A Mother's Love

I could feel the glass shards sinking deeper into my feet each time they hit the ground, but my urgency never faltered- I regret my decision to wear heels this day. Now barefoot and terrified, I was running as fast as I could from my job to my home- it didn’t feel fast enough. I contemplated why I had never prepared myself for doomsday; but of course, I never expected it to happen at all… let alone, like this.

“Please be okay,” I whispered to myself, as though my quiet voice would somehow stop all the chaos around me.

I was running to my daughter, she was only 4 years old, and I trusted that she wouldn’t leave the house without mommy, after all- all we had was each other… I couldn’t possibly imagine how she felt hearing the loud voice that shook the entire planet just prior, I just prayed whatever she felt kept her put.

"Hello humanity, you have failed to better your planet, and you will now suffer the consequences. Earth number 2 will be eliminated, you have 48 hours to prove yourselves honest and pure of heart, many of you will die before those 48 hours are complete. Those of you destined for better will be a part of Earth 3. We will only select 1,000 of you, so begin saying your goodbyes. In order to make sure that you all understand the assignment, we will begin with the destruction now."

The emotionless speech that began the extirpation of humanity ended with a bang, literally. The explosions left my head ringing- people were screaming, and I could barely see. In that moment, I thought I was dead, there was so much adrenaline I didn’t feel a hint of pain. Suddenly, I was prompted, like something took over my brain, the voice sounded an awful lot like the one that had just announced our failure. It told me to name one thing I love more than myself, something I would sacrifice myself for. I thought of my daughter, the voice said my answer had sufficed, and that I should go find her. My vision returned to me, and I could see some of my coworkers in a trance like state- was that what I had just looked like? I didn’t have the time to figure it out. I had to go find Tabitha, but not before I saw some of my coworkers collapsing. I went to check and found they had no pulse… 48 hours was what I had, and I couldn’t spend it saving anyone. Those to be saved were already chosen, I just had to hope Tabitha and I were a part of that group.

I was out of the café in seconds, running toward the one person I would sacrifice it all for. When I reached my neighborhood, my heart sank. The turmoil was everywhere- but to see it so close to home and have no idea if my daughter was okay was terrifying. I clutched the heart shaped locket I wore with her picture in it as I opened the door.

I screamed for my daughter as the door flew open, and suddenly my vision blurred again. I was prompted with another question. "Would you leave your daughter behind if you knew she would survive in order to make it to salvation, or would you give your daughter salvation knowing you will die?" The question angered me at first, was this a game? I wanted to see my daughter, but I couldn’t see anything, suddenly I felt her tiny little hands on my legs. She deserved salvation, not survival. Survival isn’t a fun place to be, we were surviving right now, and I didn’t want this world for my daughter.

Suddenly, I could see again. I looked down at my daughter and saw her… struggling.

“They said I could say goodbye, mommy.”

I couldn’t compute what she was saying to me.

“No, we’re going to be saved darling.”

“Mommy… I’m scared to die… I couldn’t die… I don’t know anything about it… what does it mean to survive… it’s not dying, right? I thought as long as you don’t die…”

She chose salvation for her; I chose salvation for her… but I still couldn’t save her.

“Don’t worry honey, I’m here,” I whispered as I held her and kissed the top of her head, “I love you so much, you did great honey, you waited for mommy just like I told you if anything went wrong… my perfect little angel,”

“I love you too mommy,” and then she went limp in my arms- just like my coworkers had collapsed earlier… what kind of world was this? I couldn’t survive 48 hours with nothing to live for. I went to my kitchen, grabbed a knife- and then my vision blurred again. "Death by suicide does not earn you a place in Earth 3, pure hearted---"