The Locket (3 page)

The next morning at breakfast everything was silent; no one felt much like talking, or eating for that matter. Three plates of cold eggs and toast lay on the dining room table while Marie, Savannah, and Mrs. Morgan kept to themselves for the first few minutes of the day. Seeing that nobody was even touching their plates, with the exception of Marie, who was poking at her eggs with her fork, Mrs. Morgan stood up from the table and began picking up their uneaten breakfast.

“Why don’t you two girls head upstairs and get dressed,” she said. “I have an appointment this afternoon and I think that it would be best if you both stayed across the street until I got back.”

By the time that they had all finally gotten ready for the day, it was almost noon. Everything was moving so slowly, yet quickly at the same time. No one bothered to hurriedly do anything or move anywhere. But time itself would not stand still or slow down just so that Savannah could spend more time with her mother. They both knew that, and that the days would grow shorter while time would eventually run out.

Just as Marie had walked into Savannah’s room from the bathroom, Savannah startled her with a sudden question. “Do you want to know the whole story?”

Although she was upset to hear that Mrs. Morgan was dying, no matter how long she had to live or what she was dying from, she was curious. Mrs. Morgan had become something of a second mother to her over the years, and a substitute for when her real mother wasn’t around. Over the years the three of them frequently played games or watched movies or had gone out shopping together; things you did with friends. Savannah’s mother had been both a friend and a mother. “Well, yes.”

Savannah sighed heavily as she pulled out a couple suitcases from her closet. “She was told by the doctor about a month ago, like I said, while we were on that softball trip in Albany. He said that she had an advanced case of Leukemia and that she must have had it for a long time. But it was moving so rapidly and unnoticeably at first that they didn’t have time for any treatments.”

“Well that’s crazy,” Marie began. “How could a bunch of doctors, who went to medical school for God knows how many years, not have noticed any signs of Leukemia in one of their patients? Your mother must have had a check-up sometime before our trip. I mean, how could they not have noticed?”

“I know, it’s unusual,” Savannah agreed, “but that’s what’s so odd about her Leukemia. She did have a check-up not too long before our trip and her body was fine. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her.” Marie lingered on every word Savannah said. She’d always had a tendency to persist with something until she knew every detail possible. Savannah called her “the average teenage girl.”

“But all of sudden, and this I noticed before we left, my mother began feeling tired all of the time and was losing her appetite. She even complained of a high fever once or twice. I hesitated in going on the trip, but she told me to just go and that she would handle herself. These symptoms went on for about two weeks before she called for an appointment. Finally, she went and came back with the news that the disease was moving far more quickly than any doctor could compete with.”

Marie was still left back at the point where she had mentioned Mrs. Morgan’s symptoms. To the best of her knowledge, she couldn’t think of how such a fatal disease could just appear out of nowhere and suddenly consume its victim. But then again she was only sixteen. “That’s not possible. A disease like Leukemia could not react as quickly as it did. Someone had to have noticed something or else … or else I don’t feel very safe thinking that I’m fine and knowing now that I might not be. What if, when I have my next check-up, the doctors all of a sudden say, ‘Okay, you have breast cancer?’”

Savannah shrugged while she placed the last of her closet’s contents in her second valise. “Honestly, I don’t know how it happened. All I know are the facts and the facts remain that my mother has Leukemia and is going to die in a few days.”

Marie didn’t expect how well Savannah was abruptly taking this turn of events. Not that falling into a state of depression and barely talking is exactly taking it well, but compared to her throwing things around a room, she’s taken a step up. “Wait a minute,” she whispered. Everything came rushing to her at once and she suddenly started thinking past Mrs. Morgan’s death. “If … when your mother, you know … where are you going to live?  Your father died, you don’t have any older siblings, and you’ve never met any of your grandparents.” Marie put a hand to her open mouth and drew in a quick, sharp breath. “Oh, God, Anna, you’re an orphan now.”

Savannah shrugged again, her mouth stuck in the same dismal line it had been in for the past fourteen hours. “I’ll be with my Aunt Jenny and my Uncle Tom,” she replied. “I’m moving on my mother’s last day. She suggested tomorrow, but I said that I’d rather stay as long as I could and that I’d rather be here to hear her last words and such,” Savannah shot Marie an uneasy glance. “Unlike my father. Besides, someone needs to call the ambulance when she … you know.”

Marie nodded. “How far away do your aunt and uncle live?”

“Not too far,” she began. By now her third bag was packed and she took a little break and sat next to her friend. “They live about an hour or so away from New York City, which is only a few hours from here.”

“But it’s not close enough just to go over and say ‘hi.’”

“True, but you can call. Don’t worry, I’ll call you as soon as I get there and give you the number. All right?”

“Okay.” Marie gave her one last hug before she picked up her bag and the two headed out Savannah’s bedroom door. “I’ll come over the day you leave. Just call me a few hours before; that way we can spend some time together and we can have a long goodbye. Even if you want to be alone, Anna, I’m not going to let you. That’s what best friends do.”

Savannah nodded as they reached the front door. There was no telling what would happen after her mother died; that was certain. But whatever it was, she knew that she would have to face it alone, no matter what anyone thought.

Come six o’clock, Savannah’s cousin Peter would be here to pick her up. Unfortunately since the trip would take roughly five to six hours, it would be late by the time the two of them would reach Aunt Jenny’s house. And the two of them getting there late meant that they would have to leave early, leaving Savannah with precious little time to say a proper good-bye to her hometown.

Ever since she woke up that morning, she couldn’t stop crying. Within ten years she was about to lose her entire family, with the exception of her aunt and uncle. It seemed as though there was no way of knowing when a person’s life was going to change. Yet as much as Savannah wanted to believe that she was a normal person like that, she could not.

The truth was that she had a gift, one that could not be explained easily. She noticed this just after her father died, although she didn’t believe it. It was more of a coincidence than anything else. But then, it happened again. Only this time she believed it.

In short, Savannah had the gift, more like the curse, of being able to dream about a person’s death the night before they die.

As young as five years old, she remembered a few dreams that conflicted feelings of guilt and sorrow. The most memorable and haunting one, however, was of her father.

In her vision, she imagined her father having to leave the house, not sure of the reason why. Knowing him, he probably had to run on a short errand for her mother. The next thing that came into her mind was Mr. Morgan’s silver Lexus approaching a blue Malibu around the corner of a crossway. The Malibu was going at about seventy to seventy-five miles per hour, whereas the limit was only forty-five.

Then they crashed.

Smoke and fire was everywhere. A large, gray mist consumed the air, followed by a dark red blackout.

Young Savannah had rushed out of bed in a cold sweat, thrusting the covers out of her way. As she ran downstairs, silence filled the room. Her father was not in sight, and her mother was rocking in her wicker chair with her eyes closed. But she was not asleep. The soft sounds of her humming began to overcome the silence.

Savannah had believed that her mother’s voice could calm any man or beast because it always sounded so pure and delicate. She had never taken lessons, but somehow never failed to sound as though she had for years.

“Mommy! Mommy!” Savannah shouted from the top of the stairs. After charging down the steps, she ran up onto her mother’s lap in an anxious rush. Her eyes were moist, her nose was as red as an apple, and she did not take time to stop for breath.

“What is it, sweetheart?” Even her speaking voice was soothing. So calming, in fact, that Savannah was able to pause for a minute to catch her breath.

“It was horrible,” Savannah cried. “I had a dream that Daddy died! He is not going to die, is he, Mommy?” The face that held fear and panic a moment ago now held impatience as she waited for a reply.

Mrs. Morgan was silent for a moment. Hesitating, she looked at her daughter as she brushed the hair from her face and smiled. “No, of course not,” was her initial response. Then, as if considering her answer, “You know, baby, life is full of little mysteries; why the sun comes up in the day and the moon at night, why music has such a calming effect on so many people, why we fall in love, why candy is so good …” Savannah giggled. “Or why the ones we love leave us. Most of our questions have logical answers while others will always remain mysteries. And some people have different opinions on these answers than others do.”

Savannah sniffed. “What is your onion, Mommy?”

“You mean ‘opinion?’”

“Isn’t that what I said?” She asked, cocking her head to the side.

Mrs. Morgan smiled. “What is it that you want my opinion of?”

Savannah sniffed again, her eyes once more becoming moist. “Why the ones we love leave us. Daddy’s not going to leave us, is he?”

Her mother sighed. “Well, I didn’t want to bring up this topic until you were a little older, but, in a way, yes, Daddy will leave us.” Savannah’s lip started quivering. “But before you start getting worried about it, it may not be soon. He may leave us in fifteen years or in fifty. We will never know until it happens.”

“Why not?”

Mrs. Morgan pulled her daughter close to her chest, placing a hand gently on her head. “It’s another one of those unexplained mysteries. For the people who go to church and believe in God, it is because that person was summoned up to Heaven. For the people who are more scientific, it is because the person who died, died of a health problem or a natural cause. As I said before, people have different ideas about these kinds of things. But, baby, our loved ones who may leave us are not truly gone.”

“They’re not?” Savannah asked. She pushed away a bit from her mother and gazed skeptically into her eyes.

“No. They are in our hearts and memories, watching over us from wherever they are, with no pain or worries at all.”

“Oh.” While attempting to force a smile, she dug her face back into her mother’s soft, gray robe, not hearing her father come down the stairs, keys jingling in hand. She only noticed that he was there when she heard his deep, gentle murmur.

“Okay, I’m going for Anna’s birthday cake. The party is at one-thirty, right?”

“Yes,” Mrs. Morgan replied, running her fingers through her daughter’s hair. “One-thirty.” Mr. Morgan nodded his head and stuffed his arms through the sleeves of his dark brown coat and put on his russet cap. Just as he opened the door, Savannah lifted her head up to see him leave into his silver Lexus. But before she could move, he was gone.

Gone from the rest of her life forever, although always remaining in her heart.

Many a time had Savannah dreamt of things like this, but in only a couple of dreams had she actually recognized the faces. Her father’s death was only the first of several nightmares to come, most of which appeared as though they were just ordinary dreams, containing people whom she had never met in her life.

Why did she have such strange imaginings? Who were the other people of whom she dreamed? Why did she dream about them? And how was it even possible to imagine a person’s death only hours before it happened?

Aside from sniveling all day about losing almost her whole family, Savannah reminded herself about the nightmare she had that previous night. She envisioned her mother lying in her bed, fragile and pale, her eyes completely drained of their light and her face delicate and cool.

The only words that had escaped her mother’s mouth before the brightness of the day had woken Savannah were, “I love you Savannah, and I always will. I know that you will keep me in your heart forever, right next to your father, and I expect you to do great things with your life. Do not even look back into the past, just pursue the goals in your future and don’t let a little thing like not having a mother or father hold you back from what you want ... what you really want … ” The last bit of her speech was cut off.

When Savannah had woken up that morning, she immediately called her aunt and uncle, so they knew to come get her later. She had rushed to make sure all of her suitcases were packed and ready while her mind reeled with curiosity at the thought of the rest of her mother’s speech. If only I woke up just a few minutes later, she had thought to herself.

Now, taking another last deep breath of fresh air, Savannah got up off the grass and walked back into the house so she could spend the last few hours she had with her mother.