Darwinism

The dark, dreary clouds that overcast the sky transfigured into fluffy lumps resembling scoops of vanilla ice cream. The smell of death, despair, and destruction faded into that of lavender, laughter, and love. A sun once destined to extinction now radiated beams that cracked through clouds. This unbelievably rapid metamorphosis took a century. The human race forgot about the plague that almost wiped them out. Everything became perfect in this utopian world.

Odette giggled as she fought the little splashes her younger brother, Claude, sent her way. It’s been a while since they’ve been at the beach, so this visit was livelier than usual.

“Lunchtime, kiddos!” hollered their mother.

“Mom! I’m not a kid anymore!” Odette hollered back as she and Claude walked back to the checkered picnic blanket.

With a knife, their mother ran a diagonal line across each already-prepared sandwich. “Sweety. I know you’re not a baby, but you’re still my baby—”

“—forever and always. Hey big girl and kinda-big boy,” interrupted their father. He returned from the car with refreshments and towels. “Here you go.” He handed both of his children towels to dry their hair.

As Odette dried her hair, she heard a thump in her close-by purse. It sounded like something had dropped in it. After failing to find the so-called “something,” she overlooked it.

The following day arrived. “And yes, that’s exactly what I'm saying!” Odette agreed with her friend on the phone. On her bed, she was lying on her back with her legs swinging and occasionally pointing towards the ceiling.

“Momma and dadda thaid we’re going now.” Claude stuck his head through the doorway of her room.

“Thell momma and dadda I thaid ‘ok’ and that I love them,” she jokingly mocked.

“Ok!” Claude ran off, making airplane noises with his arms spread out.

“That kid has so much energy,” she laughed to herself and her friend on the phone.

Her parents and little brother drove to visit grandma and grandpa in Virginia. She couldn’t go with them because of her summer internship that would begin the next day. The teenager continued talking to her friend for another twenty minutes before noticing a purple beam radiating from her purse. “Girl, I’ma have to call you back,” she exclaimed and quickly hung up the phone.

She cautiously walked to where her purse was sitting—on her drawer. Before she could even reach the spot, the light flickered and disappeared. Agitated, she held her stance for a few seconds before her glance around the room. There it was. A dark grey object was sitting on her bed. Again, she froze. Though her steps were light and quiet, they screamed of apprehension. Soon the outline of a heart-shaped locket formed in her visual field. It was shaped like a human heart and had a purple gem fixed on its surface. It looked familiar, but Odette couldn’t remember where she had seen the odd shape of a necklace.

In his palace, Benjamin Hutchinson paced back and forth, searching for a lost item. His servants had been hunting for the valuable object all night and all morning. “Where is it!?!?” Benjamin yelled as he grabbed one of his helpers by the shoulders and shook him aggressively.

“Si-si-s-sir…I’m not sh-sh-sh-sure,” the poor man stuttered.

“This locket means my life, and I need you to find it in this instance!”

Odette watched this scene from the left side of the inside of the locket. The right side was blank. She touched the left screen. Her finger didn’t disappear into the scene. Nothing happened. The necklace was like a portal but inaccessible. “There is no way,” she thought to herself, “this is the necklace that hangs around the leader’s neck like no tomorrow.” He always wore that necklace. She initially thought it merely held sentimental value, like something someone would keep to remember a loved one who passed away. Who would’ve thought the necklace held magical powers?

The girl walked towards her window and held the locket up towards the light. Quickly, the right side flickered and displayed a different scene. She saw houses, trees, cars, and birds. It looked like a dark and gloomy version of her neighborhood. The houses and cars appeared abandoned and like they’ve lost multiple boxing matches; they were very beat-up, with missing parts and broken windows. The trees were leafless. The featherless birds looked like pieces of chewed bubblegum flying in the smoke-filled sky. It was a depressing sight. It looked like an apocalypse to the apocalypse power.

Then she saw people sneaking around. They looked lean and dull. When they made eye contact with her, they took off. Knock, knock, knock! Someone was knocking on the front door downstairs. Frightened by the sound, she dropped the locket. “Maybe my parents forgot something,” she thought. The knocks were rapid and bold. Each knock cried of urgency and demanded her to hurry up. She rushed downstairs to open the door only to find a skinny, bearded man staring back at her. He had big eyes with bags under them and a hunchback. He looked similar to the dull and lean people, but he was only the same man who Benjamin was yelling at.

“Umm—excuse me, ma’am, but I have much to tell you about the locket,” he exclaimed hurriedly but quietly. He turned around to see if anyone was coming. The man rushed in, slammed the door, and locked it. “My name is Harold. I work for Mr. Hutchinson,” the man stared at Odette with his paranoid eyes. He continued, “I know that you have the locket. I was able to escape the palace and track you down. I’m here to save you before Mr. Hutchinson comes for you. He is outraged.”

Odette stared back, confused and speechless

Harold continued. “Mr. Hutchinson discovered the locket around the end of the apocalypse. He didn’t discover it. He made the locket in a lab but discovered the gem. The gem is what truly has supernatural abilities. The truth is the apocalypse is still here. The locket holds power to form an illusion to the public. Mr. Hutchinson has been using this illusion as a form of propaganda.”

Odette stared blankly.

“You know the big spiders, each with eighteen legs, right?” he asked

Odette nodded. “The viruses?”

“Yes, those. Those are not spiders! Those are human beings! Mr. Hutchinson uses the locket to mask their true appearance. Those are human beings that he deems inferior according to their genes. They include those with the tendency to have certain health problems or people who are unlikely to be intelligent.”

“What?”

“Yes. It would be best if you trusted me. He is trying to form a society with perfect genes that can withstand another apocalypse if it were to happen again. That’s why he encourages the public to report any viruses on the loose.”

“I-”

“The remaining public who are not ‘viruses’ are also in danger. He is kidnapping people. Their DNA—”

And just like that, before Harold could finish his sentence, the front door fell over. Behind the now space were three muscular bodyguards and Benjamin Hutchinson—the dictator.

“Where is the locket?!?!” Benjamin commanded and slowly walked towards the two.

Odette ran up the stairs to her room, and Harold followed. The visitors chased after them. She grabbed the locket that she dropped on the floor earlier while Harold guarded her. The four men ensured to maintain a safe distance.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” warned the dictator, “Just give me—”

The purple flash from the piece of metal cut off his sentence. This time the light was brighter and occupied more space. It flickered swiftly. Odette and Harold disappeared.

“Ouch!” Odette yelped right after she hit her bottom on the cold concrete floor, “What was that for?”

“The locket appears to be glitching.”

“It couldn’t have transported us directly on the ground instead of mid-air?” she groaned.

“It needs to be refueled with a new purple gem. This one is weakening. We haven’t been able to find a new one for the past seven years—”

“Woah,” Odette looked around. “Where are we?”

“The lab!”

“Lab? This looks like a dungeon.”

“Come! Hurry! I must show you something,” he resumed as he guided her to a station.

The station was a plethora of transparent hospital bassinets with a baby resting in each one. Harold started, “This is what Mr. Hutchinson calls the ‘nursery.’”

“The...nursery?” Odette was shocked and confused.

“Remember what I was saying about Mr. Hutchinson kidnapping people?”

“Yeah…?” She was apprehensive and dreading his next words.

“Mr. Hutchinson selects people with certain genes and collects their DNA to produce offspring with ‘perfect’ genes. These people are locked up forever so that Mr. Hutchinson can continuously use their DNA.”

“I-”

Harold sighed. He teared up. A lump grew in his throat, and he struggled to form his words. “The offspring...are incubated solely for...their...organs. He sells their organs to those in power all over the world such as politicians, judges, lawyers, doctors—”

Odette’s jaw dropped. “That’s absurd.”

“Mr. Hutchinson has used nine human hearts in his lifetime…because he’s prone to heart disease.”

“He’s a hypocrite!”

“Exactly. We must inform the public that he is deceiving them.”

“How was he able to maintain such a big lie?” Odette grew furious, “Why didn’t you do anything?!?!”

Harold looked down. Miss, I have minimal power. Mr. Hutchinson—”

“Stop calling him Mr. Hutchinson! He doesn’t deserve any respect!”

Harold’s body trembled. “He threatened to make my family and I a part of the illusion if I said a word. He would make the public view us as viruses. I’m sorry, I...I was just...” his voice faded as he didn’t know what else to say.

Odette tried to be empathetic. “Ok…I’m sorry about that….”

“He was able to hide for so long because he constantly masks his identity as a different politician. His current appearance is not how he truly looks. Miss, we must hurry to the police station.”

They headed for the doorway, and Harold guided her to the garage with all sorts of vehicles. As they tried to enter one of them, their previous visitors arrived.

“Not so fast!” It was Benjamin, along with his three buff bodyguards.

Harold and Odette quickly entered the vehicle and fastened their seatbelts. Their means of transportation failed to start. “Crap,” mumbled Harold.

The three bodyguards headed for them, but the two ran out of the automobile and out where they entered. Just like earlier, Benjamin and his men chased after them. Unfortunately, Harold and Odette were trapped and had no choice but to enter the “dungeon” again.

The dictator warned, “I’m telling you. You don’t want to do this. Hand over the locket, and we can all forget about this.”

The purple light returned, much brighter and with much more volume. Everyone gasped as the locket quivered in Odette’s hand. A crack formed as a beam of light forced its way through. The more light escaped, the bigger the gap grew. Abruptly, the light stopped shining. Hutchinson seized the opportunity and signaled for one of the bodyguards to grab the locket. Quickly, Odette handed Harold the locket and ran towards a nearby soccer ball with airplanes painted all over it. It was Claude’s. He left his ball earlier in Odette’s room, and it must have transported along with them. She rolled the ball at the guard’s legs, and he tripped.

Harold dropped the locket on the floor, “You manipulated your people for your benefit, and I watched! Not anymore! You are evil, hypocritical, and selfish! Time to make things right!” For the first, Harold broke his inferiority complex and spoke up against Benjamin. He lifted one leg and smashed the locket. The purple light shone once again. Its volume expanded as if an explosion was about to occur. The once inaccessible portal then became…