Kurzgeschichte über einen Mann, der von einem kopflosen Affen durch die Wüste geführt wird

Writing Prompt: A man stumbles through the desert and is aided in some way by a headless monkey.

The sun was hot on his head. No cloud covered the sky and the desert seemed endless and wide. Occasionally, he tripped over the roots of a dry tree stump. In the shadows of some giant rocks he sat down to rest, when he hard a low sound. Someone or something was scratching on the hard surface of the rocks. Intrigued, he stood and shaded his eyes to take a better look around him. A small hairy creature was sitting at the top of the biggest rock and was looking down at him. The creature held a stick in his paw. It looked like it was scribbling something into the stone. When it felt the gaze of the man it stopped and looked down at him. Or … it would’ve looked down if he had eyes to look down. But there were no eyes because the creature had no head. 

Speechless the man stared at the creature while the creature left the rock and climbed down. When it came near, the man saw that it was a monkey, a headless monkey. The monkey hopped of the last rock and landed on soft feet in the sand. Puzzled, the man kept on staring. The monkey seemed to read his face and turned back to the stone surface of the rock. It scratched something with its stick into the grey stone, stood back and turned to the man as if to ask him something. The man read what the monkey had written.

„Are you lost?“, was carved into the stone where the monkey had scribbled just a second ago. 

Yes, the man wanted to say. Yes, I am lost. I need to find my way out of this desert. But his throat felt dry and scratchy. He needed water, badly. 

The monkey held out his paw. When the man didn’t move, it took his hand and turned to go. The man stumbled behind the headless monkey. He followed it through the desert until the monkey stopped. Before them there was a stream of water, some trees with fresh green leaves and some palm trees. There were zebras drinking from the water. They raised their heads when the man and the monkey joined them. The monkey motioned to sit down and drink and the man followed his gesture. He filled his water bottle, washed his face and enjoyed the coolness of the water. When he was finished the monkey handed him some fruits from the trees which he took and ate. The monkey then hold up his hand as if to say Good bye to the zebras. The zebras nodded their heads and turned back to the water. 

The man followed the monkey for hours. When night fell, the monkey found them a safe place to rest and sleep and when the sun rose the monkey woke the man and they took off again. 

After three days they finally left the desert. At first, the man thought the small town was a mirage. But when he stood in the middle of a town square he felt relieve and wanted to thank his rescuer, the headless monkey. But when he turned around, it was nowhere to see. As if he was just a dream or a mirage.