Chapter 1

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Hot, dry air fills my lungs. A turbulent breeze hits my face, filling my eyes and mouth with tons and tons of sand. I drag my bare feet through the burning coarse desert as I try to make my way through this hellhole.

There seems to be no hope. My throat is sore from the particles of sand and dirt scratching its surface. My skin is as dry as the air around me. The sun is stealing my sweat away before it has the chance to cool the body.

I am withering into nothing.

Just when I am on the precipice of despair, I see my salvation. Off in the distance, I spot a turquoise blur. Could it be...water. I carry on. A wave of adrenaline flows through my veins. I start to feel:  awake, alive, excited. Something I have not felt in a long time.

The wind blows into my face once again, but this time I do not mind. Since the wind is carrying the delectable scent of salt water. That sweet aroma, I crave more if it. I feel my heart is jumping as I go in a frenzy towards the water.

As I move closer, the lifeless desert seems to become lush and filled with wildlife. Birds are singing their love songs to one another. Glimpses of green everywhere you look. There are flowers sprouting from the trees and bushes in every color imaginable.

Then I hear a voice. I pause a moment to take it in. It was more beautiful than any voice I have ever heard. It is better than the singers from the traveling sideshow that used to come to town. It is as smooth as silk and it seemed to envelop you in a feeling of everlasting love. It is something you could die for.

"Come to me my darling."

The voice resonates in my head and I slowly made my way towards it.

"Come to the sea and be free from your worries and troubles."

I continue as though I am in a trance. I feel myself growing parched with the water up ahead the only thing that can relieve me.

"Come home."

I try to make another step, but I am unsuccessful. A vine has slithered its way around my ankle and pulls my feet out from beneath me. I land face first into the ground. I feel my nose throbbing. I look up and I am so close the the water. I extend my hand above me and reach as far as I can. If I move  my hand a little farther, I could probably touch it.

Another vine grabs my wrist and pulls it back, so my wrists  are behind me.

I shout into the unknown.

"Help! Help! Save me!"

But no one responds. The voice is gone. The vines come out and wrap around my stomach and my thighs. Thorns come out from the vine and stab into my skin causing a sharp aching pain. Dark, red blood drips down my chest, dying the sand beneath me to match. The vines start pulling me underneath the ground. I am sinking deeper and deeper. Then, all of a sudden it stops.

I thrash my wrists against the vines. I twist and I turn my legs and torso. But, it is no use. I am so close to the ocean, to being free from this arid wasteland. I am trapped right before the end.
Exhausted from my struggles, I close my eyes and submit to my fate.

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