I twisted the water out of my white hair, letting it drip back into the oasis. I could hear my sister, Clarian, giggle and scream as the little twilight bugs chased her. We were safe here, surrounded by the only trees and moon pool in the vast desert that now covers the earth. Our safe haven was wrapped in soft moss and green grass, the kind my kin used to live in.  Me and my sister were the only survivors of our kind that we knew of, we wouldn’t dare stray too far for our home looking for others.

                Out in the hot desert wild animals roam looking for prey. Most of the time it’s just a lizard the size of a rhino, but sometimes there are far worse predators. I was always told the legend of the dry bone, how the sand being would rise and forum a column then devour the bones of the nearest animal. Nothing would be left but a hollow shell of what was once a person. That part was never too hard for me to believe, but I never could comprehend how the person would live eternally afterwards, as if they were turned into living sandstone.

                “Kai!” Clarian yelled in my ear “What are you doing? The sun is about to set!” She screeched.

                “Oh, sorry sis.” 

                “We don’t have very long you know, once the sun sets you can just forget about dinner.

                “Okay, okay. I’ll get up.” I laughed as I stood up and grabbed my bow and poison darts.

                We walked through the weeping willows that lead out into the desert. I pulled the hood up on both of our dresses over our hair to blend in with the sand. Clarian gave me a slight nod as to say she was going to stay behind me. I breathed in and bolted, I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. My bow was strung with a poison dart, and held in a ready position. Out of nowhere, a lizard darted past my shoulder barely missing me.  I pulled Clarian to my back and stopped.

                “He wasn’t running towards us.” Clarian murmured.

                “No, he was running from something else.” I said. We stood staring out into the desert, bow and knife in hand. Clarian screamed and grabbed my wrists, dropping her knife.
A dry bone.
I started to lift my foot up, but a whip of sand lashed my ankle and held me in place.

 “Kai?!What are you doing run!” My sister yelped as she pulled on the hem on my unraveling dress. She tried to pull me away from the spiraling column of sand approaching.

“Clarian, listen to me,” I tried to keep my voice clear, but my leg felt like it was burning. “Run back to the oasis, you will be safe there.”

“No!” she yelled “I’m not leaving you!”

“Yes you are!” I yelled over her. “There is a box in my room when you get back,” my eyes began to fill with tears “Mom left it… It’s a map…”

“Kai…” her voice trailed off and tears fell from her cheek. The column was only a few feet away now.

“I love you!” I yelled as I pushed her with all my might. She ran and I could hear her reply in the distance.

The sand struck my legs like fire, and sent sand through my veins. My whole body was engulfed in sand, I could feel my limbs get stiffer and I dropped my bow. My eyes burned with tears that were sucked into the monster, my whole body ached and longed for water. Then I felt it, my heart stopped. I don’t know when it happened, but my brain never stopped, my mind kept living.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some time passed, maybe years, but I could see Clarian com to me every so often with a new person. She must have found the map; she must have found them, the others. Time continued and I never aged, but I saw Clarion age, then her kids, and their kids, and their kids.  It’s really a bitter sweet tale, imprisoned but immortal. But I do know one thing for sure, I would always be dry boned.