A Cup Full of Humble Fragrance

Loggerhead (June 12- Turtle)

Oranniel, the serpent, lifted its head, levitated off the ground, and sped off through the pink clouds. Carrie Davis clutched Jessica's claws and screamed, "Don't leave me, Oranniel!"

How could Carrie be away from her serpent? She wouldn't know what to do, where to go in this strange world.

Oranniel's voice echoed inside Carrie's mind telepathically. "Jessica will take care of you."

Carrie sat on the bench near Jessica and closed her eyes, letting her memories rush in like the tides, almost toppling her over and tugging her back to the times when, as a volunteer on Earth, she had warred against greed, cruelty, and short-sightedness.

During her youth, Carrie and her family had lived on the beach, the only beach that was left on earth. Every summer she walked the beach in search of turtle nests, fighting emaciated wild raccoons and limping ghost crabs. She used to lay her ear to the ground, wondering what the babies were doing down there inside the sand. When the nests hatched, the sight of tiny grey babies trying to make their way to the sea thrilled her.

Then big business had taken over, and she had fought corrupt, influential politicians, powerlines, and the lights that disrupted the lives of the loggerhead babies.

She recalled the last loggerhead that had laid her eggs. By that time, after losing all her family members to pollution-based diseases, she had become an old woman who could hardly breathe in a world where, with only a strip of sand left, no more turtles survived.

On that last day, she was hobbling along by the beach, lamenting the smoke-colored clouds and the charcoal sea. She suddenly spied a single trail of tracks, and her heart began to pound. Next, she heard the turtle's scratching at the dirty sand.

There was no moon in the tainted sky. Since the power had failed again, Carrie could only see what her tiny flashlight pointed at. She blinked, not believing her eyes. A dark, large object dragged its shell against the sand, letting sand grains fly about. A loggerhead was digging in the ground in an attempt to camouflage her nest.

Was it possible that any sea creatures were left in this dying planet?

The turtle had ceased to move. Carrie crouched, waiting. She felt cold sweat dripping inside her shirt. The turtle would never make it back to the sea. Her offspring would never survive in a planet damned and forgotten by the positive forces of nature.

Then the turtle moved. The light from Carrie's flashlight illuminated the area right beside her and the turtle with the rich mahogany color of her carapace and the barnacles affixed to her shell. The turtle stopped, lifted her head, and made a strange guttural hissing sound. Her large, oval eye met Carrie's gaze in a magical moment of bonding.

Carrie said, "I tried. I'm so sorry." The turtle moved her head up and down.

Beyond belief! An unspoken connection had formed between species.

The loggerhead started crawling again. Watching her flippers dig deep into the sand to claw her way back into a spoiled, grimy sea upset Carrie immensely. The turtle would not survive this pollution. "No, God, no!" she moaned.

That was the exact moment when Oranniel appeared. He wrapped himself around the loggerhead and lifted her up to the sky.

Then, the serpent came back for Carrie, to take her away, and at this corner of the universe, the old woman Carrie used to be became history. "Time warps differently through space," was the explanation for her regained youth.

Jessica waved her spiny crest and looked at Carrie's beautiful, young form. "You are getting devoured by those memories again. You'll get through this, Carrie. You'll find out how important you are to the future of your species and to the Caretta. That's what the loggerheads were called officially, right?"

"Yes," Carrie said. "The scientists on earth had named the species that."

"No wonder, your name is Carrie. Carrie, Caretta. Synchronicity of the universe. You know you were rescued because you fought to save the loggerheads."

"Those babies in the sand will die," said Carrie mournfully.

"No, they won't. Oranniel went for them. He'll take them to a secluded sea with a beach on this planet, where their mother is waiting. We have faith in Carretta's resilience, and in yours. We will settle you on that beach. It is the replica of what you remember from your childhood."

"You are re-creating the earth, aren't you? Like Noah in the scriptures."

"We're saving as many species as we can, but only the worthy ones of the homo sapiens, so such a universal tragedy that befell your earth does not happen again.".

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Prompt : Turtle