midst of death

Chapter Twelve

~Alex~

The day after I cut my hand we decided that we needed to leave. We heard death moans getting closer to where we were camping out, and I began to get really nervous. The closer they got, the better chance that someone was going to get hurt, so I pleaded with the boys to get a head start now rather than wait to be zombie food. They agreed quickly, knowing that I had a valid point.

We quickly packed everything that we knew that we were going to need, but trying to pack as lightly as possible. Once the bags and their contents were all packed, I ran upstairs to get something that I had saw up there earlier. I walked over to the antique dresser and lifted the lid of a very old jewelry box open. I fingered the gold chain, and again I admired the pendant hanging from it. It was a beautiful, oddly modern, key. It was at least two inches long. At the top, there was a large ocean blue sapphire, and what looked like vines slithering down to the bottom of it. I gazed at the key, and I couldn't believe that something could be so beautiful during a time so ugly.

I could just leave it there, but something that beautiful had to be protected and admired. I decided that I couldn't leave it, so I fumbled with the chain and tried to put it on. The clasp was too small, and my fingers kept on slipping and closing the clasp back up. I looked in the mirror, and quickly looked away. I had seen two things: blood on the mirror that I'd never been able to get off of, and Chance was standing in the doorway, his shoulder propped against the doorway. I quickly slid the necklace into my pocket, but not so he figured out what I was holding. I could feel myself blushing, and I felt him put his arms around my waist. "What are you up to?" I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Trying to figure out a cure," I replied as I rolled my eyes. "What else?"

He smirked at my attitude and responded, "A lot of people are thinking about that, but I know that that's not on your mind right now."

I debated on telling him what I had found, but I didn't want to seem too sentimental. I thought for a moment as I memorized what this felt like, being held like this. He kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear, "Is it a secret?"

I almost melted. "Kind of, but not. I don't know how to describe it."

He pressed his face into my shoulder, and I twisted around in his arms. He was surprised as I kissed him, but quickly got over it. "I suppose I can tell you," I whispered in his ear. I pulled away far enough to reach into my pocket. "I found this," I told him. "In that old jewelry box."

He looked kind of surprise as I laid the pendant out on my hand. "How did I know?"

"What? How did you know what?" I asked. I looked down at the pendant.

"I saw that earlier, and I was going to take it, but I didn't know if you would like it. I thought it was pretty, and it reminded me of you."

I looked at him, and he took the chain gently out of my hand. "I couldn't help but imagine you in this, but seeing it on you now, it looks even better than I thought," he said as he fastened it around my neck. I looked into the mirror again, and the necklace settled a little lower than the hollow of my throat.

I looked at it, and I couldn't decide if it was pretty on me or not. The large gem looked lovely on my dark tan skin, and it really stood out. It looked absolutely gorgeous, and I couldn't get over how ornate one little pendant could be.

I closed my eyes, and I tried to pretend I was with Chance somewhere else, in another world, a different time. A time where you didn't have to fight for yourself, where you didn't have to worry about surviving, where you didn't have to worry about the undead always coming for you, never resting. I felt a pang in my heart, and I knew that I missed the time before, even if I didn't have Chance. I missed being a normal teenager where the only thing I had to worry about was how I looked, what I drove, or how my crush thought about me. A simpler time, a time that I knew wasn't coming back.