Last Will and Testimony

I was thirsty. No. Parched. I forget how long ago it was since the last drip of water passed my chapped lips. My mouth was as dry and unhospitable as the white grainy landscape that stretched out around me. In the past, I would have stared at an image of these very surroundings and complained that I couldn't spend time there. Now, without so much as a puddle or anyone else in clear sight, and the baking sun with its rays scorching my dry and flaking skin, I retract that former statement. If I live to tell this very depressing tale of wasting away beneath hottest sunshine I've ever witnessed, in the least habitable place for a human in such conditions, I will make sure all know that my holidays will be in cooler climates like Scotland and Seattle.

It seemed like only a few minutes ago I was with my travelling companions, two local guides, and my roommate and backpacking buddy Andre. Andre was my favourite person who I couldn't really stand to be around. You know...good for specific, niche circumstances and little else. Fate or an ad on the college forum led to us being brought together in this thing we call life and existence. We didn't exactly hit it off really. Andre flies from the seat of his pants most days. That's if he's wearing pants. Which was a rare occasion, when he actually turned up on time for a lecture or workgroup exercise. Anyway...Andre was tall, blonde, Aussie...not Chris Hemsworth at all. Like tall, blonde and Aussie makes him sound that way, so I apologise.

He was not very subtle. Which, when you were getting wasted on cheap vodka, was a mighty good laugh. But, a pain in the arse when you were trying to study for a block exam.

Our two locals, I have to admit, I did not pay them too much attention. Andre was leading us, in his mind and for some unknown reason I just let him.

Then the dunes of sand reminded us just how small and insignificant we were. Andre should have listened to our knowledgeable guides but didn't and just as quick as he could say "Mate" he was sucked into a deep section of the softest sand. I can barely remember the full chain of events...but one minute he was here, the next he was at least six feet under. Followed by our guides, who got sucked into the vortex that formed.

I honestly thought I was done for. Fate had other plans for me. Some time passed...I would try to put a number on that time, but by this time I was pretty disorientated, having just seen my buddy sucked into oblivion. Let's say five minutes. Five minutes of terror, where there was blackness, a strong weighted feeling pressing down on me and then the feeling of my mouth filling constantly with sand. No matter how hard I tried to spit it out, more just drained between my lips. It was then I knew I had to try and fight and swim in the sand. It seems impossible now, looking back, but I eventually surfaced and found myself all alone. I grabbed my canteen of water and rinsed the sand, mites, taste of death and desperation out. Only after, did I realise what I had done. That was my only source of water...

Damn.

The dodgy SUVs that the guides took us in were miles away in... God knows what direction.

Whenever my depression has gotten bad, I've often wished for death. Even in those bleakest moments, I did not picture it happening like this.

My sight was blurring badly, either due to the lack of hydration, the harsh heat of the sun or the fact that everywhere just looked the same.

Looking around my surroundings and what will inevitably become my grave, it was time to resign myself to my fate. Trying was way too much work and if I was going to die, there was somethings I needed to get in order. I weakly reached inside my backpack and pulled out my phone. No service, what a shock. However, I wasn't worried about calling anyone. I wanted to leave my last will and testimony, that's what they call it. Don't they? My last message to the world.

"What I did, was for the good of us all, Sandra. Andre will no longer be a problem." Sitting back, as I succumbed to the heat and the lack of hydration, I cracked my last smile.

Engulfed in the desert's parched silence, I was nothing but another grain of sand in the wind.