One

Chapter Two

Darkness. The leather groaning and stretching under her weight. Her thoughts were all jumbled up; memories trying to climb out of a dark abyss, but when they reached her, their grip loosened and they fell back into an endless turmoil. She could hear strange sounds, chirping, rustling... The constant thump in her head and a slow patter behind her. It felt like she was drowning, waves of fatigue threatened to push her into an endless sleep. Or so she thought...  There was something, someone? She wasn't sure but of one thing she was. Everything around her was alive, breathing, moving, feeling. She could feel thousands of spirits pushing against her head. The world was alive, and she wanted to respond. With an almighty heave she tried to sit up. Nothing. Not even the slightest movement.
If she hadn't been aware of the darkness before, she was aware of it now. Were her eyes closed? She tried to open them, but she couldn't feel them. She couldn't feel anything. Her mind started to panick, but even these panicked feelings soon faded away. In a feeble attempt to regain any sensation she tried to lift her hand... But what was there to lift? It felt as if her body had faded out of existence. In her minds eye, she saw her body, moving. If she could picture it... If she could remember how she used to sprint, lift, eat... She tried one more time, but started feeling tired. Concentrating was tiring. Escaping was tiring. It was pointless. Her mind felt seperated from her body. It was weak, lonely, without her body. She was so tired. By God, she was tired. Somewhere in the back of her mind she could vaguely remember golden dunes and palm trees and salt-water springs. Did it matter?Maybe another day. It was tugging at her mind, a soft comforting force. Feeble at first, but soon a heavy sensation settled on her mind. Any remaining thoughts disappeared and her mind dimmed till it was no more than a flicker of consciousness. Sleep...

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"Baba! Baba!" Sandra screamed.
No reply. She spun around, there was no one. No clan, no Baba, and no Emma. Where was Emma? Had she left her. Oh, she was such a bad sister.
"Emma!" cried Sandra, "Baba! Mama! Emma!"
Sandra thought she went the wrong way. She was lost, Emma had lost her, and she sat down and wept. Her tears made a hissing sound as they fell on the seething ground.

After a while, the sun started scorching her back and she dared to look up and around. The small valley was still just as empty, but she started to notice that it wasn't what she thought it was. The dunes were still just as high. The cacti still shriveled and dying. But she heard munching. The slow, lazy munching of a camel.
Sandra stood up, walked a few paces in the direction then stopped. There were obvious signs of a camp here now. She saw the blown out fires like dark patches in the golden sand, small hills where the remnants of food were buried under, parts of ropes, cloths, a broken sandal, and not too far away: two camels munching on a small heap of dried grass, tied to a pole sticking out of the ground. Sandra whooped, running to the animals. She recognized the markings branded onto their fuzzy backsides.
The girl grabbed the ropes and untied them, she carried the hay in her tiny arms and dragged everything to the opposite side of the valley where there was still some shade. It took some effort but finally she managed to get herself organized. Sandra started to set up camp, a determined look pinched her eyebrows together. She was a girl of the desert - and knew how to survive in the desert. Baba taught her what to do if she was ever lost.
Jerking down the rope forced the camel to sit down. Sandra went through the baggage stored on it's back. Not that there was much. They'd left her a small cloth, filled with food and some leather pouches with water. She emptied it, pushed the camel around through yelling and hitting, covered her head with the cloth and sat in the camels shade.

The last drop of water slid down her throat. Rather than soothing her throat, it was absorbed by her dried lips. Sandra desperately wanted more but she couldn't afford it. The sand was shimmering, an uneven wall of heat rose up from the ground. Travelling was now would be suicide; Sandra could vaguely remember her father's lessons about the outside world. She never thought she would actually experience it. 

It was loud; the heat was screeching into her mind, unbearably so. She could feel it scratching at the sides of her skull, crying for moisture, darkness and cold. In her minds eye, she pictured snow topped mountains, long rainy days, endless rivers and shimmering lakes. Shiny rings covered her clean hands and her feet were safe and protected in fine leather boots. Her head was cushioned on the sparkling silver dress of her mother in the back of a rattling golden carraige... The carriage was hot. Seething, burning tendrils of red swam in front of her eyes.

Where was she? Her eyelids were stuck together, crusty and dry. She pried them open, and cried out when her eyes met those of the sky. The soft pillow of matted camel fur had moved and left her exposed to the light. Dear God, she felt so fragile. Her skin felt like it was stretched forcefully over her body, painful, swollen and oozing with perspiration. The sand had left blisters and crusts on her arms, and had burnt through her gown so it stuck painfully to her body. Her vision was smeared and bleary and she could see dark silhouettes against a white, white sky. 
Emma... Sandra pushed herself up with an impossible amount of effort. She stood, wobbled and fell like a toddler learning to work for the first time. Some of the blisters on her hands cracked open, fluid hissed andsizzled on her palms. All of this didn't matter, because Sandra could see the clear outline of her sister against a blurred background. 
She cried, "Emma!"
Emma turned to her, a watery smile on her lips. She was shimmering, but it didn't matter. Sandra's legs suddenly worked, and she walked. Yes, she walked right to her sister. Her feet worked on their own, she stopped feeling the mighty sun hammering down on her. A cool breeze lifted her long hair and she ran.
"Emma!" she cried again, tears in her eyes.
Emma stuck out her tongue and ran away. She was playing a game. Why was she playing a game? They were supposed to go back home! Now they were together, they were supposed to go back to Baba. Back home... She could here her laugh. Sandra started running to catch her. She wanted to push her to the ground, slap her and hug her at the same time. This wasn't a game. 

Sandra fell. Her hands hit the ground; dry skin cracked. Red drops, sizzling as they touched the sand. Blood. So much blood. She looked up, a giant ball of fire dipped into the horizon, melting into the dunes. The sky was so beautiful, and Emma was there too. Emma was there.
Sandra tried to cry, but her eyes were too dry, surrounded by a crust of dust.

Sleep...