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Thirst
She felt the heat sear her shoulders. Blinding white light; swirling hues, shades of blue and silver, reflected back at her. The sand on the desert floor was alive, rising, falling glittering in impossible iridescence. She trudged on...
A bird circlered overhead, it’s shadow giving welcome relief from the spotlight-sun. She was so tired. She wanted to rest; sit down, give in, let it be…
But, she looked up into the blinding white and saw the bird, and she knew…
The wilderness is ridiculously circular, sewn in repeating patterns across the landscape. Each landmark, a replication of its cousin, each dune a splitting image of its brother. There was no way out…
There was no knowing…
But, she did know that the bird would be upon her, its talons sharp and sure. She shuddered; cold gripped her bones despite the heat.
She trudged…
Cactuses grew, tantalizingly, on the horizon; just out of reach. Their succulent flesh, a taunt of relief. She imagined tearing them apart; consuming them whole. A welcome quenching delight. But they were too far, smudges on the distant sand, mirages; shimmering holograms of hope.
She had left her to die; her epiphany came; crystal sharp. That bitch had left her in the wilderness...to expire!
Anger galvanized her, she stopped. Took a deep breath, looked at the bird and thought.
No, not today, not today…
It had been a simple, but unexpected matter of greed. Amber, her friend, her partner in all things, had betrayed her. Simple.
She felt bile rise in the back of her throat. She tried to outthink the heat.
Amber...Amber, oh, what have you done?
Think, she commanded herself. Think…
Find a shadow, under a dune. Do nothing, wait for the night; wait for the breeze, wait for the stars.
And so she did…
She wondered if the bird would still circle in the dark…
She knew how to read the stars from a thousand telescope lessons, learned at her father’s knee. The Milkyway, the guiding light, salvation, a bitter pill to offer her treasonous “friend”.
A way out...