The Desert Flower

I had been walking for awhile. So long in fact, that I had to really think hard to remember how long. My face felt swollen and my lips were chapped. My hands felt inflated and I had a constant, pulsing pain in the back of my head that made it hard to concentrate. All of these were symptoms of dehydration, and the sun wasn’t getting any lower in the sky, nor was the road seeming any shorter; It spanned infinitely behind and in front of me, with no end in sight. So I tilted my head low, and just kept on walking with my thoughts focused on salvation.

            Every once in a while, to break my trance, I would reach to my back and grab my water bottle. The bottle didn’t perspire because the air was too dry, the water tasted metallic, and was always warm. This was no luxury, but it still tasted so good, however, there was never enough to enjoy, so I drank only what I needed.

            As I walked, I fell deeper into thought. My mind danced from subject to subject, diving into events of the past and focusing on them, to take the edge off.

I remembered the times when I could walk safely home, or to a friend’s house, without fear of not making it there. Or how I knew there would always be a meal waiting for me. It was a time that was happy for me, but that was so long ago. Happiness is an abstract idea that I believed was extinct, died off, along with the rest of the human race. I couldn’t feel happy remembering it, I could only remember that at that time I was. Now, survival could end at anytime, and I accepted this. I only hoped that if I did, it wouldn’t be through suffering.

            I lifted my head and phased back to reality. I scanned the horizon and I could see no end to the road. It spanned on forever. The heat from the sun was radiating off the ground that distorted the light so much it threw me into a stupor. I thought I saw something, maybe a street sign, or something, in the distance. I couldn’t make it out because of the heat. I squinted my eyes, but it didn’t help. My retinas were starting to burn so I hid my glance under my sunhat, and pushed on.

           

What seamed like hours passed, and I kept on walking. Every once in a while I would look up to see that thing in the distance appear more and more human, but I knew not to get my hopes up. My feet started to ache past the point I could bear, but I had to forget about it, I couldn’t stop. My muscles were sore, my mouth was dry, and I was fighting off the impulse to fall to my knees and die. Although my pace had lessened, I was panting heavily, which made my throat and mouth sticky. I was tired but couldn’t rest. I had passed exhaustion.

I looked up again, but this time I was standing face to face with what was once miles in front of me. It was the last thing I expected to see or was looking for. She was radiant and beautiful. Her body was almost perfect. The curves and contours or her face and hair worked together to bend and reflect the light that fell on it as if she had a lighting crew. She had dark blue eyes that reminded me of fresh, cold water. Her posture was straight. Her skin was smooth and hadn’t a blemish.  I stared with my mouth wide open in amazement as my head started to spin. I remember seeing her white teeth that in shown in the sunlight so much they almost blinded me. My heartbeat increased, but my exhausted body couldn’t take it, so I fell off my feet.

I opened my eyes, then slowly blinked, as I stared out of focus into the cloudless, light blue sky. I blinked again. Then she was standing over me. I felt dizzy, my world started to spin. I saw her flawless face swirl around in a vortex. I tried to keep my eyes on her, but it only made me sick. She started dancing around my vision like an angel in the sky. I heard melodies and harmonies that had never been written, but felt inspiration that had. I had a sense of excitement and joy that was emanating from my heart. My stomach felt a tingle instead of hunger. I could feel the muscles in my face pulling my mouth into a dumb smile as my eyelids began to flicker. I saw her reach down for me, but then I blacked out.

 

I opened my eyes and felt the searing pain of the sun on my skin. I tried shaking my head to wake myself up faster. I didn’t know where I was. Confused and disoriented, but I was becoming more alert. I felt the weight of my pack absent from my shoulders. My feet didn’t feel so hot and I could almost feel a breeze on them. My arms behind my back with my hands touching.

I slowly came back to consciousness. I felt my head clearing. The numbness faded and was replaced with ache. There was sand in my eye so I tired to clear it, but my hand met a tether because it was bound. I was shocked. I was sitting down. Then like a bucket of cold water shocking you awake, I realized that I was completely naked with my hands tied around my back. My pack was missing. I had nothing.

I looked left, then right, and saw nothing but desert. I looked down the road from whence I came, and I saw a nice round a*s that swayed back and fourth in sync with curvy hips which responded to every step of their skinny, attractive legs. At any other time I would have been aroused. She was strutting away from me. I saw the shine of her dark hair shift. I squinted my eyes and saw that gorgeous face turn with her bangs hanging over her eyes. She winked and smiled, swung something over her shoulders, and walked away into the radiating waves of sunlight. 

Author's Note

This is one my first short stories. Let me know what you think. I really would appreciate some feedback. Be as critical as you'd like.