Glimmer

A glimmer. That is what caught her eye. A small gleam in an otherwise bleak world. Shifting through the rubble of what once was a home, Dawn had found a small heart-shaped locket that had been lost under the wreckage. She almost laughed at the irony of it all. A lack of love is what led to her scrounging for supplies in abandoned buildings.

Even before the nuclear inferno had engulfed the world people were more likely to attack you than support you. Everything had been a point of contestation. The clothes you wore, the music you listened to, the romances you had, the political and religious beliefs you held; none of it mattered and none of it was kept sacred. Before the world ended people attacked you just because they could. Families tore themselves apart. Friendships were broken over the pettiest of things. Alliances were constantly shifting as members fought amongst themselves. These things are what solicited a spiteful laugh from Dawn as she picked up the locket. There had been no real love so the thought of flaunting something based on such a fictitious emotion seemed ridiculous.

Dawn was about to cast the locket back into the rubble when something stirred inside of her. Curiosity. Who was the person that would keep such a frivolous trinket? She decided to open the locket if only to satisfy the question. Inside was a singular portrait of an elderly lady sitting on a stool with a girl who looked to be close in age to Dawn standing behind embracing the woman who sat before her. On the photo were two words written so small, they were almost illegible:

Miss u.

Dawn paused for a moment before stuffing the locket in her coat pocket with a shrug. What little light was still left under the fallout clouds was fading quickly. She hadn’t found anything else in this pile of garbage so she felt like she might at least be able to trade it for something down the road. As she went to stand up, she briefly felt a presence standing over her before her head split with pain and her world went black. The incident happened so fast she would later only be able to recall a surge in adrenaline and a single thought,

“I was careful!”

Two things broke the void; pain and the sound of someone trying to cry quietly. Dawn knew that she shouldn’t advertise that she was awake. Her captor had spared her for a reason and in this world, it wasn’t a pleasant reason. She moved her hand up to her head to discover that it was wet but also bandaged. Her heart started racing. If her head was bandaged that could only mean that her captor wanted her a slave. Either to keep or to sell. She had seen it happen before. There was no worse of a fate. The discovery convinced her that whoever was in the room with her wasn't her captor. They were another poor soul whose fate was to be used and discarded like refuse. She started to sit up. As the old adage goes,

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

At the very least the two of them might be able to escape or, if that failed, die. Dawn surveyed the room as she rose. The space was small. At one end was a blank wall with a couple boxes stacked against it. In front of her was another wall and the space between her and the wall acted as a small walkway. At the other end of the room was a doorway and by the doorway sat a girl at a small rickety table. The girl sat on an equally rickety chair with her arms wrapped around her knees and her head resting against them. On the table was a small lantern which was the only source of light in the room. Everything looked right for a slavery holding cell.

Dawn knew she had to keep the girl quiet if she were to enlist her help in escaping. There was no way to know for sure how the girl would react so Dawn knew she had to get to the girl and muffle any sounds she might make to alert anyone on the other side of the door. Dawn swung her legs out over the bed and placed them on the floor. She braced herself against the pain still throbbing in her head and prepared to lung at the girl. As Dawn went to push off the bed the bed groaned under the change of pressure. Dawn’s eyes shot to the girl. The girl’s eyes were locked on to Dawn in a mixture of surprise and fear. Dawn hesitated.

“Oh, you’re awake,” the girl exclaimed sweetly as she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her coat revealing a bat at her side. The girl stood and took the lantern from the table before approaching Dawn.

“My name is Myra and you’ve found my grandmother.” Myra held out her other hand. A glimmer. That is what caught Dawn’s eye. A small gleam in an otherwise bleak world. In Myra’s hand sat the locket.

Myra set the lantern down and quickly embraced Dawn.

“Thank you!”

Dawn had found her captor.