The Survivor's Stone

I remember it so clearly. It was the 12th hour of the 12th day of the 12th month of the year. The year 2112. The sun stood still as the earth it shone upon crumbled to its bare bones. Buildings, art, writings, animals, people; all gone within a blink of an eye. Somehow, I survived.

I was wearing nothing but the clothes on my back and a heart shaped locket around my neck. It was sterling silver with a beautiful amethyst stone in the center. My mother gave it to me when I was twelve and told me it was my birth stone. She said if I kept it close to my heart, it would keep me grounded and help guide me to make wise decisions. I’ve worn it every day since then.

I wandered about for what felt like weeks, but I had no way of knowing. The strange thing about this new earth was that the sun never set. There was no separation of day and night. Maybe I was frozen in time.

I constantly replayed my life before the day of destruction, mostly in search of reasons why I was left alive. Was this a punishment or reward? Did I have some sort of unfinished business before I could pass on? Am I really the same person, in the same body?

I kept walking, not exactly sure where I was going or what I was looking for. Then it happened. On the horizon I could see green land and blue waters: signs of life. I desperately scurried ahead, as my body was growing weak from the journey.

When I arrived, I was met with more than grass and water. There were people. Eleven people to be exact. They all stared intently as I walked towards, as if they were waiting for my arrival. A woman reached out her hand and said “Welcome, we’ve been waiting for you, the missing survivor.”

We sat around in a circle as everyone went around talking about their previous lives and described their recount of that day. It was revealed that the number twelve was significant to all of us in some way. For me, it was receiving the locket when I was twelve years old. A man explained that he had been shot twelve times and was laying in a hospital bed when the destruction came. Another woman who was with child explained this was her 12th pregnancy, as her and her husband had been trying unsuccessfully for many years.

We were all connected, 12 people drawn to one another from different walks. We didn’t quite understand why we were chosen out of the literally billions of people that were on the earth. However, we recognized we were given another chance at life. A chance to rebuild.

We not only represented different walks of life, but a wide range of knowledge and skills. Among us, there was a:

Doctor

Farmer

Goldsmith

Carpenter

Electrician

Teacher

Chef

Nurse

Army Veteran

Stone Mason

Fisherman

Biologist

As I looked around at everyone, I noticed another peculiar, yet amazing detail. Everyone was wearing the exact same heart locket that I was, but each person had a different center stone, representing the twelve birthstones:

Garnet

Amethyst

Aquamarine

Diamond

Emerald

Pearl

Ruby

Peridot

Sapphire

Opal

Citrine

Turquoise

In that moment, I felt a sense of relief. I felt my mother’s presence as if she was watching over me. The locket had helped me through most of my life, providing guidance and protection. The other eleven survivors were provided the same fortune through their lockets. Now that we had survived our personal journeys, we would set out on a new journey, together.

The future is safe in our hands.