Mirage

Heat…
Merciless summer heat rouses me from an apparent slumber…
Sweltering midday sun greets me…
The air is…dry…dusty…arid…
A boundless expanse of sun scorched sand stretches before me…
The sky is a truer blue than I ever saw of the hue and is as empty and barren as the golden sand below it…
No rain will grace the desert on this fateful eve…
Who am I, to be alone in this sandy sea? And why does my memory elude me?
I raise my hands before my face, perplexed…. My body is clad in a loose fitting silken blouse and trousers of the purest white. There are splits down the arms and legs where copper skin peeks through…
My eyes begin to search the many dunes for the answers that my mind cannot produce… They seem to shimmer in the heat making it hard to tell where one dune ends and another begins…
Then suddenly, from behind a particularly large sand slope, there sails the most incredible pirate ship I have ever seen. Sails in full form with skull and bones prominently displayed, they are filled with a mysterious and powerful wind that steadily pushes the ship through the sand drifts as if they were water.

How curious…
Either the desert sun has scrambled my brains or magic is alive in this world I have awoken to…
Unsure of what my next move should be, I hesitate…but I only have about 3 seconds to decide…
Wave down a mysterious pirate ship or die of thirst in the middle of an unforgiving desert…
I think I’ll take my chances with the pirates.
I raise my arms over my head and begin frantically waving them, running in the direction of the ship. I open my mouth to yell but the wind whips sand into my face and coats the back of my throat with a thick layer of grit…I choke on my screams unuttered… Clutching my throat I sink to my knees scarce able to breath…I reach out towards the ship that now sails towards me…
The last thing I see before my consciousness slips away…a man standing on the bough of the ship, raven hair billowing in the wind, crooked smile plastered on his face…