She slipped out of the crowded bar through the back door, shutting it softly behind her. Her hushed giggle floated out across the vast desert, whose only inhabitants were the saguaros, old sentinels on the skyline daring her to disturb them.
There was no need for silence in her escape. The sounds of the bar drowned out any noise that the old door may have made. But the slyness of her exit amused her, allowing another giggle to pour out over her glossed lips.
She slid her feet out of her sandals, unhooking the straps that bound her thin ankles to the soles of her shoes. Her right foot ventured off the shoe, grazing the surface of the sand, skimming across the grains, just barely moving them out of their places. The granules stuck to her feet, hanging onto them as if they were only an extension of her body.
She shook her foot, watching each one fall off back into the sand, creating a miniature rain of sand onto the ground underneath her. Her other foot followed its partner's journey off the shoes and onto the cool desert floor. It too created a footprint in the undisturbed sand. Wiggling her toes into the sand, she closed her eyes, tilted her head back, spread her arms and let the night envelop her whole being.
She breathed in the air; a mixture of oxygen, sand, the sounds of the Mexican city that lay behind her and the silence of the desert, which lay ahead of her.
She seemed to be taking in two places at once, hanging in the most beautiful of purgatories. The city and the desert swirled together in her lungs, creating an intoxicating mixture.
She opened her eyes to gaze at the stunning sky above her. Suspended in the air were multitudes of stars, tossed out across the sky. It was as if a child had spilled a glass full of the marvelous orbs and hadn't bothered to pick them up yet.
She looked back at that city, the lights that were beginning to blur together, the sound that had fallen to a dull monotonous roar, and the people that once were hers. No longer did it call to her as it once did. She wasn't the girl that arrived a few months ago. No. She was a different person altogether. They wouldn't come looking for her; they would come looking for a girl that she didn't know anymore. But they wouldn't be able to find that girl.
That girl had been lost somewhere in the winding alleys of Guadalajara. She'd been lost in the vibrant colors, musical beats of the Latin streets, and would never be found. Taking one last glance at the city, she turned her back on all that had once been familiar and turned to face the unknown.
As she turned away from the city, a small cactus on the horizon caught her eye. It wasn't the largest cactus she could see, but it held a sort of broken determination that touched her. It was bent slightly to the left, possibly a product of a strong wind or just the victim to the games of local children, and had only one branch jutting out awkwardly from its body. It seemed to return her stare and dared her to come closer, as the older saguaros had done when she first left the bar.
Soon she felt her bare feet pounding the earth below her as she ran to the horizon to meet the cactus' taunt. Her arms pumped faster as her speed increased, propelled by a force inside of her that she had not known existed. Winds beat along her skirt, ruffling it as she moved. Her long, tangled hair fell down from its loosely tied bun, flowing behind her as she ran.
Her vision became unclear and she soon lost sight of where she was headed. No longer was there any sense of direction in her, only a need to go farther and farther until she reached her unknown destination.
She didn't know how long she had been running but she soon reached a spot where she stopped suddenly. Dizziness overcame her as her lungs gasped for air. Everything was spinning around her, blending into a medley of colors and shapes.
The stars stretched to become swirling beams of light in the sky, circling around the moon, the center of her kaleidoscope. She fought to focus her eyes on something but eventually gave in and began to spin along with everything she saw.
She began to dance wildly under the diamond sky, to no beat she knew of but whirling to something greater than could be created by an instrument. Her feet danced an unchoreographed step while her silhouette moved along with her in perfect time. Her eyes closed but she could still see the perfection of her surroundings.
With both arms waving free, she spun until she fell to her knees, crumpling to a heap. It was in this position that she sat for a moment or two until she slowly spread her arms and legs, extending fingers and toes as far as they could reach.
She dug her fingernails into the earth, feeling the enormity of it beneath her and clung onto it until morning came.