Deserted

Far to go

A dusty plain stretches out into nowhere and the brown, crispy earth is burning. When I kneel, the lumpy gravel presses into my knees, sending pains shivering through my body. The glowering sun beats down on my back. I slowly push myself up as the thirst for water stings in my throat. While I stumble across a rubble of uneven rocks, the heat rages around my head and with a stagger, my legs give way. The ground is tough against my spinning head and I realise the desert won’t let me pass without suffering.

When I come to, the bitter sunlight beams into my squinting eyes. I let out a low groan and roll over to escape from its glare. The ground tastes dry and salty against my lips. Deciding that I can’t stay like this forever, cowering and curled up in a ball, I stretch out and lift my tired limbs off the stubborn ground. I feel it; I feel that the rain is going to fall and it does. Thundering down from the gathered clouds and slowly dripping into my parched mouth. I feel like the land is helping me, as my open mouth welcomes the water. I am gaining strength.

For the first time since I started this tiresome journey, I can see clearly. There are wooden poles crookedly stuck into the crumbly ground and between each of them, a string of barbed wire linking them. It stretches out in front of me as far as I can see. Clouds, from the showers, are shifting in the hot wind and tiny pools of water are the only signs that rain ever fell. They slowly sizzle away, rising up into tails of steam. The heat is starting to kick in again. I begin to cautiously climb through the tangled fence. I see what looks like a big water park on the other side. Just as I am pulling myself out of the twisted fence the image disappears. Fear surges around in my stomach, I am beginning to hallucinate.