d8 Chapter 4a

8/14/2019 d8 Chapter 4a

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Chapter 4a

Everything was starting to look the same, and by the time I finally came torealize that, I couldn’t see the forest anymore. The cool, shady forest—I wasstarting to miss it. Even if there were animals there that conned me out of food, at least there was a place to sit down out of the sun.

Here, there was nothing but this strange grain that covered the entireground. The grains moved under my feet, and they felt as hot as any of thekilns back home. I kept trudging in the heat, the grains reminding me moreand more of hot seeds cooking in the sun.

I had long lost sight of the wolf, and I felt even more foolish for chasing afterit for something as trivial as a water container. I couldn’t believe that notlong ago I was in such awe of this strange place. What was here to be

amazed about? I didn’t see any plants or animals.

More importantly, I couldn’t see signs of water. My mouth was drier than theclothes that my mother had set out in the sun on the clothesline. My tonguefelt like it had been replaced with fur, and I was getting hungry again.

I was much too tired to reach for the pack on my back because I knew thatonce I took it off, I wouldn’t have the energy to put it back on. Besides it was

the one part of my body that wasn’t completely burned. Although the packwas very heavy, it provided my back with a good amount of shade. My backmay have been sweaty, but it was cool.

If only I could find a similar place like that for the rest of my body. I lookedaround, but mine was the only shadow around in this barren, golden land.Keeping my eyes low, I felt sleepy, but my legs kept moving of their ownaccord to keep me from collapsing.

I moved at a pace that could have been called a crawl had I been down onmy hands and knees. I would have done such if not for the heat drifting upfrom the ground. I was beginning to think that the land was hotter than thesky was.

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My creeping shadow looked like an old person, their back arched in a perfecthalf circle, perched upon a cane as they walked about. Arates’s smiling facecame to mind even though she did not embody any of these characteristics,and I knew that I had to keep going. She, more than anyone in Matza Pira,believed in my success.

If she had faith that I could take these seeds where they needed to be, then Ihad to believe in myself, too. The wind blew for the first time since I couldremember feeling air. It wasn’t a cool breeze that frequented Matza Pira, buta harsh blast of arid air that deposited some of its golden grains in my hair.

Then I remembered something important.

I bent down picked up a single grain that had fallen from my hair and held itin my palm. It didn’t look too different from the poppy seeds that I wascarrying in the pouch tied at my waist. I dropped the grain on the groundand untied my pouch. I took out a handful of seeds and looked around at thescenery that surrounded me.

I was supposed to be here. This was exactly the kind of barren land where Iwas supposed to spread the poppy seeds. I stood there and waited for the

next blast of cruel air to hit me. When it came, I was ready for it. Ioutstretched my hand away from me up high and let the wind do the rest.

The seeds took off in the wind and got carried away in one direction. Theylooked like a flight of migrating birds. I looked after them and saw the littlegolden flecks sparkle in the sky, almost blinding me as I watched. I loweredmy head and watched until I couldn’t see them anymore.

I got out another handful, but this time, I didn’t wait for the wind to return. Ispread them myself, throwing them around on the ground around me. Theylanded among the other grains, and I couldn’t tell them apart.

“What if these are all red poppy seeds?” I asked to no one in particular. Ipicked up a handful of the grains that were on the ground and tossed themup in the air. They rained all around me, and I spun around.

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I chuckled. For some reason, that was funny. Everything was. I looked atthe sun and laughed. Then I looked at the golden sky that permanentlylooked like the sun was setting, but the sun didn’t move.

I snickered and wondered if it would ever get dark. It would be cool by then,but I knew that my body wouldn’t be able to wait that long. Then as if mybody had decided on its own that it was time to rest, I fell forward onto mystomach.

The soil felt like hot silk against my skin and my new dress. Once I wasdown, I knew that there wasn’t anything that I could do to keep my eyesopen. My eyes fell closed, and it was pure bliss.

No longer was I in this strange golden land, but I was back home in MatzaPira, eating with my mother and father, climbing trees, and daydreamingwhile staring up at the clouds. I was playing in Priya Lake with friends, in itscool, healing waters and splashing the other children that lived there.

In the water, I swam, swirled, and swished through wave upon wave that hitagainst my body. I swam to the bottom and saw blossoms turn to flowers inan instant. Once in full bloom, I smiled and watched as their petalsseparated and encircled me in slow rotations that sped up and turned theminto wisps of white clouds in the deep blue water.

The spinning slowed, and my eyes opened, shattering the fantasy that myimagination had done me the favor of creating, and I wanted nothing morethan to go home. I tried to cry, but the tears only dried up as soon as theypoured from my eyes, no doubt stolen by the merciless sun sitting high on itsyellow throne.

As soon as I realized that I was lying face up on the ground, I noticed that mypouch was still opened, and the poppy seeds were spilling out. I sat up andclosed up the pouch before any more fell out.

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Ahead of me, there was a trail of scattered poppy seeds that led away intothe distance. A long trail imprinted into the grains accompanied it. I jumpedup and ran, following the trail. It took me back further into this desolateland, and I was no clearer on where I was going or where I was.

I followed the trail until it simply stopped. I gazed at it, finally realizing thatthis was my trail not the trail of someone who had stolen the seeds. I hadbeen so intent on finding the culprit, that I did not even consider thepossibility that this was my trail.

But I had been sleeping. If this was my trail that meant that someone pulledme all this way. I couldn’t have done all of this on my own without knowing.I gathered up as much of the poppy seeds as I could before another gust

picked them up.

Once again I watched the flock of seeds being carried away and squeezedthe ones that I had in my hand. Completely forgetting about what food that Ihad, I looked at the seeds that were in my hands. Just a little more tan thanthe grains that I was standing on, they were starting to look like the littleseeds on the bread that I used to eat every day.

The reminder made me hungry, and I selected a seed and put it in mymouth. I chewed and considered whether I liked its flavor or not. Itcrunched a little, but other than that, it tasted perfect. Its time spentunprotected from the sun must have made it taste good. Now, they werebaked poppy seeds like sunflower seeds that we ate after the harvest. Thistime, they would be my own secret delicacy.

Arates never said that I wasn’t allowed to eat any of the poppy seeds. Shenever even told me what I should do once I ran out of food. Besides, the sunhad baked the seeds, and there was no way for me to tell how long they had

been sitting out in the sun. They probably weren’t any good after being inthe sun anyway.

I popped a few more into my mouth, and the more I ate, the better I felt.Gone was the self pity, my homesickness, and my sense of worthlessness.

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Something new and better replaced those feelings with a sensation I wasn’table to identify.

Suddenly the sun didn’t feel as intense as it did before, and I was full of

energy. The sun wasn’t the only thing that was different. The sky was anorange-red, and there were green clouds in the sky. I wonder what hadinspired the change. Did I do something to make everything look different?

Maybe the poppy seeds had magical powers and eating them gave mepowers. I wondered what else I could do. The pack that I was carrying feltso light that I took it off my back and carried it in my hands. It was nothing.It was a wonderful day, and I started to skip along, leaving behind scatteredfootprints.

Ahead, I saw something sparkle. It looked like a cool haven, but it wassomething much better—an oasis. I saw plant life, palm trees that bent soclose to the ground that it almost touched. There was plenty of shadebecause of that, and more importantly, I saw water. I ran, my pack danglingfrom my right hand. I was almost there. Just a little further ahead, and mythirst would finally be quenched.

d8 Chapter 4a

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