This Is My Exodus

Chapter 1

The grass beneath her black Mary Jane shoes appeared mostly crisp and brown. The only greenery was a few patches of live grass here and there, left behind from whatever drought had killed the others. Every time she took a step, she heard what sounded like a car horn going off. She had been walking for how long, exactly? It felt like years. Yet, at the same time, it felt like it had gone by in the blink of an eye.

"Now that I think about it...why am I walking in the first place?" she asked herself. Her face scrunched up at the revelation.

She suddenly became aware of the memories her mind held. She had been burning to death. When those memories flooded back, she only became more confused instead of making sense of things.

She cringed and started to frantically pat her body.

I can't feel the fire, but that doesn't mean anything, right? Sure, I can't see it, but...

Her hands went slack at her sides, and she blew a raspberry, feeling the clarity in her lungs that she lacked before.

"Who am I kidding?" She crossed her arms, grabbing her elbows in some sort of subconscious self-soothing gesture. "Me? Burning alive? That is absurd!"

She had trouble thinking of a logical explanation for what that place could have been. She would just stick with whatever made the most sense in her head.

Her hands rose up on her arms to give the middle of her arms a reassuring rub before dropping to her sides again.

"This is a dream!" she concluded with a smile that didn't quite reach her light-brown eyes. Obnoxiously, she laughed. "I apparently 'died', but that could have been part of the dream too! I may as well make the most of this dream."

She dug the front of her shoe into the ground, pulling up some of the crumbled-up dead grass. The grass honked. She laughed as she squished it once more with her heel. "This grass is dead. Did it burn too? So noisy and weird!"

With no reasonable explanation, the compulsion to run overtook her. Perhaps it was the overwhelming sense of freedom now that she was able to move her limbs and breathe easily. Regardless of the cause, she dashed across the plains. She allowed her long, curly hair to fly out behind her like white streamers in the wind. Her arms, too, as she lifted them out to her sides.

A lolita-styled dress formed her figure, predominantly featuring hues of orange with sky blue accents on the top. The white trim complimented her black skirt. She adjusted her matching choker hugging her neck and her bow at the side of her head. Ahead, a patch of earth rose into a loop. In the middle, there was a hole in which a tree was growing, bearing some kind of fruit.

Chalala's feet froze as she gazed at the tree with dazed eyes. The fruit was like nothing she had ever seen before. Different colored fruits, some of which glowed, were arrayed on a single tree.

She couldn't help but smile. "What is that?"

"Don't you see?" a choir of voices questioned.

A funky-looking fruit slithered down toward Chalala, not even startling her the slightest.

"I am food," it purred.

A corner of Chalala's lip quirked up, and her eyebrow mimicked the action.

"Do I not look tasty?" The fruit shook and stretched.

Sure, it looked tasty, but most fruits didn't speak. Chalala blinked in rapid succession.

"Eat meee!"

She put her hands up in front of her and looked to the side, huffing with irritation. "Why would I eat a sentient...thing? The mere idea is positively ludicrous. What an insult to my taste buds!"