Dangerous Game

Part 1

A/N: First time ever writing anything online. Please be gentle. 

"I'll keep going," she said quietly to herself.

"I'll keep going until I can't feel anymore. This will make everything easier," she thought to herself. 

"Why?"she screamed at the top of her lungs, feeling the burn in her throat. 

The orange and white lump on her pillow picked its head up to see what the commotion was. 

"Sorry, Sam," she said sweetly, which was far from what she was feeling at the moment. 

Maria Lopez was running as fast as her treadmill allowed her to run. She could feel sweat trickle down her lower back. It was weird, but she only liked sweating when she was running.  She felt free when she was running, almost as if she was flying and nothing could keep up with her and this was the best feeling in the world. The feel of the wind against her face was uplifting to her soul. Sometimes she would run outside with her iPod, when the weather was nice in Cleveland, which could be anytime of the year. Cleveland's weather keeps you on your toes. From its frost-bitten winters to its sweltering summers, which could begin and end whenever it pleases. Take now for example, it's April and it's snowing! Sometimes Summer would carry on through September, with temperatures in the 90's! 

Maria's favorite song was on, "I'm every woman," by Chaka Khan, which gave Maria motivation to run faster.  As she ran she thought of her life, a graduate from Cleveland State University, elementary school teacher, and enjoying her new house and freedom. Her beautiful cozy two bedroom house. Which was 3 blocks away from her house; it helped with keeping some of her expenses low and gave her the ability to save for a rainy day. It was also helpful in keeping her 5'10'', curvaceous frame from getting too heavy. She loved her body and her legs were her favorite part of her body. 

She was sure to always work out, eat healthy, and keep her legs toned, which was ingrained in her since she was a little girl. Her father, a police detective, would make sure she was well trained in Krav Maga, which means contact combat in Hebrew. It's a great self defense program that was designed for Israeli soldiers. It promotes finishing a fight as quickly as possible in order to end the attack or run away. It's helped out in more than one occasion. She was happy to almost beat the crap out of her loser ex-boyfriend, who dumped her after 5 years together. 

Steve was my high school sweetheart, and we went to the same university, and I knew he was going to be my forever. However, something happened when he did his one year abroad in England. He came back with a really bad British accent and became distant. He didn't call me when he came back... come to think of it I was the one always calling him on Skype. Dang... I was blind and stupid. Frustrated I stop the treadmill get off and begin my routine stretch. 

Sigh. It felt good to get rid of Steve, sort of. We were slowly growing apart and there were no hard feelings towards each other.  I loved my treadmill, which was a gift from my dad before he moved to NYC.  My dad comes from a family of police officers. My 8 uncles, god bless my grandmother, are part of an army or police enforcement agency. My father is #5 of 8 boys, no girls. My uncles are either in NYC, Washington DC, or stationed overseas. He spent most of his time living in Cleveland, OH, when he was married to mami, and loved being a policeman here. But he insisted on moving to NYC as a detective, he said he misses his childhood stomping grounds. But I really think my papi, Hector Lopez, is going to try and get more information on my brother Raul, and NYC is where he thought he could get that information. 

Our relationship has been strained since he divorced my mother. We never get to see each other as much as we used to. When he moved to NYC, we really won't have time for each other. When I expressed these feelings to him, he suggested I move in with him and teach in NYC. Which isn't really a bad idea, since my best friend Abby lives there as well. She has been bugging me to visit and get a different change of scenery. I am considering it since I don't have anything to tie me down here.  I could use a break from the slow life of Shaker Heights. But I will miss the friendly people here. However, I made a huge mistake mentioning it to my mother!