Laura Lynn Brown

The Barren

The silence made the vastness of the Barren seem so much bigger. So endless. So - hopeless. “Kal, let’s go. We shouldn’t be here.” Standing fifty paces from the edge of the red sands, heat rolled towards me in suffocating waves. The jungle was hot and humid but nothing like the swelter coming from the Barren. Dry heat so intense, you can’t sweat or pry your lips apart. The Barren is a taker. Taker of joy, taker of water, taker of life. We were too close.