The Telling Locket

It occurred to me while watching the television that we all liked something different. Krista liked the comedy; Stefan liked the drama and I preferred the documentary. We were required by the state to watch all 5 and then vote on Saturdays. Since the mandate, people had been disappearing. At first, it was something you just heard about, then, my former bunk mate, Natalie disappeared. The disappearances always occurred on Sundays and the government didn’t seem to mind that we had seen a correlation.

Stefan spoke, “Any one nervous about voting this time?” No one answered but the tension in the room was enough. Apparently, the comedy from last week was the wrong choice. On a whim, I had suggested Krista vote for the drama since she liked the main actor. Luckily, she had. I felt her squeeze my hand. It was Wednesday, we had 2 more shows to watch before the next vote.

The population explosion had caused wide spread hunger and for many years, the government looked for ways to feed the populace. As the leadership became more focused on the problem and less on the people, mandates began. No one over 30 could have children anymore. Only 1 child per family and then forced sterilization. Now the mandates included blood tests to determine if you were worthy of having a child. No one understood what the requirements were and many young females had been forcibly sterilized and paid with a food voucher for their “sacrifice”.

I stood to go to bed. I smiled at Stefan before leaving and Krista followed me. “I’m scared. What if what I like is the wrong thing?” I understood her fear and hoped I could continue to persuade her. I had a secret. I was an orphan and the only few possessions I owned included a locket. I don’t know who the people are inside it but I do know it’s mine. It’s special in a way I can only describe as magic. I know there’s a scientific reason for what it can do but to me, it’s magic.

A week before the television programming began, the locket started to vibrate. When I opened it, the pictures were scrolling a word. Drama…Drama…Drama. It was followed by the words “only option”.

I didn’t know what it meant and that week, we got the mandate about the votes. Everyone had to watch the shows at 8pm each night. On Saturday, you used the phone to vote on the show you thought was best. When it began, it actually sounded fun, then the people started missing and the shows began to get creepier. They programmed images that stayed in your mind. Closing your eyes didn’t erase them.

As months went by, my locket told me what to choose. It gave me the only option and kept me alive. I never heard of anyone else getting these messages in any way and I felt keeping the locket’s secrets to myself was the best course of action.

There was no way to know which of the shows would get you taken but I know the one that would appease the government and keep me safe, at least while the locket kept working. I decided not to think about that.

This week, we still had the action show and the cartoon. I already knew the cartoon would keep me safe and I planned to watch it more closely and see if I could determine the pattern. It was clear, the government was pruning the populace and only keeping what they considered compliant citizens. Something about our choices told them far more than we knew.

Compliant described me perfectly until this last year. I had fallen in-love and keeping him safe became my priority. We had broken a rule by pairing up so young and I needed him to help us hide. I knew he had friends in the underground and hoped they could hide us before the next mandatory blood test. We would both be terminated if what I suspected was true and I was pregnant. Our growing DNA was about to be our death sentence if we couldn’t hide.

Krista, already in her top bunk, was talking about the comedy this week and highlighting her favorite celebrities comedic timing. I grinned at her ramblings and tried to set the cartoon up. I said, “I’m looking forward to the cartoon this Friday. I think it will be awesome. I heard the University produced this one!”

Krista didn’t respond and soon I heard her soft snoring.

I pulled out my locket and opened the clasp. Its message was still the same. Vote for the cartoon. What was the state doing to us with these broadcasts and what rubric were they following to erase so many people? Where were those people going or worse yet, were they being executed? My heart skipped a beat as I heard he siren of the blood bus outside, but it passed by quickly on its way to the lab or some other location.

Did other people have a locket guiding them through the government maze? Was I the only one? How did it do what it does? Who left it to me? Are Stefan and I going to have a baby? Yes, even without a test, I knew it, deep down, I just knew. In prior times, a test could be done using a kit from the drug store. Not only did I not know what a drug store was, but the use of such test kits would alert the authorities. The blood buses had them, and they sent a signal immediately upon positive results.

I shut the locket and squeezed it in my palm. Somehow, I had to get to safety.

Listening closely, I could tell the room was slumbering. I quietly got up and made my way back to the commons area. I lived in a home for young people without parents. We worked to prove our worth. With too many people, folks not wanted needed a way to be productive. Stefan and I studied plant growth. Both of us had a natural green thumb and were able to coax plants back to life. Krista worked in food processing; a job that made her intrinsically safe as no one else wanted to do it. I lived with anxiety, as a crop started to die; I was tasked with determining the issue. I wasn’t sure what would happen if either Stefan or myself ever failed. One or two humans weren’t as important as a crop feeding hundreds.

Stefan was in the commons waiting for me. I went to him and we embraced. It was dangerous to be together so we stuck to the corner shadows. He squeezed tight. “How do you feel?” “Like we need to get out of here, fast,” I replied. His face studied mine acknowledging what I feared. Suddenly, he grinned, a grin that made my stomach flip. “I am having a hard time being sad. We can be what we never had!” “Stefan,” I responded, “only if we get out of here! If we have to do the next blood test, we are dead!” Stefan turned serious. “I am working on it. I’m more concerned with making it past the next vote.” I looked up at him and considered telling him about the locket. About to open up, I changed my mind and took his face into my hands. “There’s a pattern to the shows. Trust me. Do you trust me?” I asked. “More than anything,” he replied. “Vote for the cartoon.” He continued looking into my eyes and then nodded. He looked like he wanted to ask a question but he kissed me instead. He placed his hand on my stomach and then said what he hadn’t yet, and what I had wanted to hear for months, “I love you, Remi!” I replied, “I love you too!” We parted and I returned to my bunk. Another blood bus drove by the complex and again my heart skipped. I wanted to feel happy about this baby too, but the obstacles in our way wouldn’t let me relax or even think about the little guy. It occurred to me I thought of him as a boy.

The next night, the television show produced images that left all of us ambivalent. Action in this show contained explosions and fights. Not a whole lot of substance and I imagined voting for this one would most likely keep you safe. No messages one way or another. Just entertainment for entertainments sake. On Friday, we gathered again, expecting a silly show, much like the cartoons from previous weeks.

This was the first time a cartoon made me sick. Maybe pregnancy enhances it but Krista didn’t like it either and looked away about half the program. Full of violence, the most disturbing images were cartoons being cannibals. The animators had to be some kind of psychotic and once again, the room was silent as the cartoon came to the end. “No way am I voting for that! I’m sick!” Krista exclaimed. Hearing my friend say she wouldn’t vote for the cartoon with such vehemence made me scramble. She had to vote for it, she just had to. Somehow, I had to convince her to vote for what we all hated but what I knew would keep her alive.

My attention shifted as a blood bus parked in front of our building. I looked at Stefan who looked more scared than I have ever seen him. The room came to its feet as people prepared to line up for a blood inspection. Stefan grabbed my hand and led me to the kitchen which was also where the back door was. I clasped my other hand around the familiar shape of the heart and noticed it vibrating.

The small screen had a new message, “Go now. Instructions to follow.” It took me a moment to register this new aspect of the locket and read it. Stefan urged, “Come on Remi, I don’t know where but we’ve got to avoid this bus!” I locked eyes with him and asked again, “Do you trust me?” He nodded yes, "Then follow my lead.”