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Ruth
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It was moments just before dawn. She'd been kneeling face down for hours, her eyes, tightly shut, her heart hammering against her chest as she awaited the sun.
Her waist length brown dreads covered her face and touched the ground of the rocky hill of the country Moab as she stayed on her knees. She took the deepest breaths, her chest heaving, with her hands outstretched to the sky, quivering.
Ruth, just seventeen, was dressed in a pure white sheath dress that contrasted with her warm brown skin even in the dark.
Joel, an older man, with a stoic face, dressed in priestly attire stood not too far from her with a drum right in front of him. He stared only at the horizon that promised the rising of the sun and he hoped that this time Chemosh would accept the young girl’s offering.
This would be day eighty since she started the petition for her grandmother's life. This would be day eighty since she started shedding her blood like it was nothing.
“Chemosh, don't let your servant down.”
The blue sky slowly tinted a lighter shade and the sun rose promising a glorious reveal. It was time.
With his left hand Joel banged the drum, it echoed so loud; almost as if it echoed throughout the whole country of Moab.
The Moabites didn't wait for the sun. The sun waited for the Moabites.
Ruth felt the beat of the drum straight from her heart, then a pause ensued, the sound of her breathing loud to her ears.
It was time.
She could almost feel the sun rising on her then the offering would begin.
She promised herself that she'd give her all and nothing less. Nothing less.
Joel hit the drum again, in no particular rhythm just an ominous rising as if to prepare, as if to warn her that Chemosh was a god that could not be played with.
And she knew, Ruth knew it and felt it, with every bang from the drum that went straight to her heart, an unsettling feeling came over her but Chemosh was her only hope right now.
The rhythm started to pick up, slow and ominous. Every beat on the drum flying straight to her thudding heart.
Finally, the rising sun cast it's glow on the country of Moab, touching the desert land, the valleys and ravines, touching the trees and touching the countless rocky hills that were the colour of the sand.
The sun cast it's glow on Ruth and she felt its rays a tender almost imaginary touch to her aching bones.
Ruth rose from her knees, her legs feeling a little wobbly from the hours of kneeling and praying. She stood tall on the hill of Moab her sheath white dress, molded her figure in a loose yet fitting way.
She flipped her long brown dreads away from her face with one motion and her face came into view, the sun shining on it. The gold nose ring she wore, sparkled in the light, along with the studded earrings.
Her eyes that were still tightly shut, twitched under the rays of the sun. Joel's drum was more rhythmic, the music echoing into her ears, warning her racing heart.
Ruth, who stood on the hill of Moab, with her face towards the horizon, slowly opened her eyes that had been shut for hours and they met with the sun.
Her dark alluring eyes caught the rays of the sun, and they glistened with tears.
