A Day at Practice

'Twas a clear day on September 12, 2016. On this day, the cross country team ran off the school grounds for practice. No one knew why. Their practice ended at five. However, at 5:00, none of the runners had shown up yet, not even the fastest one. The parents of the athletes thought practice was running a bit late and continued to wait for their students. But still no runners appeared in the next ten minutes. The parents began to get worried. They still decided to wait. Five minutes later, when they were seriously concerned, some of the parents began to drive to the park, where they knew practice had been, as they were told by their students. When they got there, they saw the entire team laying in the grass. The parents assumed they were practicing relaxation and parked their cars to wait. They grew worried again when the athletes had not visibly moved for another five minutes. A couple of parents got out of their car, followed by other parents from their respective vehicles, to tell their athletes it was time to go home. When they saw their students, the thing that stood out the most were their eyes. Open and unblinking, staring straight ahead, and glazed over. Every one was similar in this way. When none of the student athletes responded to their parents, their sense of dread increased. They did not know what to do, so one called an ambulance. Less than half an hour later, all of the cross country runners were proclaimed dead. All dead from the same cause. Exhaustion.