Hunger Stone

The rivers receded, leaving behind banks like parched lips. Leaving nothing but dust to nourish the crops.

Bucket by bucket they tried to stay alive.

A large stone surfaced.

Once the algae covering it dried under the unending sun, and fell away, a dire warning, chiselled across the stone’s face, appeared.

“See me and weep, though your tears will do nothing for your thirst,” it said.

The people withered, as their wheat had previously. Nothing but brittle stalks, bent and broken by the time the autumn rains finally fell and raised the river high enough to wash them all away.

Prompt courtesy of Sue Vincent’s #Writephoto.