Things We Said Today

Chapter Nine

I had never been the athletic type. I didn't play sports in high school and gym class had always been something of a nuisance. I wasn't especially physically coordinated, nor was I fast by any means. So, I spent the majority of my high school P.E. period hiding in the back of the group hoping to slip by unnoticed. As an adult, I was occasionally dragged along to a yoga class, or on an amateur hike, but I never sought out physical exertion on my own terms. That's why when I woke up on a cold December morning craving a jog, I thought I had absolutely lost my fucking mind.

Perhaps I had lost my mind, that actually seemed logical all things considered. But instead of processing that, I tugged on a pair of exercise shorts and dusted off the sneakers that had been shoved in the back of my closet since the last time Evie had forced me to go to yoga with her.

That's where Evie was supposed to be that Saturday morning, her 8am yoga class. But after she had ditched us the night prior for whatever vague prior engagement she had attended, she still hadn't returned home. Her bedroom door was cracked open, empty, and obsessively tidy. Nora had texted her after we returned home from the nightmare that was the warehouse art gallery, but all Evie had sent in response was another vague message that simply said, "I'm alright, I'll be home tomorrow."

I tried not to craft unlikely scenarios in my head regarding her whereabouts, but it was impossible not to. Evie was always the first one home after a night out— in bed before midnight, her skincare routine finished and her blonde hair in a tight French braid. I craved her stability and routine... not for myself, necessarily, but as a constant presence in my life. And now she was out gallivanting around without us, in some fancy cocktail dress.

It was like everyone in my life was slowly morphing into a slightly different version of themselves that I didn't recognize... while I stayed stagnant in my discontent. Maybe that was why I chose to go running that morning... or maybe it was just a distraction so I wouldn't keep picturing Evie tied up in a basement somewhere, her kidnapper texting us from her phone so we wouldn't go out looking for her.

"Nice um, outfit?" Nora's eyes scanned me up and down as I walked into the kitchen.

"I think I'm going to go for a jog in the park." I said, trying to keep my voice nonchalant as I filled a glass with water from the tap.

"A jog?" Nora's voice piped up, "Did you hit your head or something?"

I glared at her from over the rim of my glass, "What, I'm not allowed to get some exercise?"

Nora shook her head, putting her hands up in a display of innocence, "I didn't say that don't mind me... have fun on your jog." She said the word like it was a part of a foreign dialect.

"Thank you." I sneered, placing my glass in the sink, and grabbing my headphones from the coffee table.

"I'm going over to Eli's in a bit and we're going to head over to Dolores for a picnic if you want to join us afterward." Nora said as she absently clicked through channels on the television.

"Maybe. I'll text you." I shoved my house keys into the little pocket on the inside of my shorts and tried to ignore Nora as she watched me walk through the living room toward the front door.

I didn't know why it was so embarrassing for my best friend to witness me doing something new, but I felt my cheeks flush as I rushed down the hallway. I wanted to get outside as quickly as possible, where I would be around a bunch of strangers who had no idea whether I went for a jog every Saturday morning.

I put my headphones around my neck and scurried out the front door. I didn't want to jog until I was out of my neighborhood, because of some bizarre fear that my neighbors might see me and start pointing and laughing. Of course, that would most likely never happen, but the prospect was enough to keep me walking as I turned onto Frederick Street and began going in the direction of the park.