<div class="floatleft">(http://i43.tinypic.com/66fbtf.jpg)</div><span class="bbc_u"><em><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Dianna L. Emerson</span></em></span><br/>Human<br/>Day 1, Early Evening<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The expansive desert around her was more soothing than any radio station. In any case, she wasn't familiar with the dial in Utah. Dianna had purchased a rusted blue Honda from the early nineties for seven hundred dollars last week. The wheels made no noise as they spun against the asphalt. The car was traveling at forty miles an hour, the windows were down and the speakers were silent. Her brunette curls danced with the sound of the whistling weather.<br/><br/>'As long as this car gets me into a place that I can call nowhere... I will be happy.'<br/><br/>It was an escape pod, a last resort. Her willingness to run away from her family and friends had come from a deep place within herself. Nothing had scared her. No evil pursued her. The 'trapped' sensation that she felt in Texas had much to do with her father's lifestyle. He planted himself years ago, an aged man, a smart man. Dianna felt like a sapling, forced to live seventy feet underneath the canopy. There was no sun where she had been placed. There was no room in the ground for her roots to spread. At Twenty One years old, she had grown exhausted of feeling like a wife without a husband, a ribbon without a hand to knot it, a pet with an owner that's grown tired of her hunger. Leaving home wasn't a choice, it was the only foreseeable path, every other route that she could have taken all led to the same 'bat shit cave. Just mold and rotten water under creatures with no sight or smell' Different roads to the same place. Her old life would always be laid out for her to live. This way she could never harbor regret. This way, she could really find out if that 'bat shit cave' was fated or not.<br/><br/>The wheels slowed down as she swerved off of the highway. 'mission accomplished', she thought as she came up on the gas station that highlighted a half mile of highway in every direction, she couldn't spot another structure. She couldn't quite tell if the establishment was closed or not. The sun had not set yet, the sky was still yellow and blue. Her Honda found an an empty spot just south of the pumping station, fifty seven feet from the front door of the store.<br/><br/>At first, she couldn't see Floyd sitting in his chair. She was too excited, actively finding herself to be lost, finally.<br/><br/>'History shan't follow me, this time. I've disappeared, now. I'm a legend to my home and a crusader in this new land. Her whole body seemed to smile as she lifted herself out of the car. The far reaching attention of her gaze looked far over the power-lines and determined plant life. The horizon at the end of the Earth contained her, and she felt godly, finally spotting her company: The overweight attendant of the gas station, who had deceived her. He appeared to be a large piece of tanned leather under the shade of an awning. His shape failed to tune in to her perception. She turned around instead and looked out again toward the mountains in the west.<br/><br/>A soft wind rolled through the dry dirt, and lifted her skirt three inches up her thigh. The form of her breast the edge of her ribs folded against the clinging fabric of her blouse, moved by the wind as well. She failed to react. Her feet were bare, and her hair seemed to wave like the rebel flag of a justified militia. She was more alone now than she had ever been. Before, she'd travel with friends, or go on road-trips with her brother, Alexander. It was them, her companions who used to pump the gas, and go inside to buy what ever else was needed. She didn't need to be waited on. A patient soul, Dianna never had to ask. In stead, she would space out and ponder, exactly as she did now in Nowhere-Utah. 'Paradise. I get it.' She briefly compared herself to the settling Mormon's of salt lake. 'I'm not Mormon, but i get it.'<br/><br/>'My old life does haunt me. My real beliefs need space to grow. I seek refuge, and comfort, new friends, and passion. I will locate myself here like the dying beast, comfortable in my own mortality, focused and fleeting at the same time. I can appreciate the elongated moments, a single ray of light that the stars have found bright enough for life to show, or the patch of grass beneath my feet.' It was weeds, her toes squeezed against the Earth, and her body smiled brighter. She stretched her arms toward the sky and melted her back into a different shape, wheezing in the bliss of her own freedom. 'I'll find my own spirit here. I'll contest myself, and grow.'<br/><br/>She relaxed and turned around, toward the gas station. In need of fuel, she decided to approach Floyd, stepping away from her car with determination.