[Remedy]

Freedom.  Vast, open expanses of excruciating heat, entirely devoid of the recources necessary for life.  A lonely, barren, directionless path lay ahead.  This was her freedom.  

It was perfect.

Already delirious from the heat, she stumbled down a sand dune, tripping halfway.  Once her tumbling body reached the bottom, she struggled to regain her composure and lay in the scorching hot sand a few seconds too long.  When she was back on her feet, the left side of her face was bright red.  It hurt, but she couldn't feel it.  She continued on.  

[0.1]

[Remedy]

The sun crept higher in the sky, intensifying its scorching assault on the land below.  A lone figure meandered along an invisible path in the sand, drawn in all the colors of the world by her imagination.  It shivered every now and then when she looked too far ahead, and she laughed, thinking it odd that the heat could affect her view of something that was all in her mind.  Yes, all in her mind.  But the colors were what granted her freedom, so she followed them obediently.  

[0.2]

[Remedy]

A rock, dull and grey-ish brown, slightly tilting to one side.  It was as tall as she, and she stopped and regarded it in wonder- as if it were a person she recognized from sometime long ago.
“What…” wondered she aloud, “are you doing here?”  
She thought it incredible that this object sat alone in a sandy sea, although she was doing quite the same thing.  Forgetting her previous question, she chanced a glance at the position of the sun before hurriedly tripping her way over to the slight shadow resting in the wake of the lonely rock.

[0.3]

[Remedy]

No longer alone, now with some form of shelter in the shade of a tilted outcropping of a rounded rock, she waited.  Even in the shadows, the heat was almost unbearable.  But she endured it, and she survived.
The heat of the day passed overhead.  Noon had come and gone.

[0.4]

[Remedy]

She sat, for some time, half buried in the sand.  Her shelter and companion, the lonely rock, stood loyally behind her.  She rested her back against it and opened her eyes, squinting at the colors of the monochrome landscape stretched out around her.  
”Just a little while longer,” she rasped out, coughing the sand from her lungs.
”I’ll leave in a bit.”

[1.0]

[Remedy]

The sun crept on, dragging its massive weight through the otherwise empty sky.  The heat was intense.  Outside of the shade, the sand baked and boiled.  
Occasionally, a light breeze stirred up a bit of sand.  She kept her eyes closed.

[1.1]

[Remedy]

Finally, it was slipping.  She opened her eyes and the colors sprung up again.  Shakily, she stood.  The sand fell from her clothes like water.  She turned her focus to her friend, the rock, and touched it sadly in farewell.

[1.2]

[Remedy]

Step by step, she continued her march through the desert.  Swallowing became more and more difficult for her as dehydration settled in.  It was unlikely that she would find water out here in the middle of the desert.  She knew that, of course.  Yet she dragged on, heart filled with pride because she made it this far.

[1.3]

[Remedy]

It began to dawn on her that she had no plan after this.  She was happy to have found her way to freedom.   Now that she was here, she didn’t know what to do next.
Clearly food and water would be anyone’s first goal, but she was different.  She simply wanted to enjoy her freedom while it lasted.  As always, she knew it wouldn’t last long.

[1.4]

[Remedy]

Perhaps it would’ve been more fun of an adventure in freedom if she had some company.  It was such a shame that all of her escape attempts involved sacrificing her accomplices.  Maybe next time she’ll be able to make up a plan where at least one of them could get out with her.
She briefly considered finding help to go back and get them, but no - that would do no good.  

”There’s no one out here where there’s freedom,” she rasped, ”except for me.”

[2.0]

[Remedy]

Suddenly it started getting to her.  
Loneliness.
It crept into her mind and stuck, leeching away her freedom and replacing it with a new emotion; guilt.  She fell to her knees in the sand.  Her cries were silent and dry; she had no water to spare on wasteful tears.

[2.1]

[Remedy]

The barren emptiness of the landscape stayed the same.  The sun continued its decent.  They didn't change, but she did.  Something snapped.  

"I don't want to be here... alone... I don't want to be alone!"

[2.2]

[Remedy]

Her voice was soft and broken.  She'd reached the limit of freedom.  It was time to go back.  She shouldn't have been here so long - usually they would have come for her by now.  She didn't know what to do after this.

[2.3]

[Remedy]

Suddenly she remembered the rock.  She'd left it all alone, and now she was alone.  It had protected her, and she left it behind.  She suddenly struggled to her feet and began frantically searching for something, some kind of direction.  The colors were gone, they left her behind.

[2.4]

[Remedy]

There was no where to go now.  She was lost.  Her footprints had run away with the breeze and now she stood, alone.  The anxiety settled in.  It was more suffocating than the sand.

[3.0]