The Secret of the Heart

“Can’t believe my baby turns twenty today” Kaliope said to herself as she pulls out a heart shaped locket from her jewelry box. “Aunt Maggie would be so proud of her”. Kaliope stared at the locket while remembering the day her aunt Maggie first wore the locket. It was Maggie’s wedding day. Kaliope, still only a child, was part of the wedding. That was the last time Kaliope heard a prayer, a sermon… anything religious, for that matter. A few months after Maggie’s wedding the government set to eradicate all religions, as the government accuse believers of treason and interfering with social progress and international conflict. The government allowed anyone who disagreed with religion to imprison believers, and under certain circumstances even murder them. Without religious influence, the government became brutal and cruel in their treatment to other nations. Eventually those other nations adopted the same anti-religion approach to caught up with their brutal defense. The heartlessness of those that despised religion resulted in millions of deaths and destruction. The past forty years had not replaced what the world lost. Freedom of religion, privacy, safety.

Knock knock… Kaliope was startle by her room door.

“Mom?” it was Marjorie, Kaliope’s daughter.

“Come in sweety,” said Kaliope “Happy Birthday, my sweetheart”. Kaliope hugged Marjorie. “I have something special for you”, Kaliope pulls the heart shaped locket.

“Mom, really? You love this locket. Is the only thing Great Aunt Maggie left behind… for you”.

“And now is yours” said Kaliope as she placed it on Marjorie’s neck. “You are a lot like her, you know. Passionate, smart, driven…” Kaliope began to cry.

“Thanks mom” said Marjorie as she hugged her mom.

“Just one thing dear. Never, ever, open the locket” Kaliope gave Marjorie a cold, scare stare as she said that, and before Marjorie could ask any questions Kaliope took her out to begin the birthday celebration.

Marjorie, now a 20-year-old young lady, lives with her mom. Her dad had died of cancer three years before, just as she made her relationship official with her boyfriend, Luca. Luca was Marjorie’s age. As High School sweethearts they had spent a lot of time together, through ups and downs. Marjorie was his rock during his dad’s Army deployments, and Luca pulled Marjorie through the loss of her father by keeping her focused on their future. Both Marjorie and Luca were juniors at NYU. Marjorie was studying Liberal Arts, and Luca was studying Psychology. Luca knew Marjorie better than she knew herself. Their future together was bright.

“Happy Birthday, my love” said Luca as he entered and walked towards Marjorie with a gift.

“A laptop? But…” Marjorie began to say.

“But you have one. I know. It’s ancient and it doesn’t work half the time, I know is secure, but you need one that work well for assignments.” said Luca.

“Thanks babe” Marjorie smiled. She felt taken care of, he always made her feel taken care of.

The morning after her birthday Marjorie woke up earlier than usual by a dream of a thunderous voice saying, ‘Open it’. Marjorie stared at the locket, curious about the potential reasons her mother told her not to open it. She was about to go talk to her mom, but after realizing it was too early for her to be awake yet, she caved in and opened the locket. In one side there was a picture of her Great Aunt and her husband on their wedding day. On the other side there was a QR code. Marjorie was confused. Why would her Great Aunt put a QR code in the locket? Marjorie picked up her phone and scanned the code. An encrypted page opened but it required a password to see the content. Knowing that her phone activity was not private, she pulled from beside her bed her old laptop. The laptop was ancient in comparison to new technology, but it was given to her by her uncle, her mom’s cousin whom she called uncle, had given her. This laptop was secure and free from being tracked by the government. With the laptop and phone opened in front of her, she swiped up the page towards the laptop screen, and there it opened again. She exited the page from her phone. Marjorie attempted several passwords. Variations of her Great Aunt’s title as a Professor of Creative Writing, her full name, her husband’s… then it hit her. Marjorie typed in her mom’s, Kaliope, full maiden name.

The page seemed like a database of religious material. There was a list of all the religions once existed, and under each a lot of material about them. The information was overwhelming and confusing for Marjorie. If these were just stories, why the secrecy? Did her Great Aunt write all these stories? Marjorie sees a picture and has a flash back of the government test everyone must take each year.

An old man with a beer belly, wearing a suit, glasses at the tip of his nose, gray hair with a bold spot in the center of his scalp, reluctantly reading from a pamphlet.

“By the Friends Not Foe Act of 2025 all citizens must comply with the annual government standardized test in order to maintain citizenship, residenceship, and rights. This test is comprised of 100 multiple choice questions about diverse rights, responsibilities, laws, and other diverse government matters. There are 20 made up sample questions to test a person’s ability to focus on lengthy exams without succumbing to randomly selection of answers. At the end of the exam, you will receive a completion notification. Take that to the office to receive your stamp and you’re free to go. If the exam determines something odd, you will be escorted to the police for further questioning. Because of this, it is imperative that you carefully read and answer all questions. Good luck, you can begin.”

15 years old Marjorie begins the test. On question 19 she thinks, ‘this must be one of those made-up ones. Sounds like the stories mom tells me’. Question reads:

‘A Church belonging to four different religions is located in ____’

a. Israel

b. America

c. Germany

d. Spain

Marjorie feels even more confused. Her mom had told her the stories she heard from Maggie, but if they were just stories, how come there is a picture of Maggie in front of a beautiful building with a caption that reads: Church of the Holy Sepulcher, belongs today to four different religions. Israel 2019?. As she reads more, she realizes her mom had only told her half the truth of who her Great Aunt was. Maggie was not a Creative Writing professor, she was a theologian, one shut down by the government anti-religion movement. Overwhelmed, Marjorie was about to log out when she saw a picture of her Great Aunt in front of a school building. The caption: Where it all began. If she was a lot like her Great Aunt, and her she managed to hide all this information, there must be more, and now Marjorie knows where to look.

Excited about her findings she texted Luca.

‘Babe, I found out something awesome. Packing for a trip. Can’t text you about it, come over.’

Thirty minutes later Luca comes in with coffee and bagels.

“Babe, how did you know I need it coffee?” Marjorie asked.

“It is way too early for you to be awake, and you sounded busy,” said Luca.

Marjorie fills Luca on all her findings and believes about her Great Aunt, religion, and the government. She tells Luca she is going to her Great Aunt’s old College, where she believes there is more information hidden.

“I’m coming with you. We can make it a couple’s trip. That way the government doesn’t suspect anything. You’re not one to travel alone, it would be out of character, and you know the government,” said Luca.

“What would I do without you babe?” Marjorie was excited.

At Maggie’s old College, Marjorie looks for the building she saw in the picture. The place, now abandoned, was vandalized. Marjorie goes through every floor, looking for anything that may have remain from forty years ago. But she didn’t know what she was looking for. Suddenly, at the corner of a small office on the second floor, a piece of old carpet was pulling out. She checked, and underneath there was an old, dusty, leather journal. She read through the journal. Writings with Bible references, anecdotes and other spiritual related material that sounded like the stories she has heard, were part of it, but no additional clues.

“I can tell you’re frustrated. How about we camp out here tonight and look at it with fresh eyes in the morning?” said Luca after seeing Marjorie almost hyperventilating.

Marjorie and Luca camp the night in a local site. In the morning, awaken by the birds and cicadas, Marjorie went to get the journal from the bag at the bottom of their feet, but the journal was gone.

“How is this possible?” asked Marjorie in despair.

“Maybe it was another camper, or a hobo. I don’t know babe, we don’t know what kind of people live in this state”, answered Luca. “How about we head back home? Start from zero on the website. Maggie must have left other clues”, Luca suggested; Marjorie agreed.

Back home, Marjorie and Luca look at the website, but Marjorie was too devastated to think.

“Babe, just sleep. We’ll figure this out together, like we always do”, said Luca.

“Okay” Marjorie answered, almost falling asleep.

10:00pm. Marjorie wakes up, overwhelmed, reliving the past two days. She walked to Luca’s house, down the road, but on her way she was mugged by a man who stole her locket. Luca had heard the screams and went out to help Marjorie, but the man and the locket were gone. Luca took Marjorie to his house and attempted to console her, but she fell asleep in the couch. Around midnight Marjorie wakes up hearing marching steps. She realizes she’s surrounded by SWAT and FBI agents who arrested her for possession of religious material.

Marjorie is taken to the FBI center and put in a cold, white, empty-wall room. Then, Luca and his father walk in.

“Marjorie, I’m agent Neal Thompson, this is my partner, agent Luca Thompson” said Luca’s father.

“Agent?” asked Marjorie looking at Luca.

“Yes, we’ve been assigned to keep an eye on you and your family,” said Luca.

“Why?” asked Marjorie.

“Because your annual test results for the past 15 years have shown that you have knowledge of religion” answered Neal.

“I know the stories my mom told me, but they are just stories, you know that Luca”, said Marjorie, desperately.

“Miss, this is a psychological test. This test showed that you not only know about religion. You believe in it. The only reason you have not been taken prisoner before is because we know you are related to a former bold theologian. Maggie Black. She was also an Air Force Veteran; she knew how to hide information from the government. We have always suspected she hid all her knowledge on religion for your or someone in your family to find and restart religion”, said Neal.

“And now, we found it” said Luca showing her the heart shaped locket in an evidence bag.

Knock knock. Another agent enters the room.

“Boss wants to talk to her”, said the agent.

Marjorie is taken to the Head of the FBI. A tall male is standing facing back to the doors they entered through. Marjorie is instructed to sit down. The agents leave the room. The man turns around to face Marjorie.

“Uncle Oswald?” Marjorie recognized him. It was her mother’s cousin, whom she called uncle, the one who gave her the laptop. “What is happening here?” she asks.

“Shh! Listen…” he said, “we don’t have much time, we must find that locket before is destroyed”, he said as he stared as her with conviction.