Parkour

A Morning Run

3 AM.
Cold and snowy.
Ice patches on the road.
A perfect morning to go running.

I was once a young adult, fresh out in the world, much like you reading my story now. I would exercise, eat right, have fun, go party, and do it all over again. Day after day, until something happened that changed my life forever. Oh, but now I am getting ahead of myself. Where you need to begin to understand my story is on my 19th birthday, November 30, at 3 AM.

For the most part, I was a loner. Sure I went to the occasional party, but only for the change of pace. Because of this, I didn't expect anything to really happen that day. Especially at 3 AM on my morning run. That's why I was completely shocked when I literally face planted into the birthday cake. And was even more shocked to find my whole family standing around dressed for a party, but mostly because my whole family was DEAD.

So I know what you're thinking, how can they be there if they're all dead? Good question. That was exactly what I was wondering until my mother spoke up.

"Hey sugar plum, we came to celebrate your birthday!" She said it as if it were totally normal for someone's dead family to appear to them on their birthdays. I just stared in silence as she continued. "I know it must be weird to see us after so long, but we all get one visit, and we all agreed that as the last of our family we needed to warn you."

I finally managed to squeak out, "warn me about what?"

"We cannot speak its name, but it is approaching fast. You must run! Hurry go to 773 Acre Drive, the woman there can help you."

I just watched as they vanished, just like that, no other word for the last member of the Raine clan.

I knew the house my mother spoke of, it was old and ruined, and said to have an old hag living there. No one even went close. I was about to agree with the part of me that said this was stupid and crazy, until the roar of death cut through the night and made my decision for me.

The roar was like nothing you have ever heard, indescribable in its power. It jolted me to my feet, and into a sprint, using all the parkour skills I had from my years of training to run rooftops and move as fast through town as a speeding car would. But whatever had let out that roar was gaining, and destroying anything in its way. Another roar jolted me faster, almost forcing me to higher speeds. I couldn't see what was chasing me but I could see the destruction it brought, I could feel it. Almost like it was ripping the very universe apart. I ran the last rooftop down to the street and crossed to the old home. I didn't know if anyone even lived there but I knew that I was told to go there, and so there I went. I prayed desperately that if it was an old hag she would take be kind to the stranger about to bust in.

I ran harder than ever straight into the flimsy, crooked, cracked door...and broke my shoulder on the impenetrable surface. I cried out in pain but beat on the door with my good arm. Above the roar of the beast and the destruction it brought, I could just hear the voice of an old woman muttering inside.
The door flung open, revealing the ugliest, most disgusting old woman ever. "-quit that racket or I'll-" Her voice cut as she saw the destruction and heard the roar, like if she hadn't until then, and with a grip worthy of of an Olympic medal, she pulled me inside and slammed the door shut. The sounds immediately ceased, and the old disgusting hag wasn't an old disgusting hag anymore. And the house wasn't a run down shack either. Instead it looked a lot more like I was inside a space ship with a very pretty young woman, with chocolate hair, gold eyes, tanned skin, and a perfectly balanced body. If those eyes hadn't been so deadly looking I would have been totally hypnotized by her beauty. Instead I just stammered on about what had happened.

After a few more lines of stuttered explanation, she silenced me with a wave and said, "Jake, what kind of mess did you make this time?"