Midnight Run

Chapter 1

WC: 820
⚠️Warning: mention of suicide⚠️

Emilee Ross's body was found in the woods behind an old cabin. Who is Emilee Ross you ask? I'm not the person you should be asking. I don't really know who she is. I heard about her death on the radio a few hours ago when I had sat down at the table to eat breakfast. "A teenager by the name of Emilee Ross was found and confirmed dead in the woods behind a deserted cabin. The report came in today at 7:00 a.m., but after the biopsy, we've been told she has been dead for about two days. At this time we can not be sure of the cause or time of death. The body had bruising at the back of the head, splitting at the lip, and mysteriously bleeding from the eyes. If you have any useful information that could lead to a suspect, cause of death, time of death, or a potential enemy of hers, please contact us at....." I turned the radio off.

   "Bleeding from the eyes? Jesus, I hope she was dead before that happened" I had thought. I pushed my chair back and stood up. After I pushed my chair in, I had put my plate in the sink. I turned on the tv and sunk down onto the couch. I began to switch channels. I had finally switched to a channel that had something inappreciably interesting on, but just then got interrupted by the news. I rolled my eyes.

As I was close to turning the television off, a picture of a girl flashed on the screen. I jumped up from the couch instantly. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion as I hastily attempted to remember where I had seen her before. "She...she was the girl I'd seen at midnight" I thought. No... no she can't be, she's dead.

    She died two days ago. She must've just looked similar. Or it may have been too dark to make out all of her features when I was out for my midnight jog. Or I might have seen the girl someplace else. Might have? Of course I'd seen her someplace else. I would've had to. I thought about when I'd seen her at midnight. Well not her, maybe her.

I had gone out for a jog, because all of my thoughts racing in my head were keeping me awake. My friend Aiden committing suicide and my (soon to be engaged) girlfriend breaking up with me over the phone. Me and Alaska's conversation played over and over in my head.

She had said "I love you Gabe, you know I do. But you deserve someone better than me. I might sound like a mom saying this but, I'm not really a good influence for you. You know what I mean don't ya?"

I had said "What do you mean...I thought we were moving up another level. We were going to get en-"

She had cut me off. "I know, I know. And I'm sorry. But I've convinced myself that you can do better."

There was a second voice on her side of the phone.

"Hey babe, who are you-"

The male voice was cut off, by her clearing her throat.

Then, "I've got to go. I'm sorry Gabe."

Even though both of those predicaments took place over a month ago, I just couldn't get either out of my head....

I had been looking up from the sidewalk I'd been jogging on for the past few minutes that night and had noticed a girl walking ahead of me. Her wavy blonde hair bounced on her shoulders. I had watched her head turn slightly to the right. I couldn't tell what the colors of her irises were, or how pale she was, but I could tell she was beautiful. I tried not to stare, but I couldn't bring myself to look away. "Does she know that I'm behind her?" I thought. No, probably not. Unless she had turned to look at me when my head had been down.

     I thought about saying something, even a quiet "Hi", but I couldn't find the nerve to say something. So I slowed down into a walk instead of jogging. I was afraid I might get too close and run into her or something. "I wonder where she's going", I had thought. I had put my head down again, and watched my feet as I took each step. We walked in silence. It seemed to be too quiet. I mean, other than my ear buds blasting ACDC, there were no other sounds. I looked up. She was gone. It's like she had just vanished. I turned my head both ways, and after not seeing her either direction, I began to pick up my pace. I jogged around the corner. I saw no one but a couple holding hands.