Fragments from the Vault #035: Chaos Theory (Palimpsest)

mesocyclone to the west

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Game: Phoenix Springs

Location: The Oasis

More information: Phoenix Springs | Calligram Studio

Flashbacks. Screen capture: FetchQuester

"Sometimes," I tell my friend over coffee, "it feels like I never left. I'm living my life out in the middle of nowhere while this disembodied half of me exists somewhere else." 

Then she asks me about the songs of the nomads, how I chased the boy with dark and vibrant eyes through the dust bowls of the meridian and conspired beneath phosphorescent stars in prehistoric caves. But this is not how I remember him. "One day, we'll climb the tree in the heart of the village," he vows, "and the world will see I'm not afraid." 

(My reflexes stir as the tidal bore of memory swells and retreats).

***

"Sometimes," I tell my friend over coffee, "I travel in my sleep. It's late August, 1984. The heat should be shimmering off the canyon, but today is different. Today is the day the oasis comes alive." 

(I learn to forget what comes after).

"Where will you go tomorrow?" The pressure drops from the roost and the reverie is broken; the half-sipped salves stew in the silence of sundown, my mind long departed for the place where disembodied halves converge. 

"Phoenix Springs."

- Lucy A.

***

Sources: 

Phoenix Springs (Calligram Studio)

*A dedicated thanks to Rashika, Shannon, and Super for their guidance and wisdom.