A giraffe called Ashley

The dunes began and ended in all directions. "Where are we?"

The sun was hot in the empty sky and the sound of emptiness filled my head. I hoped to see some kind of landmarks but everywhere I gazed all I saw was more sand. Not even a little patch of grass or other soil. Just hot, dry sand.

The giraffe that was following us had a big, brown mosquito net over her head. The net hung from her horns down to her chest and swung around as she moved her head and looked down at us every now and then. Her eyes were so kind.

I touched her warm leg and felt her muscles twitch. Her fur was rough and short. She smelled like grass and flowers.

I took some steps away from everyone to look behind yet another sand dune. I kept hoping that we would suddenly be back at where ever this whole thing started...

A young girl grabbed my hand after a while and shouted:"They're leaving!"
I stared at her with my heart in my throat. She was me. Her eyes were huge rings ans she was scared and panicking because we were now alone in the desert. Her face was young but I could hear her heart beat like mine, strong and slow. I looked past my ghost from the past and shouted to the giraffe as she slowly walked away (she was already about 500 m from us and just about to disappear behind a large dune).
"Ashley! Ashleyyy!!"
"Don't go! Don't leave us behind!"
Her head swung around and for a moment I hoped she had heard us but she just shook the rest of the net off her face and joined another smaller giraffe before she disappeared from view.