I walk along an interminable orange and red sandy desert. The heat was beating down on me like the waves I could see over the horizon. Nothing is in sight except a big sheet of orange and red. The sound of my foot crunching in the sand echos across the silence of the vast wasteland.. It seems as if time has paused and I’m walking timelessly . Each stepped seemed more difficult than the last, getting heavier and heavier The excruciating heat spawned rivers of sweat running down my face. I feel my body slowly sinking into the sand. In the distance I spot a small black dot. I don’t know why, but I feel as if it is taunting me. I feel like I need it. I have to Get to it. Step by step, my feet move faster until I’m in a full sprint. The only thought running through my head, I may not be alone.

The black object seems to grow as I approach it, getting closer with each step. I stare as it breaks through each layer of the atmosphere, ready to crash into the ground. . Suddenly everything goes black. Life feels frozen.. My breathing gets heavier, it’s all I hear until.. There’s suddenly a high pitched noise piercing my head.

I slowly open my eyes. I’m hyperventilating. Fight or flight, my mind has gone haywire. My eyes try to focus, but everything is a blur. Red and blue lights flash around my head. Trying to open my eyes once more I see glimpses of what’s happening. There’s people all around me, touching me and looking down on me. I open my eyes one last time lifting up my hand. It felt like 20 pounds, and was drenched in blood. They push me further away from the scene. I finally get a glimpse around me. Fire...everywhere. They pull me up into an ambulance and slam the doors. I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out. It feels as if something is stealing my words as fast as I can make them. I can’t recall how this happened or what has happened for that matter. I slowly shut my eyes, everything turning black. This blackness slowly morphs into the same red and orange wasteland I started at. Everything quiet, all I can hear are my thoughts telling me how quiet it is and how life here seems so real. The ambulance rams into a speed bump and I jolt awake. My mind seemed to have blanked out what had happened after that.

I still feel like I’m living two lives, but I can’t seem to figure out which one is real. I opened my eyes to find I was in a hospital bed, looking up at the ceiling. My body aches all over. I turn my head and gaze out the window. To my surprise, I see the red and orange dessert mocking me. A little unsettled, I yell for a nurse to confirm that this is only my imagination. She tells me all she sees is the long skyline of San Francisco. She looks confused and worried and scurries off to get help. I glance out the window once more. To my amazement I see myself. Struggling through the sandy desert. I hoist myself up. With the limited energy I have left, I force the window open. I don’t know what life I have, but that is the life I want. I push myself up over the windowsill.

Everything is black. Blinking, I see a short glimpse of the hospital room, instantly it shifts into the orange sand. My eyes open, everything a blurry. All I can tell is that there’s a lot of people crowding around me. I am being strolled away from the scene. I shut my eyes once more, orange and red sand invading my vision . I begin to walk away into the horizon.