• Low Line
    Low line city nestled deep in the Lowdine desert. The sand-encrusted sign lying crooked in the dunes…the sign is old and the curve of the‘d’ has chipped away, thus the name Low line…the light bulbs to glow at night have long since burst…it bends in the wind. The city itself, well, it’s too small to really be called a “city”, it’s more of a town or a village…the interstate runs right through the center of town, past the strip mall and the Flex-A-Got gas station…the only gas station for miles…Right past the square, then it shoots out the other end, out into an infinite desert. It’s probably best to just turn around now and go back home, but don’t say I didn’t warn you…
    It wasn’t me…just the quiet, whispering sands…




    Heatwave
    Mother and Father sit quietly outside their home…a small little apartment away from the square and the gas station. They live there with two children, two girls, Milly and Ellie…They’re twins…they run a little booth in the square, selling desert plants for food and medicine…They don’t make a lot…No one does in Low line. Auntie Di works at the gas station…not much goes on there…just selling snacks and batteries.
    To power the desert storms…



    Sand Witch
    Janice…the woman who owns the Lowdine strip mall…the woman, maybe the only one, who drives around the city in her bright yellow convertible. Every morning she goes to the Flex-A-Got and fuels her car...She snaps at Auntie Di to get her coffee…extra strong, two sugars one cream…Then she speeds off to the mall to collect her cash. She glares at the twins across the road in the square…More business for some stupid weeds. It didn’t make any sense to her.
    She’d show them business…


    Stare
    Auntie Di and her adopted son Sammi lived in a little shack near the gas station…they worked together, pumping gas…stocking shelves…Sammi would stare down the street, watching the twins…well, if we’re speaking about specifics, Ellie stole most of his attention. He would leave the station and stop by the booth to talk to Milly…only because Ellie is mute, well not exactly…She can speak…she just doesn’t…
    Only to Milly…

    Whisper
    Ellie is alone, watching the booth…Milly’s at the gas station, getting lunch…sandwiches. Sand Witch drives by…speed packed into that highlighter. Ellie shook her head, then started at her hands. Sammi was there when she looked up. He asked for Milly but Ellie shook her head. He asked where she was and she pointed to the Flex-A-Got sign. Sammi looked over and the rest was just…It was loud. Sand, concrete and flames flew through everywhere. Heat surrounded everything, glass shattered…an hour passed before it was safe. Sammi and Ellie stood before the scene. And that’s when she opened her mouth…whispered…
    “I’m…alone…”


    LoneTogether
    Sammi stayed with Mother and Father and Ellie that night. They cried together, the two children…Flex-A-Got was gone, Auntie Di and Milly along with it. Ellie began to whisper as more tears spilt down her cheeks…her cousin wiped them away as Ellie spoke of how she looked up to her older sister. Her dreams made her feel inadequate, like she was a parasite. Sammi disproved these and they cried again. As the night fell into the morning, Ellie was still awake, watching Sammi sleep. Her mind was elsewhere…her grief had turned to anger. She knew what had to be done. She slipped out of the house right before sunrise.
    Re…avenge…Revenge…


    AV-En
    By mid-morning, the sun has risen above the sandstorm barriers and the town was glowing with the orange-amber rays…Smoke still billowed from the remains of the Flex-A-Got…sand Witch’s car idled outside the strip mall…Apart from the music streaming from the speakers, the city was bathed in silence. After sitting in the car for another moment, she cut it off and got out. The silence was surrounding Sand Witch as she entered the mall…She stole away to her office…Her comfortable chair…the nice desk…She looked at the phone as it rang…she held a conversation for a moment or two, then heard the door close. Shiny, cold, held by small hands through the soft, perfect membrane…Then it was her turn…
    She wanted to join her…





    Wish
    Sirens surrounded the mall...eyes peered through windows and doors. Janice’s cold body was pulled from the office, then Ellie’s…She still lived…she hung on…Sammi pushed past and got to her side, screaming that she couldn’t leave him. Her eyes fluttered and she looked at him, a soft smile on her lips. She whispered something softly to him as she was carried off…Tears fell from his cheeks…
    Come back to me…


    Sandstorm
    Sammi left the mall in a daze…he was all alone…he wandered out into the desert, down the interstate and into the heat. ‘Leaving Lowdine City’ his eyes glance at it, but he wasn’t seeing it…The words flew through his mind…Stumbling off the road and into the dunes where he finally collapsed. The explosion, the murder, the suicide, her words…the pain…the agony…the anger…his love…Those words! Those words…those words were her last…he whispered them as he felt the heat sandwich him into the sand…
    Be free forever…forever for love…