I was exhausted. The sand stung my eyes and pushed against me like a storm against a bird. With every step I sunk, tripling the effort that was required, but that wasn't going to stop me. I had to keep running, I couldn't stop. I felt terrified. It was the most anxiety I had felt in my life... I think... now that I think about it I couldn't remember having any anxiety... ever...
As I landed face first in the sand, finally too tired to move on, I realized I didnt know why I was running. I tried to remember what direction I came from, I would be safe at home, but I couldn't remember. I honestly couldn't even remember where I lived, what my house looked like, or who my family was. It felt as if I had been here in the desert my whole life.
I just stood up, coughing sand out of my mouth, and decided that I must just be having a brain fart from exhaustion. I at least needed to find a landmark, as the ever-changing desert is awfully difficult to keep track of direction in. The sun looked incredibly large, but near the horizon. Great, I was either missing breakfast or my 10pm snack.
"He-" My voice cracked. I felt like I hadn't talked in forever.
"Hello? Anyone there" I screamed as loud as I could. "Please! Anyone!"
The desert appeared to go on forever. I don't quite know why but I had a sense of dread. I felt like I would never see another person again and if I did, it wouldn't be good. I tried my hardest to remember where I came from, making sandy towers that got drowned in the sand in minutes like a wave had smashed them. The hills were constantly moving, I might even say the desert was alive, if I didn't know it was just sand. Or was it just sand? There seemed to me more to it..
"Stop, brain. You're overthinking this, it's a just a few trillion grains of sand, not a living thing. You are going to see someone again, you just cant remember anything because of your stress." I whispered to myself, slightly annoyed that I've already gone insane enough to whisper to myself.
"Hello?" I heard in the distance. "Final call! He's going to get you! Anyone out there?"
I was probably just hearing things... No, it was definitely a voice. I started running as fast as the sand would allow me, as it was like treading through 3 feet of mud. The voice kept calling. I finally saw them as I got over the next hill. They were holding a lamp, so they were easy to find. In the distance was a town. Whatever they were saying about some guy who is "going to get me", they definitely were mental.
"Hello! Who's there!" The man called to me. "Are you new? Come with me, quick!"
"Where am I? What is th-"
"No time! Come on you dummy! He's coming!"
So we ran. He tried to explain as we dashed but I didn't understand much due to his extreme panic. Something about being safe from some guy who visits every so often. I don't understand why this guy hasn't already attacked us, or why we cant just hide or run from him when he comes, but whatever. I just wanted to be assured of where I was, and how I got there, and I think the best resource for that would be the town.
When we got to the town, no one was there. It was getting very dark, and the man was still practically shoving me along at 50 miles per hour. I didn't understand at all. Why was no one here? Who is this man? I thought it was some kind of sick joke, but the man was breathing quickly and generally looked VERY panicked.
The town was designed very weirdly. It was made of plain gray bricks that almost looked designed to have loads of hiding spots. And there were, there were alleys, holes in walls, holes leading to under houses, random walls in the street that didn't belong to a house, trapdoors leading under seemingly pointless staircases. I felt watched as I ran through the roads. My tour guide mumbled something about not wanting to be near the outside of the town. I stopped for a minute and looked around. Maybe the whole town was hiding from whatever was coming.
"HURRY UP YOU IDIOT, GET DOWN HERE! HE'S ON HIS WAY!" He shouted at me as I climbed under a house with him, and he covered the entrance with rocks. I looked out a crack and saw sand piling up over the wall, as if it was being controlled by a weird force.
And on top of it was a creature who I had never met before, but terrified me the second I laid eyes upon him.
