True Bloom

"Open it when times are tough.

Her mother had pressed the locket into her hand as she spoke, wheezing, lips tinged blue. Savannah had looked on with blurry eyes as her mother gave a feeble squeeze of their clasped hands, the corner of her mother's lip twitching as she made one last attempt to smile.

What's inside is what's kept me going."

Prompt: Doomsday Diary. Extra points for including a heart-shaped locket.

A friend sent me a link to short story writing contest in 2020. I typed this up in a day, then realized I needed to pay money to enter, so no one but her ever read it.

A story about the love and loss of family. Set is a world with an advanced climate crisis and where covid continues to run rampant.