The Heart Shaped Key

I woke up to the sounds of my wife coughing up a storm.

“Jesus Christ, Ashlee!” I said in my raspy, dry voice.

“I’m sorry! But my asthma has been acting up for days now, and I ran out of the last inhaler we managed to find a few months ago.” She replied while covering her mouth to keep her coughing from disturbing me further.

“No, no… I am sorry for that. I shouldn’t have been such an asshole.” I said, rubbing her back to comfort her. “Can you please hand me my green water bottle? It’s right beside you.” I asked

“I just finished it…” She replied in a low, voice, with her head down.

“Well, just add water to the list of things we need to try and find today.” I said, as I got up off the floor we used as a mattress.

“Do you know what time it is?” She asked

“No, the battery finally died on this thing a few days ago.” I said looking down at the little black digital watch on my wrist.

“Then why do you still wear that thing? You despised wearing watches.”

“I know, but for some reason it reminds me of different times. When life was normal, and I only had to put a watch on when I went to work. I can’t believe I even miss going to work, driving my car, getting stuck in traffic. All of it. I never thought I would say that I miss being a lawyer.”

“I understand my love. But, we have made it out this better than most. We still have each other.” She said, caressing hair on the back on my head softly.

“I love those big beautiful green eyes, and your perfect hair.”

“It’s dusty, and it’s been years since I last got it dyed. I’m sure I look like a crazy person with the white hairs growing out.”

“Not at all, my love. Not at all.”

I got up and reached over for the glow stick that we had been using as our light source in this basement we sheltered into for the night.

“Judging by the looks of this glow stick, I would say we’ve been sleeping for about eight hours. So I’d guess it should be sometime in the morning. Want to go explore this house and see if we can find anything?” I asked

“Sure!”

We collected our things and left the basement. I pulled the twelve inch bowie knife out that I had sheathed on my right thigh, as we began going up the stairs to the main floor of the house. I opened the door slowly, and it made a very loud, and prolonged creaking noise, which echoed throughout the entire house. Reddish light from the sun emanated from the small windows around the house. The rays illuminated the dust particles that engulfed the atmosphere inside the house.

“It’s hard being clandestine in such a creaky house, huh?” She said giggling

“Well, I suppose if there were anyone hiding in here, your coughing would have scared them away.” I said chuckling

“Babe, it’s been weeks since we’ve even seen another person.” She said

“I guess so.”

I re-sheathed my knife and walked into the kitchen with my wife trailing behind me.

“Dammit, I even miss that damn sun.” I said, staring out one of the kitchen windows.

“I know. It’s been years. Hopefully the dust cloud from the meteor lets up soon.”

We began searching through the cabinets and drawers, working our way from room to room of this old Victorian style house. We always made sure never to split up. We unfortunately had not found anything we could use or eat in the first floor. But we decided to press onto the second. We eventually reached the main bedroom in the upstairs section of the house.

“I’m shocked this place managed to stay as in tact as it is!” She said

“I know! The bed is still there, the sheets are still on it. It’s dusty, but it’s as if no one has touched it in years!”

We walked around the bed in astonishment! We searched for any signs that maybe someone had been there, and might come back soon. But we could see nothing that indicated the original owners would come back. We approached a matching, long and dark brown, wooden dresser which had been against the wall, by the left side of the bed and searched through it. Unfortunately, all the main drawers were empty, but there was one final, small hidden drawer. We opened it and to our shock, we found some rings, a note, and a rather large heart shaped locket. The locket was a mixture of polished silver, with gold leaves and vines around it. And the locket itself was about four inches tall and three inches wide. It was truly immense.

“That’s the biggest locket, I think I have ever seen.” Said Ashlee.

We opened it and out came a small note with a series of numbers on it. We read the first note and it said the following.

Dear reader,

If you should stumble upon this note, know that this is my last will in testament. I was distraught at the death of my wife five years ago from breast cancer. She was way too young to die at just fifty-five I thought. However, I can now die happy knowing that I outlived her, and that she knew the world as it once was. Full of beauty, and green. Full of life. Where society had not collapsed. Where if we needed something, we just had to go out to into town and purchase it. I used to hate have to drive the thirty miles into town, but it was at least enjoyable when I had her by my side. Those were never easy once she left. I am comforted by the fact that I will see her again soon. I thought it was a miracle that this house was not taken in the initial meteor strike. Now I think it was a curse. I feel the quick death of the blast would have been preferable to the slow, and lonely agonizing death of having time pass. The cancer that once took my wife, has now come for me. I am afraid I do not have any firearms or bullets left to offer. I suppose at this point, it probably doesn’t matter since what’s left of mankind has probably ran out of them by now. If you are lucky enough to find this note and my wife’s old heart shaped locket, just know that inside it contains the combination to a secret room in the basement. There you may find some items to help you survive this hell. I wish you the best of luck. And if you would be so kind, you may find my remains about five miles east of here. I didn’t want my final moments to be in this house. I wanted to see the mountains once again. I ask that you please burry what is left of me.

Best of luck,

Alan

“Wow.” I said

“I know. I can’t stop crying.” Responded Ashlee.

“Let’s see if we can find this room and then we can plan out how to go find him.” I said.

She agreed and we rushed down to the basement. We used what was left of the old glow stick to illuminate our way through the dark basement. We eventually came upon a recessed part of the wall. We felt around that area until we found a little combination lock placed into the wall.

“Babe, read me the numbers on that other note!” I asked

“One-nine-nine-one-two-zero.” She replied.

We heard the door unlock, and we slowly pushed the heavy door open which led to another room.

“Use another glow stick, I can’t see anything!” Said Ashlee

I reached into my pocket for another glow stick and cracked.

“Holy shit.” She said.

“Thank you Alan!” I yelled