“Don't make any fast movements, Nahlia,” I think to myself.

The beachfront wind swipes at me. My flowering hairstyle tucked to the side of my head was in disarray. Hair moves across my face with my drying nose blood and evaporating tears. My eyes blink with flashes of purple from a nearby sound - that of a taunting trigger. I slowly back away as my uncle approaches me from alongside the house. He scratches his rough face with the backside of his handgun and shakes his head with disbelief and smiles. He was bathing religiously in my fear,

“You can’t run from a bullet, any more than you can run from me!”

My uncle grinds his teeth with irritating sounds. He presses his tongue between his lips and gives a quivering smile. He raises the gun to shoot me and watches as I wince.

“Get away from the house…Just get away from around the house corner, OK?”

I had made my way to the corner of the house opposite him. I try to peer behind him.

My hands press against the lavender siding. I hesitate, as my uncle moves closer to my corner. Maybe I could make a quick run back inside, or perhaps it was better to give in.

The blood on my face was already sticking to my bangs and the mushy bruise on the back of my head told me to listen closely. My fears were sifting through my mind like the sand beneath. I felt lost within the confines of indecision. Suddenly, I spot a familiar face in the distance. I watch in disbelief as Tayt appears from across the way, only to stop in his tracks. Instinctively, my uncle turns and I scream my throat soar. The handgun is pointed at Tayt and the trigger is pulled.

However, instead of a bullet, I hear the gun safety and there is a brief hesitation. My uncle cusses at himself and clicks the gun off safety, but it was enough to give Tayt time to hide back around the front of the house. Cracks pierce the air and I cover my ears. My heartbeat thumps insanely as I lean against the lavender border to my side. In a split second, my uncle turns himself around, but I was nowhere in sight.

My ears numb and every second became precious enough to dissect. Even the sand seemed to stifle my rapid pace, if only in my mind. On the other side of the house, I run into Tayt, almost trampling into him from my fear. He grabs me and pushes me aside. I give him a tight embrace, choking out his panicked breathing. It seemed like no matter what he did, he couldn’t release my grip on him. I was being stupid and didn't care.

“Let go of me, Nahlia! I need. I need to see! Stop you dumb fuck!”

Tayt rips me from his body. I wipe the excess blood from under my nose.

“Why’d you come back here? You’re stupid!,” he shouts. We look around the house for my uncle. I didn't know what to think.

“I don’t know, I just….I can’t stand the sky platform! I hate it up there!,” I yell.

Tayt pauses looking behind him and to his front repeatedly.

“Crud! What’s going to happen to us?” I think. I notice the gash on Tayt's arm. It no longer seemed to bother him. The whole situation turns me numb. My fears begin to formulate into thoughts and the jingle of car keys is heard running around the front of the house.

“Quick, to the back again!”

Tayt grabs my hand and we make a run for the beach side of my home. Through the corner of my eye, I make out my uncle’s approach. More gunshots pelt the house siding, while the echoes drown out the consecutive sounds of each impact.

“What are we going to do?” I panic. We try catch our breath.

I had never seen Tayt so afraid.

My uncle never intended to kill me. He always kept me alive to get off, but this time it seemed nothing was holding him back. I had been gone for too long and my uncle knew that his world was falling apart. If I made it out alive, my uncle would never see me again and, to him, I would be better off dead.

“Wait!”

Tayt snatches my keys from me and unlocks the sliding glass doors of my room. A plan comes to mind. He picks up a handful of sand, drying the sweat on his palms for grip. Everything, including his gloves, was in the bag I had taken with me. His bag was the key to our survival. In two seconds, Tayt yanks the sliding door, but it doesn’t budge. He curses at himself with another tug until I click the secondary outside lock. Tayt hastily grabs my arm and pushes me in from behind.

“Get the hell inside. God, hurry your ass!!”

I feel Tayt give me another guided shove. We both enter my room very aware we had seconds to spare. Immediately, Tayt grabs his book bag from behind my bed and yells at me to lock the door from the inside. I obey, and with a flashing afterthought, I change the hologram projector, making sure my uncle couldn’t get a clear view of us. Shortly after, banging is heard on the door panels and the holographic scene ripples with disturbance. We duck behind my bed, until Tayt yanks me down.

From the front pouch of his book-bag, Tayt pulls out a picture. The Far Away Dream one!.

“Remember this?” grins Tayt, holding up a desert scene.

I gasps until Tayt snatches my hand.

“Hold my hands and don’t let go.”

Tayt’s body begins to vibrate with energy, numbing my fingertips. I hear rushing noises. At that very moment my uncle storms across the kitchen floor and toward my room. He screams for us both, to come out of hiding. He takes four steps toward us and lets his gun do the talking. However, the bullets never reach us. Instead, they pelt carpet. We had vanished right in front of him.

Seconds later, we stand in the desert.

I calm myself and gradually release my deathly grip. I take in the desert around me with relief and pause. We made it out alive, but there was no telling how long they would survive. Hopefully that pilot wouldn't show up. I watch Tayt walk out in the distance and follow his footsteps back. He takes a hopeless seat among the landscape.

“We can’t go back,” he says.

I take a seat next to Tayt, who buries his face in his hands. Wherever we were, we wouldn’t survive and would eventually be forced to return. Nothing retained its life in the desert. Even during our schooling, everyone was taught about how you couldn't survive there. Feelings of comfort and love surround me and I sit next to Tayt. I check his arm, but he slaps my hand away.

“Don't even do that!” he snaps at me angrily.

“What do we do?” I jut in. I tug at Tayt's clothing. He waves me off with another headache.

“I don’t know. We just can’t go back.”

I try to force a smile, to make light of our situation. My uncle would eventually have to leave my house for work. We'd have to wait him out, but maybe he would call in sick.

“Tayt. How long does your possessor thing last? Will it snap us back?”

“I don't know. I'll start to feel it when it does,” he complains.

I rest my head against Tayt’s shoulder and feel him sigh once more. Finally, he nudges me gently away from him and scoots a few feet away.

“I don't want a hug from you,” he snaps at me.

I try not to cry. I felt at fault. That's because it kinda was.

I stare across the desert, looking for any sign of life. I see a dis-figuration in the distance and wipe my eyes, believing it to be a mirage. It looked as if a desert rose was growing near a ledge of rock and the dry grasses near its base meant it was probably the best place for us to go. I had never seen it there before. It looked like it was added recently. I look at Tayt and he speaks to me.

“Let’s go over there in the shade, Nahlia. I can’t think in all of this heat.”

We head to the small ledge of rock. I wasn't sure about everything.