“I’m tired,” the girl whispered. The man clutched his arms tighter around her small frame. “I can’t tell what is real anymore,” the girl continued, muttering phrases as they continued to walk.

“Look up,” the man said. The girl stopped muttering and lifted her head to the sky.

“What are they?”

“Stars, little one,” he replied softly.

“I like stars,” the girl’s voice grew soft as she spoke. Tears fell down the man’s face.

“I know,” the girl shivered and clutched the man’s shirt tightly.

“Will we go to the stars?” her voice echoed in the silence of the desert.

“Someday, when the ancestors call for us.”

“I think…I think that I hear a call,” she said. The man’s arms tightened around the girl. 

“But I don’t want to leave you alone,” she whispered, looking up at the man as the words left her mouth. 

“It’s so loud,” the man smiled gently at the girl.

“What does the call say?” the girl thought for a moment.

“It says, come home.”

“Go little one, go home.” The girl’s eyes fluttered shut, and her body grew still. Tears fell onto her cheek, and the man fell to his knees. He held the girl tightly as he looked up at the soft glow of the stars in the sky.

“Go home, little one,” the man whispered to the stars.