[ WP ] You were born with the ability to know what is buried beneath your feet . You have worked for years alongside archaeologists finding lost cities and ancient treasures ; however , today is the first time you have ever said `` We should not dig here . ''

“ Sites below the ground come with sounds too. They ’ re hollow, like wind through a tunnel, very soft. Time helps sites sleep. A town covered by a lava flow loses its voice after a while. Ancient sites almost have no sound at all. ” 
 
 
 This morning Leora walked over a patch of earth, with large high clearance cars creeping behind her. Men and women wore hats that covered their necks in cloth, with binoculars hanging below their chins and shovels tossed in the trunks of their cars. I sat in a front seat, windshield dusty and a dream catcher swaying dumbly as the car wobbled to a stop. We all started hopping down from our vehicles. Her stopping meant she found something and it was time to dig. I raced towards her with Allen, the other leader of the crew, holding our hats in the wind. 
 
 “ What is here? ” Allen asked her. Leora jumped and spun around to us, her eyes wide and filled with tears. 
 
 “ We can not stop here ” she insisted. Allen squinted in the arid heat against flying grains of sand. He looked at me, perplexed, and back at Leora. 
 
 “ What is here? ” he repeated. 
 
 Leora looked at her feet, lifting them as if the ground was heating up beneath her. She shook her head. “ Not here! ” she shouted over the wind. Around us people were gathering with their tools, anxious and waiting for directions. A man tried to light a cigarette but failed. 
 
 “ Why? ” I asked. Leora looked distracted. She whipped her head about, looking frantically at her feet. She spun around several times, pausing, blinking with frustration. Her lips trembled. She was listening to something. 
 
 “ It ’ s so loud ” she said to herself, her mouth twisted in fear. Tear streaks crossed her face, making strips of mud on her dusty skin. She blinked some more before she made eye contact with me. “ It ’ s loud, we have to leave! ” 
 
 “ I know it ’ s loud. ” yelled Allen, gesturing at the weather. Sand hissed against our boots and stung our faces. Leora wasn ’ t talking about the weather. I recalled something she told me in a tent a month ago, and I knew she meant the site. Suddenly she turned from us and sprinted. I looked behind myself to see what she was running from. All our crews stood looking after her, just as confused as I was. I looked at her again, a small figure shrinking. Then her body was instantly dragged into the ground and she was gone. 

