Part 1: She
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.
