My appendages droop from my body. Their shadows like blood vessels sweep across the sand before being pulled back to where they began. Miles stretch between pockets of shade. My wish was always for the sky to quash that belief. Days pass, dust settles, and I’m still left waiting…
A leaden mass of gray begins filling the space between each of my arms... It was the sky! She had brought me a cloud! She heard my prayers, and is greeting me once more with her perpetual grace. Like a hand pressed against an open artery, it’s rain covers the soil below me, saving me for the last time.
Coherent chitin limbs carry me as I march around my home. I was heading towards lunch. My mandibles gathered sweet nectar excreted from the tree, my caregiver. Water drops begin to fall, they were like mortar shells launched across compound walls, exploding around me. My tribe and I scurry to the cover of our nests. Tonight my mind will drift off in those hollow thorns.
My beady eyes followed the gazelle through the dark. I was watching his graceful legs move him towards the acacia. I start trailing beneath the gazelle, he was the aegis for my trip. As we reach the tree, I break away from my protector, bounding between branches towards the prize. I slipped past every spike, to arrive at my goal. The points of my teeth puncture each leaf precisely. My molars minced them, extracting every bit of moisture. A jerboa cannot drink. I traverse back down the trunk, and bound towards home. I was leaving before the gazelle disturbed the ants.
My body awoke suddenly, it was warm, moist, and dark. I had no idea where I was. Moonlight pierces an opening, and my eyes catch a glimpse of my brothers and sisters scattered around. I was confused. Moonlight comes once again, but only for a moment. There was a leaf next to me, it had been mutilated. Once last ray of moonlight breaks through, and my peripherals spot my home through the opening, I was filled with rage. Without hesitation my stinger pierces the ground below, inflicting as much pain as it can. If the thorns didn’t discourage our intruder, this was supposed too. My abdomen splits in the enemies mouth, and my tiny corpse is carried away… I was victorious.
He must have left a while ago, I am still waiting patiently for his return. I was hungry, my body doesn’t dare reveal its position. I’m crouched under a bush, my tan fur blends with the ground below. My ears, twice the size of my head, are listening carefully. At last, I heard him. His feet hit the ground in unison, the song I’d been waiting for. He is closing in on his burrow, unsuspecting. I pounce from my camo, confident in the kill. He darts off, he was more agile than I thought. I sprint up and down tiny dunes, they are the deserts waves. I lose line of sight on my target more than once. I finally trap him, I forced him into a corner I knew well. He tries jumping up the walls, but the footing isn’t enough to support him. As he falls, I pounce again, this time, without false confidence. However, our chase must have been too noticeable.
Gliding above the desert, I was hoping for a good meal. I had seen a gazelle approach the nearby acacia, but nothing I could eat. I began to fly home, I had already concluded my hunt was unsuccessful. As I approached my roost, sand spit up from the dunes below. Grains flew up from behind two undefined shapes. I flew down closer, collecting additional info. It was a fox and a jerboa, and the jerboa made a mistake. I watched the fox begin to carry his prey away, he was distracted by his success, and encumbered by his kill. I swooped down silently, and collapsed my claws around his torso. With his kill, and mine, I returned home, just before the sun rose again.
Days passed, dust settled, and I was left waiting for death. The sky never sent me another cloud.