Sand and Sound

The night sky is dark as can be, the trees are whispering, the wind is whistling, and the moon and the stars are watching.  The warm air is sticky and a little humid as she lies awake desperately trying to fall asleep. Desperately trying to fall into a dreamland.  Her mind is a race track for all thoughts that seem to be the loudest at night.  The calamity of her thoughts destroy any hopes for peace.  She closes her eyes and listens to the sounds of the night, attempting to focus on and identify every different tone.  Finally, through distracting herself with sounds, she feels her mind become free from the thoughts and falls deeply into her sleep.

Only a few moments go by until the whistling wind begins to quicken its pace and the straw in her thatched roof begins to shed.  The desert sand is lifted and swirled around.  The window beside her is open and now there is light yellow grains in her long black hair.  Her blanket is thrown across the room with another gust of wind but she doesn't stir.

All the noises of the night become blurred and morphed together and the moon appears to be changing shape.  The world looks so distorted it might pass for a Dr. Suess town, and the sounds of the trees, the wind, the snakes, the mosquitoes, and anything and everything that might make sound in this vast desert, grow louder and louder until they all become so morphed one couldn't be sure which sound belongs to whom.  Still, she doesn't awaken.

Suddenly, everything stops.  The wind comes to a halt, the trees keep their thoughts to themselves, and the moon and stars stop watching.  It is as if time itself has taken the night off from its job.  Everything is so silent you might hear a pin drop from a mile away.

In the deafening silence she sits up abruptly and rises to her feet.  Looking around at her room she gasps for all her things have been buried under sand.  It was as if her hut had been abandoned for centuries and left sitting in the desert for the sand to domineer over.  She steps out of her front door shielding her eyes from the glaring sun and pondered to herself about this whirlwind event that turned night suspiciously quickly into day.

After brushing the yellow speckles of sand from her hair she takes a walk, barefoot along the burning desert floor, to a large umbrella thorn tree.  There, she rests in the shade, sheltering from the sun rays caressing her skin.  After a little while she notices a dizzy feeling in her head.  The dizziness takes control quickly and upon standing up from her spot, she falls back to the floor.

The wind begins to pick up speed again and the trees return to trading their secrets.  The moon and stars observe as the winds lift and swirl the sand.  The indistinguishable sounds of the desert rise to a crescendo once more and as before, there is a sudden halt in the whirlwind of sand and sound.  At the halt, she opens her eyes.