Fall in October

Morning Run

It was early October, fall had only just begun, and the sun, which had just barely risen, was hidden behind a thick sheet of clouds. Large, gray, impenetrable clouds. It was going to rain today, there was no doubt about that. It was Saturday and Tyler had woken up early like he did everyday. The house was quiet, except for his dad's echoing snores from down the hall. Tyler tried his best to be as quiet as possible, slinking through the hallway towards the kitchen. He grabbed a protein bar, something small for now, and took a bottle of water out from the fridge. He hadn't been on a  run in a while. Not with school and practice keeping him busy, but now that everything was finally settled, he had the weekend to himself.

    Tyler ate the protein bar, took a few gulps of water, then snuck back into his room. He put on a clean white shirt, his favorite red tracksuit, his old headband, and his running shoes. His hair was a bit of a mess. He hadn't brushed it since yesterday morning and it was all tangled up in the back. It had grown out much longer than he had expected it to, but with fall becoming colder as the days went by and winter approaching soon, Tyler figured he'd just leave it be.

    His dad was still sound asleep at 7:30, and he was going out. He stepped out of the front door and was immediately hit with a quick, brisk wind. The cold flushed his cheeks and the tip of his nose red. He flexed his fingers a few times before heading off. The cold would dissipate once he got moving. He didn't technically live in a neighborhood, but it felt like it sometimes. Everyone would come together and hang out, even if some of the houses were a mile or two away from each other. Tyler ran down the sidewalk, taking note of all of the houses as he passed. There were his elderly neighbors Mr. Edmends and his wife. Both sitting out on the front porch wrapped up tightly underneath a thick woolen blanket.

"Good morning Tyler dear." Mrs. Edmends smiled, waving at him with a wrinkled hand.

"Morning Mrs. Ed!" He waved back.

    After that there was the Kensley's house. They had seven kids, all under the age of 11, all with bright red poofy hair and freckles. Then there was Mrs. Baker, the McEvans, Colby Flint and his girlfriend, the Novella's, and finally the empty Miller house. Only it wasn't so empty now. Tyler stopped jogging right out front of the house's old picket fence. There were boxes sitting out on the porch and all of the lights were on. It was early and usually it was only Tyler and the Edmends out at dawn. Tyler heard yelling coming from inside of the house, he took that as his hint to leave but before he did someone angrily stomped out.

    With a quick slam of the door, a tall, tan, man stepped out onto the porch. He had a firm grimace on his face before he noticed Tyler standing a bit aways from the front gate. He looked around quickly before speaking,

"Ah, you didn't hear all that, did you?"

Tyler panicked "Hear what? That? Oh, no! Nope! I didn't uh... I didn't hear anything. I was just going for a jog." He smiled awkwardly, pushing his hands into his pockets to keep them warm.

"Alright then." the man paused for a moment. "Jogging huh? Out here? It's freezing." The guy began to friskily rub his arms. All he was wearing was a loose sleep shirt and a pair of fuzzy pajama pants.

"Yeah but you know," Tyler shrugged. "you get moving and the blood starts pumping. Suddenly you don't feel so cold anymore."

The guy nodded, stepping back towards the warmth of his house. "I'll leave you to it then." he waved before dipping back into the light of the house.