Where You Belong

Route 23

Sighing, Lexi glanced up at the sky to see that a storm was several miles away. The gray clouds sat at the horizon, and the damp air promised another rain, possibly torrential in magnitude like the night before. Deciding to get out of the house while she got the chance, Lexi plugged in her small iPod shuffle and inserted the headphones into her ears. Pressing play, she took off down the dilapidated sidewalk beside the road.

Her sneakers slapped against the concrete, but Lexi could only feel the vibration. The loud music drowned out all other noise and she let herself relax into the beat. Her car may not have radio, but her small laptop still had access to new and popular music, and so her music selection was much more modern. Though, somewhere in her heart, she preferred the classic tunes to anything.

The first car passed her when the opening notes of 'Natalie' began to play. Lexi smirked, turning up the music up a few more notches. They said blaring music into your ears was bad, but it honestly didn't bother her much. She'd deal with that years in the future.

"Oh, I've never done this before, never wanna do this again. Wrong turn down a dusty road, it did it to myself I can't pretend.

"Well, I learned just a little too late. Good God, I must've been blind, cuz she got me for everything, everything, everything, alright."

She sang, though because of the volume she couldn't hear herself. The sidewalk slowly changed into crumbling concrete, before turning completely into dirt and gravel. There wasn't a barrier between her and the cars, so she made sure to watch what was in front of her. Not that she could do much anyway if a passing vehicle decided to plow straight for her face.

That would be a bummer.

Her thighs began to burn, then right after that her calves. She was a pretty fit person, but compared to athletes, she was not in shape at all. With her main hobbies including listening to music, reading books, and the odd horrid dancing she did in her room to said music, she wasn't really trying too hard to keep a workout routine. Though, she did enjoy running to her music, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

She continued to run, and the song ended. The landscape changed so drastically, as she'd always noticed driving the long road to and from the university. One moment you were in rolling fields, the next, a looming forest of dense trees, and then suburbs further down the road. She liked the change, though, especially when on long runs.

The next song in the shuffle started to play, and she turned onto the dirt path that branched off into the woods. The temperature dropped some, but it still remained pretty humid. There wasn't much she could do about that though, as she was already sweaty from the workout and the atmosphere.

"Fergalicious definition make them boys go loco. They want my treasure so they get their pleasures from my photo. You could see me, you can't squeeze me. I ain't easy, I ain't sleazy. I got reasons why I tease 'em, boys just come and go like seasons, Fergalicious." Lexi sang, bobbing her head back and forth in time.

Her pace became much slower as she had to watch out for the occasional fallen branch and outlying rock. The sun wasn't especially strong that day, and so it was rather gloomy within the trees. Shadows bounced across the path, but Lexi had run along this route many times. The only times she was ever unsure was when a storm was approaching. There was supposed to be one, but not for several hours at least.

The path bent and zigzagged along the trees, sometimes opening into small clearings, but otherwise remained rather covered. She was about to round a bend, coming to a point where she couldn't see around the corner. Still running full speed, and having her music up so high, she couldn't see or hear the person running in the opposite direction down the same path.