Journeys (standard:drama, 1795 words)
Author: Velvetyse	Added: May 25 2002	Views/Reads: 3335/2270	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A journey of the body...or of the mind?

Journeys Oh God, oh God, oh God! Where am I? What am I doing here? Where
are the others? Oh God! What has happened? 

She sat looking around her at the barren landscape, thoroughly dismayed
to find herself utterly alone. Her mind swam in little circles as she 
tried desperately to understand how she came to be in this situation in 
the desert. 

Where am I? Where are the others? She began to frantically look around,
searching for any form of life. But there was no one, neither human nor 
animal. In rising hysteria, she scrambled to her feet and began to 
scream aloud. 

“Hello! Can you hear me?! Help me, please! Where are you?!” Her voice
grew hoarse as she continued to scream, tears of panic soaking the 
front of her dress. 

Leaping forward of a sudden, like a startled deer, she ran toward a line
of trees she saw in the distance. They wavered as she drew nearer and 
then abruptly vanished. She halted in confusion, turning to see where 
they had gone. Trees couldn't just disappear like that, could they? She 
turned once more, shading her sun-seared eyes. There! She took off once 
more and once more the trees vanished. What was going on? They must be 
there, they must. All she has to do is run, run faster and if she ran 
faster, she would run far enough to reach those trees. Yes, that was 
it. She pulled her skirts up to her knees and began to run again, as 
fast as she could. Within minutes she was gasping for breath and the 
trees were no nearer than they had been. Oh God, why didn't they stay 
where they were supposed to? She stumbled, righted herself, and 
stumbled again before her foot was firmly caught in an unseen hole. She 
fell heavily to the ground and lay there weeping. Nothing was right, 
not at all. She continued to cry until exhaustion pulled her into 
sleep. 

The hot sun was uncomfortable and the surrounding land did not help the
glare. She walked slowly, trying to conserve her energy for later. She 
didn't know if she might run into some sort of animal and worse and she 
might need all the energy to flee. She had learned the lesson. 

After waking, she had lain there for awhile, thinking. She remembered
the many books on Africa that she had read and found fascinating and 
the fact that each of them gave her a little more knowledge of the 
unknown land. She recalled that some of the explorers had left notes 
and journals on how to survive in the harsh environment. As soon as 
recalling this information, she began to prepare herself. Tearing the 
sleeves of the dress and removing one voluminous petticoat, she 
fashioned headgear to cover her head and eyes. That done, she looked 
around and saw hills in the distance. If these were not mirages like 
the trees- she had remembered the phenomenon – maybe she could reach 
them and shelter there. Now she trudged along, wearily watching for 
depressions and small water holes. Not that small water holes would 
last in this heat. She needed to find a large watering hole where 
animals went. And speaking of animals, weren't those zebras over there? 
Now that she wasn't panicking, she could see that the African plain had 
plenty of wildlife, from zebras to giraffes to the pride of lions she 
had avoided as they slept in the noon sun.  The place wasn't dead, but 
she was the only human within the area she could see. She still had no 
idea as to how she had come to be here or why she was alone, but what 
she did know was that she needed to start thinking with her brain to 
survive. And having read enough books in her life on the mysterious 
Africa, she should know how, shouldn't she? Yes, she would survive and 
figure out a way to get home to England. Shading her eyes against the 
glare, she regained her bearings and continued to walk toward the 
distant hills. 

Was that...? Yes! It was! The glint of water in the early morning light
sent her heart into her parched throat. The hole looked big enough to 
be a major watering hole. And it wasn't a mirage-too early for the heat 
waves. Squinting to judge the distance to the hole, she walked as fast 
as she could. It turned out not to be very far. Dropping to her knees 
on the bank she stared at the green-tinted water. Well, it was wet and 
would give much needed moisture no matter what the quality. She bent 
down and cupped her hands to the water, swallowing it hurriedly. Oh, it 
was good! She looked up and  noticed that there were no animals around 
the hole. Why? Oh, that could be explained by her presence there. Of 


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