Time Pendant

Time Pendant

By Candace Wambold

Kelly was jolted awake by a desperate scream.

Looking around her living room, Kelly tried to understand why she was sleeping on the living room floor in the middle of the day. Her head was pounding, and she desperately tried to remember the events that brought her here.

Kelly remembered waking up, showering, and making breakfast. She remembered getting ready for work… Work!

Up on her feet in an instant, Kelly scrambled to find her cell phone while she looked at the clock on the wall. 2:18pm. How can that be?

Kelly quickly discovered that there was no signal on her cell phone.

As her head continued to pound with each beat of her heart, Kelly checked the home phone – dead. She tried checking the television, and all stations were on “stand-by”. No radio either, just static.

“What is happening?” Kelly thought to herself. She hoped that her boss would understand and accept her late call, if she could get to a working telephone, that is. Kelly looked at the clock on the wall again. 2:24pm. That is when she noticed the crack in the wall.

There was a huge crack in the wall, and the entire room looked like a tornado had gone through it. “How had I not noticed that yet?”, she wondered out loud to herself.

Walking slowly through the house, she noticed that each room looked just as badly as her living room and kitchen did. At least one hundred questions started racing through her mind, all at once. What could have caused this? Would her insurance even cover this much damage? What would her parents say about this??

Kelly was given this house as a gift from her parents when they won the lottery and moved to New York City. This was the house that Kelly grew up in and had been in her family for over a century. Built in the early 1900’s, the home was built for strength and durability over beauty, although it was still an attractive home overall. Located in a lovely suburb outside of Chicago, Illinois, and Kelly could think of no other place that she would rather live her life.

Then, out of nowhere, that scream again. A scream mixed with terror, fear and confusion ringing in her ears and stabbing into her already throbbing head. The scream sounded as if it was coming from outside, and remarkably close.

Kelly carefully stepped outside and onto her porch, looking to see where the screams were coming from. Scanning slowly up one side of her street and then down the other, Kelly was dumbfounded by the level of destruction to all the newer homes on her block. Some were partially caved in while others were completely devastated, practically leveled to the ground. As far as she could see in either direction, it appeared that her entire neighborhood was destroyed. Kelly felt a small rush of relief that her house, although seriously damaged, still managed to remain standing.

Now that she was outside, she could make out some of the inane scream-speak that continued to flow from her male neighbor from up the street. Something about meteors? Asteroids? Shock waves? All over the United States? Family, please help his family. Most are dead. Neighbors are dead. Crushed inside their homes… Meteors in New York, in Las Vegas, Nevada, in Fort Worth, Texas …

Kelly yelled out to her neighbor that she could try to help, but he did not notice. He just continued to ramble and cry, still screaming and walking further away from her.

Not knowing what to do or even how she could help, Kelly slowly backed into her house. She could not call anyone for help, and all the vehicles were crushed or blocked by rubble from the buildings.

Meteors in New York? Her parents are in New York! Kelly vowed to start watching the news. How could she not have heard anything about this? No warnings?

Looking around her house again, Kelly noticed that the electricity had now gone out. “Wonderful”, she said out loud. Yet, there seemed to be a glow – a source of light other than that shining through the broken glass in all the windows. The glow seemed to be coming from inside the large crack in the wall of her living room.

Kelly gradually edged her way across the room to the crack in the wall. Peering inside, an object hung, suspended in midair. It shimmered and glowed with a soft light of its own. It looked like an amulet, or a pendant. Without even thinking, Kelly reached into the crack and gently grasped the pendant. Pulling it out of the wall, Kelly was able to get a much better view of the pendant. It was a heart-shaped pendant, and it appeared to be a locket. It was rather large, but it was also the most beautiful locket she had ever seen. In addition to its beauty, it seemed to radiate a warm and peaceful feeling from deep within its shimmering glow.

Kelly slid the chain over her head while tenderly holding the locket in her hand. Kelly felt the warmth run through her body, her soul. She took notice that the pounding headache was gone. She felt no fear, no desperation. She felt nothing but peace and warmth. If the locket were this beautiful on the outside, she wondered, what might she find if she were to open the locket? A picture of her parents perhaps? Or maybe a long-past relative? Should she dare to open the locket?

Kelly carefully opened the locket. The shimmering glow of the unopened locket was nothing compared to the glorious light that poured out from the locket, quickly filling the room and enveloping Kelly into the center of the light. Then, slowly at first, the light began to swirl all around her. The thick mist had all the colors of the rainbow and more, sparkles brighter than any star in the night sky, swirling faster with each second. Although Kelly had not moved from the spot where she stood, she could feel herself moving deeper and deeper into the swirling whirlwind of sparling colors and light.

As Kelly neared the end of the swirling light, she could see what appeared to be a beautiful field, lush with wonderful flowers that she had never seen before. The sky was not just luxuriously blue, but it appeared to have an almost liquid quality to it. There were buildings in the distance, but they hovered well above the ground, and shined like fine-polished silver.

Kelly, still feeling the peace and warmth from before but much stronger now, began to feel a presence approaching her.

As she turned to face this presence, she beheld the most stunning woman she had ever seen. The woman was smiling and radiated a magnificent warmth and peace.

Still smiling, but without moving her lips, the woman began to speak to Kelly.

“Deliverer, I am Gianna. I am from a time well ahead of your own. You wear one of our Time Pendants, and that is what brought you here. Long ago, we were made aware of the destruction that would happen in your time. We created the Time Pendants and placed them all around your world, so the bearer could leave their time and join us in ours. We have no sorrow, illness or death here; we have evolved beyond that. You are welcomed and loved. However, you must know that once you have delivered the Time Pendant, you cannot return to your own time. You will live here among us for all of time and must be willing to leave your world and all that is in it. The choice is yours to make.”

“But what about my family? My friends? My job?” Kelly asked.

“The choice is yours to make”, repeated Gianna, still smiling kindly.

Kelly’s head was spinning. Certainly, she cannot leave her family behind. The thought of never seeing her family and friends again was intolerable. “Abandon everything I know? Absolutely not” thought Kelly to herself, still holding the locket in her hand.

Kelly looked down at the still open locket in her hand, and quickly snapped it shut. Instantly, she felt herself being pulled backwards through the swirling colors and light. In a flash, she found herself standing in her living room. The warm feeling was gone. The devastation was still all around her. Her head was pounding again.

Kelly slid the chain and locket up over her head and placed it on the coffee table. She sat down on the couch in total disbelief, going over all the amazing and unbelievable things that had just happened to her. Was it real? Did that really happen? “How hard did I hit my head, anyway?” Kelly said to herself, out loud again.

Kelly looked over at her clock on the wall. 8:26pm. She had been “gone” for 6 hours! “This can’t be real”, Kelly thought. “I must have passed out again.” But the locket still shimmered and glowed softly from her coffee table.

It was now dark outside, but Kelly noticed that she was not sitting in the dark. The electricity had been restored. “Thank God for that, at least” Kelly thought.

Kelly went to the kitchen for some aspirin, and as she poured herself a glass of water a shrill sound caused her to drop her glass. It was her cell phone. Kelly poured another glass of water, took the aspirin and cleaned up the broken glass from the kitchen floor. She then went to get her cell phone. It was a text message from her boss.

The message read “Kelly, this is Mr. Brixton. Although we are aware of the weather issues in a lot of the surrounding states, our Company has extremely strict policies. You were made aware of this. A ‘No Call, No Show’ is grounds for dismissal. I regret to inform you that you are terminated. We will mail you your final pay. That is all”.

Kelly stood there for a minute, blinking at the phone in disbelief. How can they just fire me when all hell is breaking loose everywhere?

Kelly goes back to the living room and sits down on the couch. He tries calling her mother first, then her father. No answer from either one. Are they alright? “God, please let them be alright” Kelly prayed out loud.

Kelly then called her insurance agent and told him about the damage to her home. “I’m sorry, Kelly. We did not receive your last payment and your insurance was cancelled. We cannot help you.”

Kelly then tried to call her best friend Jessica. Kelly and Jessica had been friends since grade school. Hearing Jessica’s voice right now would help her feel better.

Jessica’s phone rang and rang, and finally the line was answered. “Jessica!” Kelly practically screamed. “I’m so glad you answered…”

The voice on the other end of the line was quiet and sad. It was Jessica’s husband, Robert.

“Kelly?” Robert’s quivering voice squeaked. “Kelly, Jessica was killed today at work. Her building collapsed in on her and everyone in the entire office was killed. Robert began sobbing, and Kelly joined in with him. They spoke and cried together for almost 45 minutes, and Robert promised to let her know about the funeral arrangements. Then they hung up.

Kelly spoke out loud to herself yet again. “First, the severe and uncovered damage to my home. Then my job. Then Jessica. Will this day ever end?”

Kelly turned on the television. Keeping her vow from earlier, she found the news channel. The reporter was stating that “everyone from the New York, Las Vegas and Fort Worth, Texas areas were either confirmed or presumed dead”.

Kelly broke down completely and sobbed loudly for what seemed like an eternity. Then the glow caught her eye.

Kelly took a deep breath, placed the locket around her neck and slowly opened it.