An Unknown Love Story...

It was so cold. The mist was lashing out on my freezing cheeks. My hands, red and cracked were stuffed deep in my pockets. My feet were wet and I was in a hurry. I was on my way home, a sad, bed bug ridden, no electric lightning, with a shared commode kind of place. But my room was private. A small corner, with a dollar store shower liner that had a growing purple stain in the middle of it, provided a little bit of privacy in an abandoned house the government hadn't seized yet. I should feel grateful having space of my own where I can lay my head. But grateful wasn't a word most of us who lived in Panpe used. The rain was really coming down now. The night sky dark and moonless. I turned left onto the dirt path that lead to the house. The trees were swaying in the wind and rain, how it sounds like music, I thought, that's when I heard the familiar sound, a terrifying squelch that sends shiver own my spine everynight notifyng those of us still out the city lights were shutting off for the next twelve hours. The Royal Reserve Police were about to gallup through town looking for drifters. I continued trudging along the path, when a silvery glint caught my eye. Curious, I walked toward the object, looking sideways to make sure it wasn't a trap, some drifter looking to rob me of my bed bug stained overcoat. Seeing no one, I crouched down, squinting in the cold rain. There, almost completely uncovered from the eroded soil, was a long, silver necklace. I reached out, touched it, not believing what I was seeing was real, with shaky hands, I plucked it out of it's watery grave. A large, silver locket, a bombay heart pendant. Old, lost, forgotten. Glinting in the dark moonless night, a long necklace, something from a different era, beautiful, mysterious, expensive. I slipped it over my head, expecting the Royal Reserve Police Service to arrest me for theft from the Earth kind charge. The necklace reached my belly button. I tucked the cold, mud encrusted, necklace under my shirt, the locket pressing against my warm skin. Hearing the familiar galloping of the Royal Reserve Police Service, there familiar steps behind me, I yelled "just tying my laces" not wanting my neck controller to ping with a warning. I'd already had two warnings this year. A third ping in as many months and I'd land in the bullpen with the other drifters. I continued walking home, checking behind me every so often, anxious someone already knew about my secret find. Once home, in my candle lit, windowless room, I brought the necklace out of my shirt. I smiled as I looked at my cherished treasure. Holding the locket, My imagination led me to a vision, one of love, admiration, and wealth. Prying the mud encrusted locket open, on the left side I found an inscription 'Enid, be the star that never fades... Love Ross' on the right side, a picture faded, black and white , dirty, an unknown face erased from its time in the ground.

Laying in my sleeping bag, I happily closed my eyes. The memories of the day fading. I imagined what Enid would have felt when her Ross gifted her such an exquisite piece of jewelry. What Ross felt buying it. I could only imagine the love they shared. The romance, the admiration. I fell asleep dreaming a story, a story of an unknown love between Enid, her Ross, and a beautiful heart shaped locket.