she is in pakistan

Months and months. She could see the tarmac. The world was a messed up place, so very different from that of her youth. It had taken months to arrange this. But she was finally here. The sound of the pilot, weary, she felt from his voice, and from her few seconds of conversation with him as she had stepped into the plane. Weary. Tired. Wondering why he bothered to do this at all anymore. Couldn’t they see? The world was ending. But she, at least, as everyone else, had a part to play. And play it they should. Because if they all gave in, then who would pick up the remains. If there were any, a follow up thought told her grimly. If there were any, she wondered and looked out the window. The tarmac was hurtling closer towards them. The airport was quiet. Planes still stood in hangars, but they felt like most of them had not been used for a while. The cabin was oxygenated so much it had made her drowsy. But also energized. In a weird way. Though she supposed that was the whole point of oxygen. Get it flowing through her blood. She was rested. Her mind was weary, screaming at her to give up, to throw in the towel. Walk away. But where would she go. If this world ended, what would she do? She’d end with it. She had to play her part. Her heart told her to keep fighting. Even in the face of futility. She closed her eyes and thought of the two images that she had kept close to her, since the squirrel in that forest. The man. And the forests. There were two more. But she didn’t know. There was a man. Maybe he could tell her. Maybe he could help her. Maybe he could take her task and let her rest, a small voice whispered from the back of her mind. No, she had to be the one to do it. Wasn’t that what had always been told to her? She didn’t know where the two remaining forests were, or if they could be helpful. She didn’t know how she would find the man in this country. She didn’t even know if he would be any help. Maybe he was blind, like they had all forced themselves to be. She looked around at the others, scared, yes. But blinded. Blinding themselves to the truth. They could not find their god in the earth, like their books told them to. They could not see the end of times even when it happened in front of them. When it was happening. Little sheep. She gripped the handles of her seat tighter, and smiled at the woman sitting next to her as the plane tilted sharply towards and began to stretch towards the tarmac. She put her head backwards, closed her eyes and breathed in long breaths of air. It landed with a rough shudder. Everyone else assumed it was just a bad landing. She opened her eyes and smiled.