Don’t go out after dusk, warned the caretakers at the eco-retreat; wild elephants they said, come out at night, into the concrete jungle, crossing roads and railway lines, speeding cars and flashing lights, across fields and torch wielding humans; wild animals, both trampling for territory; I heard the trumpets ricocheting off the ramparts, raised from the graves of evergreens; tossed and turned to the lamentations of the leviathans, mourning for home and kin, while I pulled my plush cotton duvet over my head, wondering about my OOTD for tomorrow and whether the 4WD would be air-conditioned because I hated sweating.
Julia Esther Jacob’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Usawa Literary Review, The Hemlock Journal, Antipodean SF, and a Fundação Oriente anthology. “Lamentations” was the Editor’s Pick for our INTO THE WILD contest, part of our 2026 Micromemoir Marathon.