The Runner: A Story in Verse

The Runner

PART 1: She

The sound of rubber against asphalt filled her ears

Around her stood her team mates,

White shirts, blue shorts

Figures standing, breathing

Nonexistent

To your positions, said the coach

She turned to his direction

Balding, fat man, hamburger at the ready

She didn’t care. She didn’t want to.

Caring was what got her running in the first place.

Bending down,

White sand-stained lines against a red path

The asphalt was hot against her skin

Looking ahead,

The sounds around her

Disappeared

Faded away

They were gone.

From the present, she was gone.

In running, she found her world.

A faint sound of the gun

And she was away

She could see her teammates running by her

She could not hear her shoes slapping against the road

She could hear only her breathing

Her heartbeat

Steady

She stayed on the path

Yet her mind had wandered

Back to that day after school

Watching the boy who loved her,

The boy who held her hand

Talking to another girl

How could two people

Breathing the same air

Walking the same paths

Living the same time

Residing in the same country

Be so far apart?

Why was there a wall?

Where did it even come from?

Were they building the wall from the ground long ago

And they never even knew it?

She could remember

Until that moment she was running, she could remember

How the wind had turned cold

How her breath seemed to freeze

Upon seeing her first love

Not even look up and notice her.

The coldness of it all,

Fueled her to keep running

Had she passed the finish line?

Did the others tell her to stop?

No, she didn’t care

She wanted to stop caring

She just wanted to run

Keep running

Away from all of them

Away from him

Him

Please, get me away from him.

And she kept running

Until her legs begged her to stop

The sounds of the world came back slowly

“Great job,” a far away voice said.

Her vision was blurred from exhaustion

But her heart beat remained

Steady.