"Run and never return!" "Its your fault." "What will your mother think?"
Words still echoed in the young cub's mind as he raced forwards, he was running slower than he was when he escaped the hyenas now, the heat and intensity of the blazing sun across the barren deserts taking its toll. The only other movement was the clouds of dust that occasionally formed as a gentle breeze swept by, providing a brief moment of respite for the cub before his mind returned to the heat.
Simba stopped moving, he could see the jungles ahead of him but they didn't seem to be getting any closer.
"Almost there." He said to nobody. He wasn't aware that his thoughts had become spoken words and he didn't care any more.
Simba took a breathe and prepared to step forwards once more. But it didn't happen. Exhausted, he felt his paws and then the rest of his body slip out from under him. The thud of his body hitting the ground was painful, not because he was particularly big nor heavy but because the ground and its crunching sands were scorching hot.
He didn't have the strength to get back up. Nothing more he could do, he closed his eyes.
The last thing he saw was a pack of vultures circling in the sky above him, mere silhouettes among the blinding sun and cloudless bright blue sky. At least the dark silence would provide some peace from the thoughts that plagued him now. The reminders of a past that although recent, he just wanted to forget.