Welcome To The Saharan Desert

• Irfan Rahamattoulla, Grade 4, Mount View Primary School
• Short Story
• 2011

Excellence Award in the 'Step Write Up 2011' competition

They landed gently onto the hot yellow sand. A deadly, inhospitable wilderness surrounded them. Sweat was pouring down from their body, like a wild rainy weather. Their body ached as the boiling sand scorched them. A gust of hot air blew occasionally and the sand dunes were continuously changing shape. This is not a place to have a vacation or a picnic; this is a place that cannot be found in any tourist attractions. This place is the Saharan desert.

There were no clouds in the sky and everything seemed alien to them. They had never seen anything like this before. There were thousands of deadly animals hiding under the sand, with natural camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. Their pale rubbery skin seemed to turn red; they knew they were in hell. They had come from a cold place and were not prepared for something like this. Their ship had lost control at mid-flight. So as soon as they finished their mission, they were going to call for back-up. As time passed, the sky turned black. This gave them a shiver, but they were soon relieved as the weather was cool again. There were white dots sprinkled across the black sky. They had seen it up so close and here it just seemed that it had shrunk by a big ratio.

Their fit bodies made them move faster, as time was running out. Their night vision soon picked up and adapted to the condition. Something slithered on the ground; it was trying to get away from them. Nothing was a threat to them, except for the weather. Rocks from all sizes filled the area, just like the ones back at their home. They finally found what they were looking for. They used their tentacles to carry the sparking item and used their antenna to call for back up. Their cloaked spaceship gave them a ride back to their home planet.