𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟏𝟎𝟔

"𝚁𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝕒 𝕗𝕖𝕨 𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕜𝕤 𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴' 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵

     EMILY throws on her blazer and straightens it out as she looks in the mirror. She puts her boots on and rushes over to Noah's bedroom to make sure she is awake for school. It was Noah's first day back earlier in the week and things seem to be going smoothly. Nonetheless, Emily still worries that Noah may be rushing her healing process.

Emily knocks on the bedroom door and does not get a response back. She quietly groans, praying that Noah is not asleep on the other side of the door. To her surprise, Emily finds a messy, but empty bed.

The mother walks downstairs and sees her daughter sitting at the kitchen counter. The teen is staring at her phone, but she does not move. Emily walks up and pours herself a coffee, taking in her daughter's state.

"Good morning," Emily says. She takes a sip of her coffee and looks at the teen over the rim of her mug. Noah wears bags and dark circles under her eyes. Her hair is thrown up into a messy ponytail and her clothes are wrinkly.

"Hey," Noah murmurs.

"You okay?" Emily asks.

"Yep," Noah shortly replies with a huff.

"You sure?" Emily questions as she sets her mug on the counter.

"I'm fine!" Noah snaps and sees her mother's cocked eyebrow, "I'm fine, just tired."

"How about some breakfast?" Emily offers and watches the teen shake her head, "Some coffee?"

"No thanks," Noah mumbles and crosses her arms on the counter, resting her head on them.

"At least some water, Noah," Emily says as she goes to the home office to get some files for work, "You need to wake up!"

Noah slowly gets up from her seat and walks over to the cabinets. She grabs a glass and holds it under the sink. Noah turns the water on and watches it spill down the drain. The sink turns into a running hose before a kid picks it up and jogs around with it. Noah can feel the icy cold water spray her summer sun-kissed skin. The kid spraying her with the hose is Max.

"You can't outrun me!" Max exclaims as he chases her.

"Fine!" Noah giggles as she stops running and feels Max spray her, "It feels good!"

"You're not supposed to like it," Max giggles as he stops spraying her, "You're supposed to run!"

"You said I couldn't outrun you," Noah replies with a smile.

"Look!" Max beams as he holds his thumb over part of the hose and points it upwards to the sky.

"It's raining!" Noah laughs as she holds her arms up, feeling the water falling down on her.

"It's raining, it's pouring," Max sings as he skips around in circles.

"The old man is snoring," The two kids sing together as they skip, "He went to bed and bumped his head! And he couldn't get up in the morning!"

"What're you two doing?!" Max's mother exclaims as she stands on the porch steps. She shakes her head with a smile as she watches the kids skipping around.