amanda was swept into the arms of a huge man and carried outside. She was rushed into a gray van with no windows. Shouting, “Amanda, save your gift. I love you,” as her head was being pushed into a black van, was the last thing she ever heard her mother say to her.

Amanda left the staircase and went back to her room. She typed in code into her digital diary. She kept this hidden in the low-profile files of the daily menus, that were created each day.

December 25, 2058

I don’t even know why I’m writing in here today. It’s the same thing every year, nothing changes. My parents are dead, but the other kids get gifts from their loved ones, and I sit there secretly and watch. They seem like they are enjoying themselves. I wonder what it’s like to have someone tell you they love you, and are proud of you. I wonder what it’s like to have a human touch you. It must be soft and warm, unlike the hands of the robots and androids that control things here.

Amanda awoke the next morning and went to breakfast. Usually, she would take something back to her room to eat. However, she felt like staying out because most people would be sleeping this morning. As she walked back to her room, a group of tormentors were approaching. She had labelled these people that because of how they treated her. It was too late; she couldn’t escape passing them.

“Hey Amanda, happy holidays. Wait, you can’t have happy holidays. Your parents are dead. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have to be living up here in this hell hole on the moon. You know, where we can’t go outside without a special suit, and there’s no privacy. We could be living our normal lives on Earth.”

Amanda just looked down and ran back to her room. Sterile, stainless steel walls didn’t provide much comfort. Hard, metal furniture didn’t help either. Everything was either gray, silver, or white. There were no windows in the dorm rooms, only in the common areas to prevent people from escaping. Each student was allowed one accent wall of color. However, Amanda’s room never got painted. Nothing was allowed to be hung on the walls. Microchips implanted in the upper arm kept track of the whereabouts, and vital signs of everyone. Supposedly for safety reasons. Cameras followed them everywhere, except their dorm rooms.

Amanda’s mother, Belle had been a biologist and AI enthusiast. She had studied bioluminescent and chromatophore pigmentation in damselflies and other creatures. Her father Mike, had been a geologist, and studied plate tectonics. Both had been working at the university for the government. Belle had noticed a change in the behavior of damselflies, other insects and animals. At the same time, Mike had noticed changes in seismic waves. There were more seismic P-waves being created, not S-waves. This indicated underground, nuclear bombs were being detonated. Both of them had reported their findings to their colleagues and superiors. A press conference was set up for the day after Christmas, to discuss their findings with the world. Normally, the university would have been on break, but these findings were too important and needed to be released. Eighteen days after their arrest on December 25, 2053, an underground, nuclear explosion generated a chain reaction around the world. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions created an apocalyptic earth. The San Andreas fault expanded instantly. The Yellowstone Caldera volcano erupted, along with other volcanoes. Tsunamis inundated islands and coastlines. North America was sheared in half and the western half sunk into the Pacific Ocean. Other continents suffered similar fates.

Colonization of the moon began in the mid 2030’s. After the Capital Riots on January 6, 2021, the government intensified their surveillance of rogue groups of “people of interest.” This led to other countries losing faith in the American democracy, and governmental coups increased around the world. The American democracy was barely hanging on when the cataclysmic events erupted. Some of the rogue groups had gained considerable power. Their underground nuclear testing had caused the destruction of Earth, as it was known. Survivors that had either the money or connections, were shuttled to colonies on the moon. Those left behind were on their own.

April 29, 2059

I’ve been told that my parents were the people that caused the earth to blow up. Everyone hates me because of it. I don’t want to believe it. I’m starting to forget what they looked like. I haven’t looked at the locket mom gave me since I got here. This place is like a military encampment. Too much conformity!

June 15, 2059

I haven’t written in here since April 29th. I’ve thought about the locket. I decided to get it out of its hiding place and look at it. We all look so happy in the picture. I remember us being happy. I remember people saying my parents were good people. How could they have caused the world to explode? I hate them! It’s because of them that I’m living in this dungeon. I hate it here! People are mean! I have no friends! There’s no outdoors. The gardens and forests are inside domes too. I like the classes we can take online in our own rooms. I hate the classes we have to take together. We have to take them though; something about socialization. This locket is weird. Why did my mom have a damselfly put on it? I looked online and found out its what they call a filigree. Last night I left it out under the covers with me. I woke up and saw it glowing green like a light.

September 21, 2061

Well today was my birthday, but no one knows it. Well, no human knows it. Or at least they don’t care about it. I’m 12 now and have become a woman I’m told. I’m given monthly provisions to deal with it. Why did my parents name me Amanda? I looked it up. It’s a Latin name that means loveable or worthy of love. No one here thinks that of me. I see other people getting it. Maybe my name is a lie. Maybe I don’t deserve love.

January 01, 2062

I pulled the locket out of its hiding place again. I am really missing my mom and dad. I keep the locket with me each night now. It makes me feel closer to them. The loneliness is crippling sometimes. There is a robot here that I have named Mifter. It stands for My Friend the Robot. He is the only thing I trust around here. Sometimes we laugh when I call him Mister Mifter. I don’t interact with him when I’m out in the common spaces. I don’t like the common spaces, too many cameras. There is one that I tolerate. It’s the forest dome. There are trees, plants, grass, and flowers. There are no insects or animals though, like my mom studied. There were plans to put them in the forest dome, but they didn’t have time. The rockets that were supposed to bring those things here were converted for human transport when the events happened. I wonder if things had been different, if my mom would have been involved in the project. She would have been a Subject Matter Expert. I mean, seriously, she was smart. She was working on bioluminescence and AI when she was arrested.

August 04, 2062

Today we learned about an old type of computer communication that is called binary code. Something about it looks familiar, but I don’t know why. I asked Mifter if he was programmed using binary code. He said he was not allowed to divulge that information. So, now I’m not sure if I can trust him or not. It makes me really angry. I have been feeling a lot of anger lately. I get mad about my parents, my life, and the circumstances that created this situation. Sometimes, I just want to run away, but there’s no place to go. It’s too hot during the 2 weeks the sun is out, and too cold during the 2 weeks when it’s dark. Besides, They always know where you are. I wish I could dig this microchip out of my arm.

February 14, 2063

Today, I saw everybody walking around with red shaped hearts. I asked what they were for, and people just laughed at me. “No wonder no one talks to you, you're such a loser.” This is what someone told me. As usual, I looked it up online. St Valentine’s Day is a day that occurs annually where people send messages of love, affection, friendship, and admiration to each other. When I read this, I just sat there and cried. I've never experienced any of this! When Mifter visited today he saw me crying and asked why. I told him why, and then he disappeared. I started crying harder then, because I thought even my robot friend couldn’t care about me. About 45 minutes later, he secretly brought me a cupcake from the cafeteria. It had pink frosting and a red heart on it. I am thankful for Mifter! All of this stuff about hearts made me think of my heart shaped locket from Mom. I pulled it out from hiding again. I plan to put it under my pillow tonight.

March 14, 2063

I’ve had the locket out every night for a month, and no green light or glow. I wonder if I somehow broke it? They are finally giving us some information about conditions on Earth. They tell us that it’s been reported that conditions are livable is some areas. They plan to send probes down sometime this year. I wonder what happened to my mom and dad. Everyone assumes that they are dead. I wonder if they were executed after being arrested, or if the cataclysmic events killed them. Either way, I’ll never know them. So, why am I even wasting my time thinking about them? I’m going to hide the locket away again. Why am I even doing that? I should just destroy it.

May 8, 2064

I'm so bored! The only thing interesting is that the probes sent to Earth sent back some data. Carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide levels were still too high in many places. Some areas though had levels where humans could survive. Each time the news from Earth is bad, the others harass me more. This makes me hide in my dorm room now. That's why I’m so bored. I’m going to bring the locket out again.

That night while Amanda slept, the locket lit and glowed green. She awoke and saw it. This time though, she recognized the series of green 1’s and 0’s as binary code. She deciphered the message. Tears pooled her eyes and down her cheeks so hard, it became too blurry to see.

pequeῇa libélula I am alive.

She read it 50 times before her tears ceased, and her mouth did something that was strange to her. The corners upturned as she whispered, “little dragonfly I am alive.”