21st May 30XX
Today is my birthday. I went out into the ocean, through the escape tunnel I found yesterday which seemed to be abandoned by the army. As soon as I opened the airlock and swam out, what met my eyes was the scene that the GSA has kept from us. The city that we lived in was covered by a huge glass dome, keeping the water out. I still have a hard time believing that it was the same city that I have grown up in, but there is no doubt about the GSA submarines patrolling the parameter. The tunnel led to a shallow trench far from the city dome, that’s why I wasn’t discovered by the authorities. I swam slightly further from the city, and I made another discovery…… CORALS! I was met with an entire coral reef, of which I have only seen in books. I have never seen something so beautiful in my life. The ecosystem that was said to be destroyed a long time ago was right in front of my eyes. I swam above the coral reefs just to get a good view of the natural beauty. A spark in the middle of the coral reef caught my eye. I swam down to see what it was. It was a pendant lying on the rocks. I thought it was weird that the metal on the pendant didn’t corrode due to the sea, so I bought it back with me. After that my oxygen was running out so I headed back home. I think I’ll tell Rose about my encounter tomorrow in school, she likes this kind of stuff.
January 24, 2018 at 11:44 pm
22nd May 30XX
After the first chime, I swept all my belongings on the table into my bag and pranced right out of the classroom. I sped round a few corners before I slowed to a walk for the last few meters into the garden to appear normal. It was ritual to round the park a few times to ensure no one would find out our hide-out. On my last round, I swiftly lifted a withered bush and ducked under. What greeted me was a familiar pair of royal emerald eyes swirled with violet, and staring into it always had me feeling like I’ll drown in its depth of curiosity and wonder. I practically grew up with Rose but her eyes never failed to amaze me every single time.
“So, what’s the big secret?” Rose questioned excitedly as she snapped her fingers in my face, bringing me out of my trance.
As I recapped my experience to Rose, her eyes grew large with anticipation and trembled slightly with excitement. As I ended the story, I nimbly took out the carefully tissue-wrapped small package from my inner jacket pockets and unwrapped it to reveal the pendant.
“Oh my, that’s stunning,” she gasped as she scooped up the pendant from my palms. Without warning, the pedant snapped open.
January 31, 2018 at 10:35 pm
“What is it?” Rose whispered. Her eyes glowed with intense curiosity.
I glanced at the pendant, cradled in her tiny palms, in it rested a beautiful sapphire, producing a bluish luminescence.
Rose stared at it in awe, eyes wide. And for a brief moment, a nanosecond actually, the emerald glow in her eyes were replaced with the luminescent sapphire glow that radiated form the stone. But that’s probably just my imagination running wild.
Snapping out of her astonishment, Rose exclaimed, “It’s beautiful! Can I keep it?” Before I could even begin to answer, she was almost done clasping the pendant around her neck.
“Yes,” I muttered as she looked at me, with her brilliant smile.
“So corals? That’s definitely something I’d love to see with my own eyes! Maybe we should go sometime! I’ll come with!”
“It’s pretty risky, there were plenty of submarines patro-“
“COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP.”
Both of us tensed up. The thundering voice came from outside our hideout, well not such of a hideout now it’s been discovered. Popping my head out of the bush, my vision was filled with a military platoon. My insides froze. Did they find out about my little detour outside the dome?
“STEP OUT, SLOWLY, WITH YOUR HANDS OUT.”
I looked at a silent Rose, already in cold sweat, her eyes searching my face for answers. Her face mirrored the fear written on my face. I shook my head and beckoned her to comply to the instructions.
“Hands behind your backs, no tricks.”
The big bulky man, presumably the leader, commanded us and we carefully complied.
Why did they have their guns trained at us? And why were there so many of them? Prison was usually at the other end waiting for those who ventured out of the dome and got caught. But I didn’t think it would be this grave.
He beckoned his soldier to come towards us. He tactically inched closer to us. He extended his arm to reach for the necklace. The moment his fingertips brushed against the metal surface of the pendant, a blinding blue light engulfed him. Instinctively, I shielded my eyes. The instant the light was gone, I turned back, my eyes drawn to the dark patch on the floor where the soldier once stood. The silence in the clearing was deafening.
The whole place seemed to be suspended in time, only to be broken by the leader’s next command;
“Fire you idiots!” The troop took a moment to jump into action. Rose was still in shock over what happened. They concentrated their rifles at us. I jumped in front of Rose, a futile attempt to shield her with my tiny frame. Everything that happened next was a blur. Multiple gunshots, the cracking of flames, and screaming.
The dark patches multiplied, suddenly we were the only ones in the clearing. Soft sobbing came from behind. I turned around to Rose’s tear stained face, the pendant radiating its luminescent blue.
“I think I killed the all those men.”
February 8, 2018 at 1:15 am
23rd May 30XX
Yesterday was crazy. After the incident, some policemen showed up and brought us in for interrogation. We thought we were in deep trouble when the mayor of our town suddenly showed up and apologized to us. He said that his soldiers have been looking for a rebellion army soldier said to be in that area and found us hiding in the bush. He told us it was a miscommunication on their part and no soldier had been hurt. It was a bit suspicious. Anyway, now the pendant is with me again, Rose told me she was paranoid of it. Rose wasn’t in school today. I went to her house to find her but her family was not in. This is making me very nervous…… did something happen to Rose? I hope she’s alright.
The pendant seems to be lighting up, again I think I’ll go take a look.
February 8, 2018 at 3:35 pm
The illuminating pendant was slowly heating up and as I opened it, my heart skipped a beat. The previous sapphire blue stone was now blood red ruby – and I wasn’t getting a good feeling out of this.
BZZZZ, BZZZZ. My phone vibrated in urgency on the bedside table and I swooped for it.
“Clauds, what’s happening to me?”, Rose cried over the call.
“What’s wrong, Rose? Where are you now?”
“My eyes… they’re red… and they’re burning hot! They had been like this since this morning. What do I do, Clauds? I’m so scared…” I could hear her tremble and could almost see her crouching in a corner, clutching her arms so tight till they bled. That’s what she always does whenever she got frightened or stressed out.
“Calm down, Rose. Breathe. And tell me where the heck you’re at now.”
“Rose field.”
Manoeuvring through the rose bushes felt like emerging victorious from a mini war – receiving several scratches and cuts from the thorns. As I approached the belly of the field where the rose bush was the mother of all bushes – an average human height sized dome, and finding the opening always took some time. I gently pried open the branches and that trickle of light fell on a crouching figure with bloodied arms.
“Rose…,” I cooed as I carefully sat myself down on the patch beside her. She hesitantly lifted her head to reveal her tear-stricken face and damn, her red eyes glowed and practically lit up the dark space. I took out the pendant from my pocket by the chain as it had gotten to the point of being scalding hot.
“The pendant had been burning up and glowing red since this morning as well. I don’t know if it’ll help you but I brought it along.”
She gingerly reached out for the chain and in an instant upon contact, both fiery red spheres burnt out and returned to their initial cool tones
February 8, 2018 at 4:05 pm
We found that there was a correlation between her and the pendant. Her time away from the pendant had effects. The temperature of the pendant rose everytime she spent long periods of time away from it. After the discovery, we decided to keep it one her all the time.
A second revelation came to us one night. In cold sweat, Rose awoke in the middle of the night.
“I think I had a dream. There was this man, his name was Jack, if I remember correctly. And he kept reaching out for my hand.”
We shrugged it off. But it happened again weeks later. And it kept recurring.
“A door. I was on a door, floating and he was right beside me. It feels like it happened hundreds of years ago…”
The pendant seemed to be projecting these images onto Rose’s head, as it turned the brightest sapphire blue during these episodes.
February 8, 2018 at 10:11 pm
1st June 30xx
Half a month has passed since the incidents and we still haven’t figure out the meaning of the dreams. I went running today. This is a secret I’ve never told anyone, not even Rose. In this city, there are a few Areas, all are named after the things we have lost. We live in Area Schnee. There are five Areas in total, Schnee, Moln, Shinrin, Tempestas and Terra. We have restricted pass to each Area, but I have my ways of getting around…… more or less(I’ve some other friends other than Rose). Anyway, I went to the library in Shinrin today as there is what they call the Chishiki no Ki inside the library. I went there to find the reason for Rose’s recurring weird dreams so I asked my “friends” to borrow about ancient civilisation and dream interpretation for me. Then I went to the Moln district slums to find the underground network head to see if they heard anything about what the government is planning.
February 8, 2018 at 10:31 pm
3rd June 30XX
Here I am flipping through the ancient books for the third time hoping to catch on clues that I probably missed out. The past 2 days of researching came up to no avail and I was getting real discouraged and annoyed. I stretched my back and stood up to grab myself a cuppa when I accidentally knock over my mountain of books. They sprawled all over the floor and I groaned as I squatted down to pick them up.
“…the star-crossed lovers are said to undergo many cycles of reincarnation where they alas were never granted any happy endings…”
That particular line peeked out from underneath all the other books. Have I missed out that line these past 3 days?
February 8, 2018 at 10:45 pm
I had a lead. Apparently, there were organized worship groups centuries ago. Many names popped out but there was this fella called Buddha, the one who broke out of the cycle. When we die, we are brought back to life, reincarnated. And these dreams that she had been experiencing had been a previous reincarnation of her, at least that’s what I surmised.
“No way, are you mental? How is that even possible? This Buddha character must be off his rocker. And those fellas? Jesus and Muhammad? Pshhh.”
Rose didn’t believe me at all. I really thought it made sense. It was a bit abstract but I can see the comfort these people had back in those olden days. Religion, they called it. I would’ve signed up.