R U N

Chapter 1: Eloise Keegan

Ten Years Later

"Mom, I'm home from school." Eloise Keegan walked threw the front door, turning and locking it behind her. Her hair was blond, her eyes blue, freckles were visible, and her smile was faded.
"Did you have a good day at school?" A woman's voice shouted down the hallway, and faded away softly.

"Yeah, it was fine. Stan walked home with me..."
Eloise stated, throwing down her bag on the couch and walking to the kitchen as she heard the woman's footsteps approaching. The lady turned around the hallway corner, she was tall, had dark hair, and blue eyes.
"Is Stan the one you like?"
She questioned with a smirk on her face, "No that's Stanley. Stan is a girl mom."
The woman seemed puzzled and a little embarrassed by what she had thought to be true.

"Oh." She said, "Can you come help me with the laundry for a second?"
The blond turned on her heel, exited the kitchen, and headed down the hallway to help her mum.
Soon four others would walk threw the front door, Eloise's father, John, her youngest sibling Christian, then the girls, Kalyn and Mackenzie. They all looked the same, like an actual family. Everybody except Eloise. She was the one that stood out. Eloise was aware of this, and tried to keep her secret as long as she could.

Life was as normal as it seemed, to everyone. People believed the story that this family told, how Eloise was the daughter of the woman with the black hair and lived with her father, but when her father died at the age of ten she came and lived with her mother. Simple as that.

Eloise was normal, she had friends, good grades, did chores, listened to her parents. She tried her best to fit in perfectly. There was only one thing that stood out, she was a runner, and man was she fast. She also had scars on her back and arms, the simple explanation was that they used to have a very aggressive cat.

Every morning, Eloise would wake up at four o'clock before school and run around the small town. She tried to run ten miles everyday, and each mile she could run in six minutes or less. Every night, before bed she would run in darkness. Everyday she would run.

Besides this abnormal running, and scars on her body, Eloise was normal. Everything was fine, but the blond always held a worried look on her face and her smile was always cracked.

For the past few months, Eloise would run. But when she ran, there was always a man in a rocking chair on the porch of his house. He wasn't familiar to Eloise, but every time she past by him she would get a disturbed feeling and run as fast as she could to get away from his peering eyes. Everyday he would be there, watching.

Today however, would be the night that Eloise would not run. Because before today would end, an unwanted visitor would knock on the door.

After they were finished with the laundry, a banging fist pounded on the wooden door. Eloise jumped up in fright, then realized that it was just the someone at the door. But no one ever came to the door, unless it was one of her friend. Tonight her friends were going out but Eloise had turned down the offer because she needed to run.

Her mom calmly got up and went to the door, and Eloise stood very still in the hallway. The woman answered the door, cracking it slightly. "Hello?"
She said, unsure of who this man was. He had jet black hair and was very young, he was wearing a black suit and lifted up his sun glasses as he spoke.
"Good Evening, Miss-"
"Umm it's actually Mrs." The woman stated politely with a smile.
"Yes of course! I just thought you looked to young to be married."
The woman laughed, and smiled.
"Mam, I was wondering if you could help me out? My name is Wilfred McGuire and I am with the police department, I'm working on a case regarding Clara Drake. Does that name sound familiar?"

Eloise froze in the hallway, her mouth became dry and her heart began beating fast. Her mother stayed calm and simply shook her head no, then the man showed her a picture of a blond headed little girl and a scarce of what she might look like now.

"No I don't know anybody by that name." She said again, "Okay well if you see anybody who looks like this then please give us a call." The man smiled and handed the dark headed woman a card and the sketch of Clara Drake. She smiled and said good night, closing and locking the door as he left.

Eloise shrank to the ground and buried her head behind her knees, sobbing quietly as the woman said, "Eloise its fine, everything's fine! He was a police officer, he was nice it's okay." She continued to state things, and Eloise calmed down a bit, but her eyes were still pouring teardrops like raindrops.

"Their gonna find me...." Eloise grabbed onto the woman and didn't let go. "I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry!" She shouted and felt pain and regret all over her body. It was like she had run threw a cactus garden, the painful splinters were everywhere and to tiny and hidden to remove. She remained in this state for almost three hours until she fell asleep.

Months had past, a new year had started, and that man had never bothered to return. Her mother had shredded the image and the card, she then told me to burry the remains in our backyard where other discarded memories had been buried. Eloise had settled down after a few months, and life seemed to go back to normal. She simply kept repeating what her mother had said, that he was just a cop and that was it. And apparently her mind believed it, but her heart didn't.

Still, everything was forced to normality. A year had almost past, and this year her dad had won tickets to a festival. Except Eloise didn't like the State it was in, a gut feeling was telling her no. But she went anyways, which was a mistake she would regret every day of her life.

"I'm so excited!" Her little brother Christian was riding piggy back style on her dads back, shouting with glee. We walked to what we thought was the dock, but nothing. Just a man fishing on the dock, "Maybe I put in the wrong directions..." Her father commented, setting down her brother and ruffling his hair.

"Now we have to walk all the way back to the car, it's so far!" Her youngest sister Mackenzie complained. Eloise's mother grabbed her phone, and began searching for directions, except there was no service in this part of the lake. "Gosh darn it! I can't get any service!" She explained, so her father looked out to the Lake, scratching his head in confusion. Eloise didn't think anything of it, she stood there holding her twelve year old sister, Kalyn's, hand.

"I'll go down there and ask that gentleman for directions." Her father suggested, "I'll go with you!" Christian chimed in, holding his hand tightly as they walked down the dock. Eloise began to have something stir in her as she watched them approach the man. Her eyes watched the man stand up from his seat, her heart began beating fast. Could it be? No, no it couldn't. The man briefly looked at her father, and in this moment, it seemed like a second had lengthened into an hour. He turned his head towards Eloise, looked her directly in the eyes, and the sides of his lips pulled upwards into a devilish smile.

Without hesitation, without even a second glance, Eloise screamed. At the top of her lungs, as if an atomic bomb had just erupted. Anyone who was within five miles would have heard it. But it wasn't just a scream, it was a word.

Eloise screamed, "RUN!"