I managed to wake up extremely late the next day. The sun was already shining brightly outside. I felt the heat the moment I opened my eyes. With a groan, I kicked off my blanket and rolled over. My tent felt like an oven. After a few more minutes of trying and failing to get to sleep, I sat up and left. Why was I always so tired? Was this some leftover effect that the void had left on me? Oh well, I'd rather feel sleepy than lose my memories.

  “Tyla! Tyla, there you are!” I spun on my heel to face Roy and Beverly. Sure enough, their eyes were wide with fear.

  “What’s wrong? Where’s my sister?” I demanded. But before they could answer, I saw it. It rose above everything. It was a huge cloud of colorful mist. As I watched, it changed colors and faded away, then appeared even closer. It was like something out of a dream, a nightmare. I had seen something like this before. In the void, it was just like that

  “Get your things together, Tyla! Hurry! We cannot stay here!” I turned to see Ross. What? No! Where was Tiffany?

  “What is that? What’s happening?” I asked.

  “I don’t know! I’ve never seen anything like that ever!” Ross said. “But it can’t be safe. We need to get away from here!” This had to be Alexander; he was still alive. Beverly grabbed my arm.

  “Come on, Tyla!” I pulled away from her.

  “What about Tiffany? Where is she?” Beverly just shook her head. I turned to Ross.

  “Answer me! Where’s Tiffany?”

  “She…she never came back,” he said slowly. So, she was still out there, wandering through the desert all alone? No!

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “I’m not coming with you then!”

  “You have to!” Ross said.

  “No.” I started backing away from them. “You can leave; you can go wherever you want. But I’m going to find my sister.”

  “Have you lost your mind?”

  “Maybe, I often wonder that myself.”

  “Do you want to die?”

  “No.”

  “You could get yourself killed!”

  “I know. But I can’t leave her! She means more to me than anything else in the whole world.” The four people just stared at me as if I was speaking gibberish. “Thank you…for all that you’ve done for me.” I needed to hurry. I turned my back on them. I retraced the mental image I had of the way Tiffany usually liked to go for walks. True, everything here looked the same, but I knew this place well enough by now.

  “What you are doing is crazy!” Someone shouted after me as I took off running towards the cloud of mist. I couldn’t help but smile. When in my whole life had that ever stopped me? I sprinted off at full speed. I’m coming, Tiffany, I’m coming. Soon I felt a burning pain and my eyes started to water. Then, I was lost in the mist. Purple, red, blue, black. These colors spun around me and tainted my every thought.

  Fear, anger, sadness. But I had felt this all before. It had no power over me anymore. I was the one in control now. Monsters appeared around me. A huge black claw reached out to grab me, and I was seeing Alexander’s face everywhere. But the only thing I could think about was Tiffany. I saw her sitting on the porch with a book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.I saw her setting down a bunch of roses at Connie’s grave. I saw her laughing on a sunny day. I saw her smiling as she watched me pass a test. I saw her walking beside me, holding my hand, pushing me to keep going, keep fighting. Now, there she was for real. Her pale, limp body emerged from the fog“Tiffany!" I screamed, rushing to her side. Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t move at all as I shook her and shouted. “Tiffany! Tiffany, wake up! Please!” I felt my heart shrivel up inside my chest. There was no way, right? She wasn’t like the others. She didn’t have a weakness. I leaned over and put my head to her chest. Thank goodness. Her heartbeat was soft but steady. She was alive. That was what mattered. Now, how on earth was I going to get her out of here? I could try carrying her on my back. I crouched down next to her and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I heaved and lifted before falling to the ground with a cry.

  She was a lot heavier than she looked. I couldn’t lift her, so the best I could do was sort of sling her across my back and crawl along the ground. It was painful, and I was moving as slowly as a turtle, but it was the best I could do. It couldn’t go on forever, I knew that now. I knew that because I had been through this all before. I knew that I was going to make it. I knew that I had the power to fight the emotions that were welling up in me. Tiffany’s safety meant more than the fear of death or pain. Just like when I had been trapped in the void, I had had a reason to fight, that was all I needed to keep going.“Don’t worry, Tiffany.” I knew she couldn’t hear me, but it didn’t matter. “You’re going to be alright. I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” I gasped out. Sand scraped across my burns. Colors flashed across the land around me. I felt anger, hate, fear, sorrow, but beneath it all, I felt love. Love for the sister who had always taught and guided me, love for the sister who I had been blessed with. The sister who had played games with me, helped me study, given me gifts and sang me songs. It was that that pushed me forward. Till I was out of the colorful cloud, till I could think clearly, till weariness washed over me and swept me away. “I love you, Tiffany…I love you so, so much,” these were my last words.