Night Unending

His feet were heavy. They stumbled uncertainly alongside his companion’s, which were as weary. They stopped awhile, and stood silently surveying the still darkness that enveloped them. That stillness of the Sahara, which is so terrifying in its potential to develop into a violent Sirocco sandstorm, and even more so in its tendency to remain impossibly unchanging.

Long separated from their group, for eight days they had endured the harsh interiors of the desert bravely. Now their shoes were worn, their knapsacks and empty flasks abandoned, and their bodies were swaying in the cold wind - but yet another night challenged them. It did not matter that they did not know their direction. It did not matter what the hazards of venturing into the black wasteland in this fatigued state were. Their intelligence had been beaten down by the elements, and they were brought to a primal awareness that their only goal now was immediate survival. They were existing only in the hope of finding water - that oasis of nectar that would pull them through the hours of the night. Then they would rest, oh how sweetly they would slumber! But not now. Not yet.

They trudged on steadfastly, listening for sounds of desert life. A rustle here, a shuffle there, but when they turned it was as barren as before. The man’s mind was beginning to conspire with the night to play tricks on him. Time and again he spotted a sudden gleam behind a nearby dune, and shouted to his younger friend,

“Look! Over there!”

Then they would stagger towards it, their hearts pounding with anxiety, only to discover that it was just the moon in a malicious mood, driving them to insanity even in its soft light. At such times the man looked up into the jewelled canvas above, and felt that this same night sky which had so often inspired reverence in him was now a fearful enemy, an alpha predator in this wilderness.

After what seemed like an eternity, the two travellers reached a large boulder and leaned against it for support. The dust clogged their nostrils, and they drew their jackets tighter to keep out the biting chill. A familiar shape on the other side of the rock caught the boy’s attention, and he gasped in disbelief,

‘’Cactus! My God, it’s a cactus!’’

It was like manna from heaven. They scrambled towards the cactus quickly and began tearing its prickly sides apart with their fingernails; they were close, oh so close! Alas, the sickly plant had suffered just as much misfortune, for its stem held no water. The men slumped against the rock, licking the blood on their fingers. They were both struck by the same idea at once, and began rubbing their hands against the spines of the cactus. Then they raised their palms to their lips and drank. The man vomited onto the ground before him. The boy fainted.

When he regained consciousness, the man was already a few metres ahead, crawling on all fours. The boy followed suit. In reality dawn was only four hours away, but they had no knowledge of anything but the present. They inched along slowly. The pain in their limbs was much worse and their eyes were closing. Their tongues were hanging out, begging for a drop of that elusive elixir of life.

The man crawled along for an hour, and just when he had reasoned that they were following a path not tried before…..that there was a way out of this black hole, a way back to humankind…..a whirlwind of sand rose before him. The dunes shifted their positions. There was the night mocking them. Try again, it said. It was a hopeless game with Nature, how could the mortal fight the all-consuming?

The boy gave a low guttural moan, and lay back on the ground panting. Then he began to laugh. He did not have the energy, and the sound came out in breaks. He laughed for five minutes, then slipped into a delirium, doomed to enter the dark abysses of his own imaginings and never return.

The man twisted his body and watched the boy. He had been trying to keep the last ounce of humanity in him alive, but the laughter had confused and frightened him. He looked around into the vast emptiness once more. His own head was almost touching the ground now, his body was completely dehydrated and ready to join his friend in the same fate. It had not worked, he thought, the night had let them down. The night had been cold, cruel, and unforgiving to the lost travellers, he numbly asserted to himself. His head dropped.

A few minutes later he looked at the figure of the boy again, which was now quite still. A sudden tenderness overwhelmed him.

‘’What has the night done wrong? After all, it has only put him to rest. It will look after him until he is ready to rise and start anew.’’

A slight smile spread across the man’s face. He was not being conquered, he did not need to be conquered. He was walking towards the gates himself, his arms outstretched towards the peaceful young boy.

The fragile human body drew its last breath of air, and surrendered to the unending night.