Abel

  ***

   

  I understood…

  In the planet’s final moments, in the final days that Robert and Mary had seen Earth, it had been rejecting them. All the forces of nature rallied to wipe the traces of humanity from Earth’s surface. Like the gods had done to Atlantis, the cities were destroyed or buried or drowned. I understood what my companions felt, the guilt and regret at the very thought of Earth. They escaped what they had caused, while so many others didn’t. Now they were brought back to the place they feared most, the planet they killed. I understood all of this, only in the few moments between sleep and waking.

  “Abel?” a woman’s voice asked.

  I took a weak breath, and I could feel the sand under my body. My face was pressed into it. Moving to sit up, I felt another layer of sand over top of me, draped over me like a blanket. A soft wind caused it to build there while I slept. Shaking it off, I took a much deeper breath, but regretted it immediately. The moment my throat expanded and the air rushed down, every part of my respiratory track burned. The breath was followed by a retching cough. I couldn’t hold it back, and the pain built after each heave. My insides were parched with an unbelievable thirst, and my skin was painfully dry. Bent over in agony, I moaned in pain.

  The only true ease to my suffering was a warm hand on my shoulder, the voice reassuring me. When my tormented throat improved, I opened my eyes to see Jenna, kneeling next to me. She was, I soon realized, the ghostly woman who had discovered me watching the symphony of voices. Now, she was animated, with colour and form. Now her words were plain and sweet. To the east was the glimmer of the sunrise.

  “Thank you,” I choked, looking into her caring blue eyes. She didn’t know why I thanked her. She didn’t know what she'd just done for me. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for her memories. She had solved a long standing mystery.

  Looking around, I saw the wall of sand from which I had fallen, the disturbances my body had made on its way down. I also looked for my footsteps leading to my family, only to discover they were gone. The city had swallowed me whole.

  Jenna put herself under my arm, pulling me up. “Come on,” she insisted. “I’ll take you to your family. I know the way.”

  Indeed she did.