I’ve been walking for around what I’d say an hour or so, I’m close to the portal. My eyes have adjusted enough with the darkness to see a few meters in front of me. Finally I reach where I had planned to be, the portal. I look up at the black sky, light blue swirls of light active above me. I watch the twinkling lines of the portal slowly spin in circles. My eyes widen and my jaw drops in awe to the portals late night appearance and it’s breathtaking beauty. I mimik it’s movement with my body, stepping in circles and smiling, today, I just know something will happen. After a few minutes, I begin to set up a small bed with the cloth I had taken from my parents, laying it flat on the sand a meter or so away from the portals center.

I take a seat on the blanket, and watch the starry portal spin once again. All my hopes, all my dreams spin before me. With a heavy exhale I lay myself down. Still eyeing the sky I smile. I don’t know what this feeling is inside me, nor do I know why I have it, but I feel it. I roll to my side deciding to get some shut eye.

I awake to the sounds of birds chirping in the skies above me. I sit up, stretching my arms above my head and yawning. I place a hand to my forehead, blocking the sun's rays as I look to the sky and at the faint lines of the portal which continue to spin. I look to the sun's direction estimating the time to around eight o'clock in the morning. I lean back on my hands, the desert sun warm on my revealed skin. I wear my usual attire, a cloth turned to skirt and shirt. My skirt ending just before my knees and my shirt just above my belly button.

The time passes by slowly. To amuse myself, I’ve thrown stones, created drawings in the hot sand and even sang to myself.

Hour after hour, I wait, continuously eyeing the almost invisible portal, just awaiting it.

I take a seat on the cloth once again and let out a sigh. I’m beginning to doubt my own intuition. I felt so strongly last night that something would happen today, but I’m beginning to wonder if they were all right. What if nothing ever happens, maybe I am just dreaming. What if that tingling sensation I felt last night was just me getting my hopes up out of pure irritation to their constant put downs. With each hour that passes another piece of my hope goes with it. But still, here I sit, just aimlessly watching the sky. It’s grey-blue colour not adding anything special to my doubts. The birds which fly above me, sound as if mocking me.

The day just continues to drag on, and no part of me is believing myself anymore. I thought wrong.

Standing up I fold the cloth and put it inside my bag beside the near empty canteen of water and empty jar. I sigh, exhausted and hopeless but for the most part, upset. I swing the bag’s strap over my shoulder and begin walking. I pause, looking up towards the sky. It’s colour more of a grey. “What? Mocking me are you?” I talk to the sky as if it could respond. “What is this, some sort of scene from a dumb book? Changing colours to match my mood? How dare you” I begin to get honestly angry with the sky. I think I’ve gone crazy but I continue to rant. “You’ll never be on my side will you?” I question it, but it seems as though I’m questioning myself, arguing with myself. “You stupid portal, I believed in you” I’m not sure why I continue to talk to such things which cannot speak. “Then what is my purpose? I thought this portal would lead me to whatever purpose is out there for me” I talk to myself. “What is my purpose? What is it?!” I scream a single tear running down my cheek.

The birds which were once out and about have left, leaving the sky vacant. I turn to continue on my way back home, but I pause at the sound of a quiet buzz. I look around, but to my eyes there is nothing which could be making such a sound. I stand silently, the buzz becoming louder with every second that passes. I begin to fear the worst. I don’t know what is going on, this has never happened before. I should have listened to my family when they told me to stay in sector two. The buzzing sound has become a sharp deafening ring. Frantically, I go to run, but my legs don’t seem to want to work. I begin to shake, but as does the ground. The quake knocks me to my hands and knees. I watch, eyes wide, as grains of sand shift and bounce with the sudden movement. I cover my ears the sound still piercing it’s way through my fingers. I close my eyes, in fear. The sound continues to grow louder, changing from a screech to more of a thunderous rawr. I take a moment to look up at the sky which has become near black, a stormy presence. I shut my eyes once again. Soon I hear nothing, but I feel the ground still shaking beneath me. With one large shift of the sand, I fall to my side. The quake stops abruptly and the sound, I hear it fade into the distance. I hesitate to move from my sideways fetal position. After a moment or two of me trying to catch my breath and slow my heartbeat which had raised with the fear inside me, I open my eyes and sit up to see a completely different scenery. The sand is much more white, with large boulders that lay spread out on the ground. I look up to see the portal, still it’s calm self spinning slowly in the baby blue sky. I stand from the ground gingerly and dust myself off. The sand around my feet shimmering in the sun's light. I look ahead of me a bit, the shimmer remaining in my eye sight. I step forward, joyously appreciating the appearance of the new metallic sand. My eyes widen and I gasp, running to kneel behind a boulder. I calm my breathing before curling my fingers up, and peaking my eyes just merely over the top of the rock. I gasp once again, getting a true look this time. A person. I sit myself on the sand and lean my back to the rock. An arrival. I smile and let out a sigh of relief. I was right, and for once in the past eight years I feel a true state of happiness take over me. I turn my head and lean just enough to look once again at the person who lay unconscious a couple meters from me. A person. A man. I lean back to rest my head against the rock. Taking in a deep breath I stand and walk closer to the him. My eyes trace his body and face. He looks like people here but in every way he also doesn’t. For the life of me I can’t pinpoint what it is about him that makes him look so different, but he does.