I cling to the cold surface of my golden dragon necklace as I shiver.

“How much longer must we stay here?” My little sister whines.

I hold her close to me and signal her to be quiet.

“But it’s getting darker and colder,” she whispers.

“Mama said she will come back for us when it’s time. For now, she said we must stay put in the midst of this dry riverbed and stay out of sight.”

“But why?” My sisters’ curious, naïve eyes stare up at mine.

I lie, “no reason…”

But there is a reason. Our mother is hiding us, trying to protect us from them. Them are the soldiers who are coming to the village to destroy us all. Why? The only reason is hate, pure hate of our religion and of who we are… I cling to my necklace once more. Our mother is back at the village with our father. They are staying there to make it look like they didn’t send me and my little sister away to escape. They are sacrificing themselves for us. Of course, it’s a lie that I told my sister that ‘our mother is coming back’…because I know that she’s not….coming…back. But what else could I say to my little sister? She’s only six. But maybe with the luck of the dragon, there might be hope. I cling to my necklace and sigh. I stare down at my little sister who’s head lays on my lap; finally she fell asleep instead of asking me questions…questions I cannot answer. I feel my head drift off with exhaustion as I fall asleep beside my sister.

A few hours later, an explosion….an explosion so loud that it blocks the strangled screams of my village in the distance. So bright that only smoke and ash fill the air. The heat can be felt from where my sister and I hide…the soldiers have come. But instead of shooting everyone one-by-one, they have decided to bomb everyone….But it is no ordinary bomb…it is an atomic bomb. How do I know this? Because a few seconds after it collided into the center of my village, the aftermath reached me and my sister, scorching our skin and stifling our lungs. As death began to creep upon my sister and I, I clung onto her in one arm and my golden dragon necklace in the other as ash covered our bodies….

~~~~A few years later….~~~~

A little child runs on the remains of the forgotten village, which has now evolved into a field of flowers. Her dad chases after has as they laugh.

“Lizzy, wait up!” The dad laughs as he becomes out of breath.

The child smiles at how tired her father is.

“Oh come on, daddy.” She giggles.

“Let’s take a break,” the dad huffs as he sits on the ground.

Lizzy sits beside him as she begins to play in the fertile soil. In the clumps of dirt within her palm, she sees a dull shimmer.

“Daddy, what’s this?”

And as they wiped away the soil, they discovered a rusty artifact that dully shines from years of age. They uncovered a golden colored necklace in the shape of a dragon.