Well I have tired to make some changes based on everyone's helpful comments so here is everything that I have now. Let me know if this is better
“I Hate My Life…”
This is the only thought that comes to Viva’s mind as she drives down the deserted dusty road. The Arizona sun mercilessly beats down on her as she speeds down the road in her cheap, rust covered pickup truck.
“Why couldn’t I have been able to afford at least a truck with bloodily air conditioning!?!” she lamented trying desperately to stay cool with the wind poring in through the broken window.
She ran her fingers through her short sweat drenched red hair trying to keep it out of her eyes. Viva turned around once more to examine the few items she still owned in the back of the truck cap and frowned.
“Well you sure did great with your life now didn’t ya Viva. You finally get the funds to buy yourself a home and then you get foreclosed on it! Smooth move genius!”
This is all that she could think about as she scanned over the one trash bag with her clothes in it, the small red cooler with what little food she had and the lonely cardboard box with what few little possessions she couldn’t bear to sell. Viva sighed to herself as she turned back around in her seat muttering to herself, “Well at least I had enough money left to at least get myself this crappy truck so I can at least have somewhere to keep my stuff and to have somewhere to sleep too.”
Turning her hazel colored eyes to the sky she admired the beauty of the desert setting sun. The majestic combinations of ever changing reds, oranges, and pinks slowly giving way to the breathtaking swirls of purple and pinks. It truly was a sight to touch anyone’s soul. “Well that is one of the few good things I have to admit that this heck hole of a state has and that is the sunsets.” Sighing to herself, Viva pulled off the side of the road in order to settle down for the evening.
Viva slowly ate her meal of tuna straight out of the can as she admired the desert around her. The thousands of cacti seemed to stand at attention for some long awaited order with the light of the moon shining upon their spines and the many flowers that stood atop their heads and arms. She would smile to herself as the bats flew from flower to flower drinking in the sweet nectar that these dangerous plants provided for only them at the wee hours of the night.
“We at least you guys don’t have to worry about how to afford your next meal like I do,” Viva commented to her flying neighbors.
Looking down at her now empty can of tuna Viva sighed and preceded to get up off of the warm dirt ground brushing the dust off of her faded denim jeans. “Well I might as well get to sleep, not like there is anything else worth doing at the moment,” she said to no one but the desert night as she climbed back into her truck.
Laying down across the two front seats in the cab Viva began to look around at the interior of the truck and take in all the small details such as the cracked clock on the none functioning radio and the pealing leather on the stirring wheeling as it was illuminated by the full moon.
“Well what can you expect for only $200 bucks,” she mused to herself as the sweet embrace of sleep started to take hold of her. Yawning she then thought as she drifted to sleep, “At least I still sort of have a roof over my head.” The last thing she remembered was hearing the howl of a distant coyote in the relative silence of the desert night as sleep finally took a firm hold on her eyes.
The sun slowly began to rise over the mountains as morning began to creep across the landscape. Grunting in her sleep Viva rolled over in an attempt to escape the increasing light that beckoned her to rise and shine. But where the increasing light failed to rouse her from the world of dreams, the heat was slowly beginning to win.
“Stupid desert heat,” she grumbled as she lazily sat up and rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes. Yawning Viva jumped from the cab and walked over to the bed of the truck in search of the breakfast of champions, dry cheerios and a bottle of water.
As she munched away at her meal, Viva looked over her road map trying to see how much longer she had till she reached the boarder. Frowning to herself she figured that with how slow this truck moved it take another six or eight days to get to Ohio.
“Why did my only relatives willing to take me in have to live in Columbus,” she whined as she folded the map back up and placing it in her back jean pocket. Sliding off of the truck bed and walking around to the cap Viva stopped and looked up into the sky while shielding her eyes from the malice of the suns rays with her hand. As she stared into the heavens above Viva couldn’t help but smile at one thought came to mind, “Well at least I won’t have to deal with this blasted heat there!”
And so the long trek across the barren desert began once again. The heat seemed to be even worse today than it was the other day and it was still early in the morning. “Today looks like it is going to be a wonderful day again,” Viva sarcastically said through clenched teeth as she once more cursed to herself about not having air conditioning. The sweat just seemed to pour out from every square inch of her body and with herself drenched like this the wind still didn’t seem to have any affect on cooling her off. “I really, really, REALLY HATE the desert!,” is all that Viva could think about as she continued her long journey to Columbus.
The day dragged on for what seemed to be an eternity and a half for Viva as she made her way across the state. The temperature just seemed to keep on climbing with no sign of stopping. The only signs of life that Viva encountered on this drive from heck was the one small and lonely fruit and vegetable stand run by a couple of locals on the side of the road. Thankfully the sun began to set bring with it a sigh of relief from all around the desert.
Seeing that it was getting dark Viva pulled onto the side of the road once more in order to prepare for the night. The night air was still warm as it blew across the vast desert and it seemed to be picking up a bit more strength as the night creep on, but Viva didn’t seem to notice the danger in this as she smiled to herself while she ate her meal of peanut butter and crackers. Soon the wind began to roar furiously and Viva soon realized what was coming her way, a dust storm.
“Not good, not good, not good at all,” she yelled to herself as she began to run back and forth trying to batten down the hatches so to speak. Viva had to find shelter before the storm hit or all of her possessions would be blown away and thanks to the busted window on the truck, storing her stuff in the cab wouldn’t help matters either she realized.
Frustrated, Viva tried desperately to figure out the best course of action and quickly her eyes settled on the dark shadow of the mountains not far off.
“That’s it!!!”
Viva jumped into her truck and began to speed to the summit of the mountains in the hopes that she could as least find a boulder or something to get behind to somewhat shield herself and her stuff from the blasts of sand and debris that was rapidly approaching. At the base of the mountain Viva desperately scanned the area for some sort of protection, anything at all would work at this point. Hoping out of the truck she ran this way and that searching for the much need shelter becoming more desperate with each passing second.
“Come on this is a bloodily friggin mountain for Christ sake, where are all the rocks and stuff!?!” Viva turned to look over her shoulder and her eyes nearly popped out her sockets when she saw the wall of dust heading her way. “Crap…,” she whispered as it seemed all hope to get out of this unscathed seemed to shatter completely.
That is until her eyes found their way to a dark spot on the side of the mountain that was being obscured by a bit of growing vegetation, a cave.
“Oh thank the gods above, I’m saved!”
Quickly Viva began to clear the entrance to the cavern so as to be able to get her stuff in. Strangely enough the mouth of the cave turned out to be large enough to accommodate the size of the truck, “Well now isn’t that convent, at least something has gone right today.” Swiftly, Viva ran back to her pickup and proceeded to drive into the blackness of the cave.
Once inside Viva gave a sigh of relief as she slid down in her seat. “ Thanks who ever is up there for helping out at least once in my miserable life,” she laughed as she went about the business once again of setting up camp.
Sitting by the small fire that she had managed to get started, Viva just stared into the dancing blaze hoping to coax herself to sleep. For some reason the world of dreams seemed to blocking her from entering at every turn. Frustrated again she went up to the truck and pulled out the small cardboard box with her possessions. Skimming through the contents of the box Viva began a little try down memory lane and she started to ask herself the one persisting question that had plagued her constantly throughout the years, Where did I go wrong?
So many memories poured back to her as she lifted an item and examined it. A book of inspirational quotes given to her by a “friend” that had betrayed her trust years ago and yet she still couldn’t bring herself to part with it. Maybe she kept it to remind herself of what a fool she had and still was in her opinion been.
The next thing that she pulled out was a scrapbook full of newspaper clippings and such that only helped to remind her of how she had come to lose everything dear to her heart just because the one she loved more than anything had betrayed her, Markus Newbien. That dick took advantage of the fact that she was a very trusting individual and used it against her. Frowning, Viva began to flip through the pages looking at the progressive downfall of her life from the once thought to be happiest day of her life of her wedding to the opening of her store, Musical Dreamers. The tears began to flow as she continued to look at the book till she got to the very last page, the article titled Arizona Music Business Closed Due To Heated Divorce.
“Everything that I had ever dreamed of gone because of you Markus, I hope you chock!!!”
With tears of hurt and rage running down her cheeks, her hurled the two books into the fire. She watched as the pages curled and crumbled into ash within the heat of the blaze. Too bad the memories couldn’t be just as easily discarded as those worthless pages.