Audrey Jeanette

Cabare, City of Strife

Nani stirred to the cold taste of dirt. She must have shifted off her blankets in the middle of the night. Clicking her languid tongue against the roof of her mouth, she let the sediment from her floor collect against her palette, a gritty reminder of life in Cabare. Nani swallowed. A hard swallow, dry and sharp as it caught tight in her throat. A second swallow pushed the other one down and she reached her left hand out to the side, a half-hearted search and rescue attempt to find the blankets she remembered falling asleep on.