Over the years since the end of 3034, the survivors got together one by one, creating their own versions of the civilization their ancestors had. Through the unfortunate events of colonization, a small group of 65 people ended up in the desert. They settled near the only water source in the area, which was a small pond of oasis. Although it was small, it was good enough to last them a couple of years, prospering just enough to increase their population. However, the drought hit. When there should’ve been a monsoon season, nothing came for the people. The pond became a well, and the well became nothing. Just sand, like the endless sand that surrounded the people. As a result, the leader of the group, Kathlyn, decided it was time to put people to work. The idea was there, but Kathlyn didn’t know what the work was.

Confused and frustrated, Kathlyn started to make a sequence of weird gestures and actions, thinking that doing something would create water. With Kathlyn performing odd actions, her reputation as the leader started to diminish. When the eldest of the population started to die, only a couple were left respecting Kathlyn. Devastated by her limits as the leader, she took on the job of burying the dead, as it was something they started to do after the dead bodies started to rot and smell, attracting unwanted creatures around the living spaces.Thus, Kathlyn, still repeating the gestures and actions she thought were best to do to find water, was now digging deep holes to bury the dead. It was then that everything changed for Kathlyn. During the burial of the eighth body, Kathlyn was digging like usual. She would perform some weird series of actions and gestures and dig and repeat just as usual. Kathlyn would do this about 25 times, and a hold deep enough to bury a body would be made. It was exceptionally hot that day, and Kathlyn started to lose count. It was dark by the time Kathlyn was able to wake from the trance of ritual digging. And when she woke up, she was overwhelmed by the sensation of wetness. She was confused in the dark. Maybe she was dead? That’s what Kathlyn thought at first, but it was too hot and painful to be true. After a moment, her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she realized that she was inside the deep, narrow hole that she had dug the whole day. Looking up, she could see the stars, and at that moment, Kathlyn felt full. She felt a certain wholeness that she had lacked for a long time. The stars in the sky sparked Kathlyn as if they had chosen her. Kathlyn looked down after the moment of sensation to see water up to her ankle. Kathlyn was certain that she was the chosen one, that she had done everything right for the stars to have chosen her as the savior of her people.

Kathlyn, weeping with joy and pride, climbed out of the hole to tell everyone that she did it. People surrounded the hole that Kathlyn had brought them to. One by one, they started to realize that there was indeed water down the whole way. They cheered and cried for Kathlyn. Kathlyn knew what she had to do. From then on, she ordered all the kids in the area to follow in her footsteps. She thought that the adults were too corrupt and selfish, as they had once betrayed Kathlyn, and that the only hope was to teach the kids from the start to avoid such a tragedy that had once happened.

Thus, every day and night, Kathlyn made a circle of kids around her and made them repeat the same motions and gestures she does and dig as she does. She taught them that the ritualistic gestures were to please the stars so that they'd grant us water from the ground. The kids obediently followed Kathlyn, as she was indeed the savior of their group. While most of the time the kids were able to find water, sometimes some didn’t. Those who weren’t able to find water were beaten by Kathlyn. She would beat the kids until their gestures, motions, and the way they dig were perfect. Because Kathlyn was the leader and thus an example for the whole population, adults started to believe that it was okay to beat their kids. As a result, the kids would be beaten day and night and work day and night. Their skin started to toughen, and their bones started to show. However, to the eyes of Kathlyn and the adults, that was a good sign. A sign that showed that the stars were making them into a new generation of adults that Kathlyn preached of. And so years have passed with the kids getting beaten and overworked until they were no longer kids but teenagers. They were not as tall as the adults, but their skin was thicker than the animals. It would take the sharpest stone knife that could be made with the technology they had then to cut through their skin. Their skin was so tough that the teenagers couldn’t even feel their own skin, and this devastated one of the teenagers, Mia.

Mia was the oldest of the teenagers. She took care of the teenagers when no one else did, so she was the teenagers’ leader at heart. And in the hottest month of the summer, Mia had fallen in love. She had fallen in love with a girl who had come from a group a couple of years ago. And one day, they were talking after work. It was dark, and nobody was around them. They talked about the work here, and the girl told Mia how unfair this burden of finding water was. The girl told stories of where she was originally from. The girl was from the forest. She had treehouses and water that flowed endlessly throughout the year. Mia couldn’t believe her, but she wanted to. After reminiscing about her past, the girl leaned in and kissed Mia. This was something Mia had wanted for a long time, but Mia couldn’t feel anything. She wasn’t soft enough to feel the other girl. Mia’s skin was just too thick, so she ran away right then and there, not looking back.

Mia traveled for months until she found what the girl had described as a forest. She found the water that flowed and tried to touch it, but nothing could be felt. Mia cried for a long time while sitting by the water. At night, Mia looked up at the sky and decided that she was going to go back and bring the teenagers here. And so Mia traveled back to the desert. After months of traveling and mapping, Mia found the desert. She hid inside one of the empty holes to plan the escape. For a couple of days, she was able to find most of the teenagers she knew; however, she couldn’t find the girl. Mia couldn’t find the girl she was in love with. As a result, Mia decided to take the risk and talk to one of the teenagers she knew. After hours of work at night, she pulled one of the teenagers inside the hole and questioned him. The answer was something that froze Mia in the hole for the next couple of days. The girl, unlike other teenagers who started digging holes at a very young age, didn’t have tough skin like others. The harsh work and the constant beatings took a toll on her. One day, the girl threw up blood from the internal bleeding she was suffering from. Despite her noticeable decline in health, Kathlyn forced her to continue her work. Until a day before Mia arrived, the girl had drowned inside one of the holes.

Mia was speechless at what she had to hear. She cried for days inside, regretting her decision to run away and stay away for so long. Mia knew what she had to do, so she gathered the teenagers in small groups and led them to the forest, one group by one, until all of the teenagers were in the forest. Mia helped build shelters, provided support, and taught a couple of teenagers how to be leaders. After she was confident that the new group in the forest could survive without her, Mia left again for the desert.

She had one goal in mind: revenge. Ever since the night when she heard the news that the girl was dead, Mia couldn’t sleep so well. Her thoughts of Kathlyn were too loud for her to sleep. Mia hated the fact that the memories of Kathlyn were always bigger than the girl. While the image of Kathlyn was always so clear, the girl was ever so slightly fading away. That was the last straw for Mia when she no longer could remember the girl’s face and, of course, could never know how she felt.

After months of traveling, Mia found the desert. With no hesitation, she ran straight to Kathlyn’s tent and punched her to death. Mia’s fist didn’t feel anything, and the others could stop her. Nothing could cut her skin. Eventually, the adults tied Mia’s arm and legs together and threw her into one of the empty holes. Tired and sad, Mia looked up at the blue sky from the hole. After a while, she closes her eyes and never opens them again.