Invisible quicksand ensnared my feet. But I grasped onto the shrill scream like a lifeline, pulling myself along, wrenching my feet loose…
“Don’t!” Seruf’s voice echoed inside my head as the scream reached a crescendo.
“Fuck off,” I grunted. My thighs burned as I trudged along.
“I’ll take you home!”Seruf exclaimed.
A sudden image flashed before me. One I recognized all too well: the (modern-day) New York City skyline.
I paused.
“Come back,” Seruf pleaded. “I’ll take you home.”
“Why should I believe you?” I snapped, although the whirlwind stole my voice.
“You don’t belong here,” Seruf said. “And you needn’t die here. Come back. Allow me to take you home.”
Home.
I wanted to believe those words. Desperately. Ihatedliving in Sakar. I wanted to get back to 21stcentury life, where there was edible food, good drinks, decent medicine, and coffee to go.
The step back was a lot easier than the steps forward had been. There was no quicksand behind me. Only in front.
I shifted back again.
Home.
No more fighting.
Home.
No more trying to treat critical injuries with dingy clothes and questionably clean water. No more sitting by someone’s bedside, praying I’d done enough to keep infection away, but knowing I was probably going to watch them die.
I took another step back.
The shrill scream lessened and became lost in the noise.
The people dancing across my vision blurred, becoming more unrecognizable as I continued backtracking. Their voices faded too. Even the colors had muted.
But then I saw Cheriour again.
He was still young, but his long hair hung loose and dirty around his shoulders. A dingy gray shirt billowed around his thin frame. He staggered; his beautiful green eyes dull as they sluggishly surveyed his surroundings.
I stopped, reaching for him, but hewhooshedto the side and disappeared.
“Darling,”Seruf purred at me.
If I went home, Cheriour would die. So would everyone else in Sakar. I couldn’t save them. And I knew that. But could I go back to my happy life knowing they had suffered?
“It’s alright,”Seruf cooed.
“Fuck this shit.” I plowed forward through the quicksand.
The shrill scream grew again. It pierced my skull. Ruptured my eardrums. I squeezed my eyes shut, clapped a hand over my ears, and kept going.
“Don’t!”Seruf moaned.
The quicksand thickened. Every step became a laborious effort. My lungs burned and my head seemed ready to split in two.
