I'm now a more battered version of myself, my clothes that were once only dusted with blown sand were now ripped in places, and peeking through the gaps were the makeshift bandages made from a diaper.
I've been trudging along for another four hours and for some reason, the sun had maintained its same position and now without my umbrella, I could feel the aura of a sun stroke setting in. Could the days be getting longer or was this place a special type of purgatory? The sun on a normal day, even in a desert would have started its angled downward journey by now.
The hyena had blessedly remained out of sight and I was hoping that that meant it had lost interest. I knew normally predators in the wild were more persistent with their prey so me thinking it would give up so easily was probably only wishful thinking.
I had a few hours back torn the rest of my t-shirt into a crop top and used the strip to tie around my head only leaving out my eyes. It made breathing and the heat more bearable. The winds had grown more and more fierce and were now whipping the sand into a furious cloud, making visibility increasingly difficult.
I continued walking although I could barely see two meters ahead of me at this point. It was now a full-blown sandstorm, and I couldn't keep my eyes open wider than a squint. I could feel the sting of the sandy wind against my midriff and arms.
Amid the storm, a state of profound devastating loneliness hit me, here I was in heaven knows what god forsaken corner of torment I was thrown into. No human companionship or even a shadow of one. I missed my family but this was more than that. This was the uncertainty of whether or not I would ever see another human being again, or ever know what it meant to be in the presence of even a stranger. I felt sadness clouding my thoughts heavier and more consuming than the shroud made by the howling wind.
My steps that had already slowed down to a crawl began to falter. I was tripping over my feet that felt bogged down in quicksand. It felt like an overpowering entity had taken a personal interest in my torment.
I didn't lose hope or become full of despair but the feeling of desolation was being titrated into my system and I had no power to stop it. The only thing I could do was focus on my family, on our bond to keep putting one foot in front of the other and not fall to my knees.
At my next step, I felt a weightlessness come over me as I stepped into a void. There was no solid ground beneath my feet and I was falling into a yawning chasm. Soon I reconnected jarringly with shifting sands as I continued sand surfing downwards into the darkness.
I didn't even realize that the earsplitting sounds were my screams even as the descent evened out and I came to a stop. I stopped abruptly after I realised, my throat was burning from the strain.
Where the hell had I fallen? I patted myself as if to check my body. How the hell do I get out?