Brink Of Sanity -Volume one- The Desert Of Shadows

Chapter one : The Man With A Voice

The sun was at its peak in the sky and surrounding trees began to cast their shadows on the sandy hills from which they stood. The shadows danced around on the ground and the crooked branches of the shrivelled black trees made the shadows seem like people holding hands. An uneasy silence echoed through the land and this gave the atmosphere a dream like feel. The shadows continued to dance a merry jig holding hands and swaying in the gentle breeze. Suddenly the shadows broke free from each other and retreated back to the skeletons of the trees from which they came. A faint crunching of sand came from beyond one of the sandy hills from the west. A cloud moved swiftly in the sky and hid the Sun from sight projecting a grey colour across the desert. The crunching got closer and the shadows silently whispered amongst themselves. Then the crunching stopped. A lonesome man stood at the top of the hill to the west and he took a second to look around his current location and decide which way he wanted to proceed. The man was wearing a worn-out leather jacket and bleach-washed jeans. His long greasy hair covered his scarred face and his filthy clothes only added to his already complex character. The man made his way down the hill; continuing to crunch the sand beneath his military grade boots, and he started his trek across the playground for the shadows.

The cloud that once blocked the sun had now moved and its rays began to shine down onto the desert. The shadows of the trees started crawling back out unsure of the stranger that marched through their home. The man could hear the silent taunts of the shadows as they laughed with one another and discussed the bizarre man who was intruding in their home. The man continued to walk forward and the shadows gathered behind him and began to move around the sand like they were a river. The man stopped because he could sense the shadows playing behind him. He turned around quickly with a twinkle of madness in his eye. "I don't wish to cause any panic...I'm just passing through." He said with his deep beastly voice. The mans voice had became croaky from the years of him not using it. The man continued. "My name is Russell...I'm looking for others like me. People who can speak. Do you know of any?" The shadows began to chuckle at Russell and they seemed uninterested by him. Russell got impatient with the shadows so started to walk again. He wasn't expecting an answer anyway, it was clear to him that the many years of silence had sent him down the path of insanity. Russell noticed something in the corner of his eye so stopped walking and turned to look. He had seen a withered brown crucifix buried in the sand. Russell slowly walked over to the crucifix and laid his bag and jacket in the sand on the way over.

Russell sat opposite the crucifix staring at it like it was a celebrity. He didn't move or say anything, he just sat and appreciated that in a world of madness someone still had the decency to burry the dead. After a couple of seconds he finally said something. "Why can't my life be like yours. Getting to watch the clouds float by without a care in the world. Watching the eternal sun cast its Rays upon the earth." Russell stopped talking for a second. "Of course...the dead don't talk." He told himself as he stood up and walked away. The shadows started to calm down and shimmer around the grave. The shadows started to whine and Russell looked back at the grave. He didn't say anything he just kept telling himself shadows don't talk. A few seconds past and the shadows had given up trying to tell him something. Instead they returned to the trees and left Russell to wander the desert hoping he would find what he was looking for in his journey.

Night had quickly fallen over the land, bringing a frosty mist which flowed over the dunes like a river. Russell looked down and couldn't see his feet anymore, only the fluffy white mist that seem to be everywhere he looked. Russell began to feel nauseous It was intimidating walking around and not knowing where you were putting your feet. He looked forward at the infinite layer of mist that was floating over the ground. A strange glow slowly rose from the mist and fluttered around in the light of the moon. More of the little lights arose from the mist illuminating the night sky with a warm orange colour. Russell took a few seconds to admire the queer insects and their unexpected arrival. He then put down his bag and started rummaging through it, tossing out emptied bottles and rusty tins in the process. "There you are." He said out loud. Leaning back form the bag and taking a seat on a nearby dune, he slowly lifted his hand and revealed a small ruined book laying in his palm. He carefully turned over each page as if they were going to shatter like glass at any second. He spent a few minutes analysing each pages and talking himself through what it was he was looking for. "Orange glow, small insect, appears at night." Finally he had found what he was looking for in his book and took a quick glance up to see if the picture in the book matched with the actual thing. "Fir...fire...fly...firefly." Russell's voice was croaky from not being used enough and he had to take quick pauses between each word to clear his throat. He reached into his trouser pocket and quickly pulled out a red pen. He gently brushed the pen across the page; underneath the picture of the firefly, to create a small tick. Some of the other insects and animals in the book had similar ticks under them and others were still blank.

Russell closed his book and slid it back into his bag. After he thumped back down onto the dune and patiently watched the fireflies flutter in the air. The atmosphere was hard to describe, it was a mix of peacefulness and Beauty. It was truly a rare sight and Russell embraced every second of his peculiar encounter. His heavy breaths cast a frosty cloud in the air and the sand was beginning to make his body numb. "Time for a fire I think." Russell said to himself. He reached back into his bag and pulled out a large slab of coal and a short match. After gathering a few twigs and bundles of dry grass from the dune he piled everything up and lit the match.

The fireflies began to descend up into the night sky to frolic with the stars and paint a picture with their vibrant colours. The mist cleared and darkness began to creep towards Russell. He got himself comfy and started to fall asleep next to the crackling roars of the small fire. A single light in a vast forest of darkness, Russell was alone in the desert but not alone in the world. All he had to do was keep searching and one day he would meet the other speaker in this strange new world. A shy soft spoken girl who preferred the name Millie but was really called Amelia. .