Claire's Promise

Chapter 2

I felt my lids get heavy as I struggled to stay awake in class; I had my head resting in the palm of my hand with my elbow on the desk.  I had been up late the night before struggling with my thoughts, keeping Colby calm and keeping my composure.  It wasn't an easy job, and it was taking its toll today.

I glanced down at my notes for math and picked up a pen, I needed to draw to stay awake.  I began making random patterns, filling the side of the lined paper with elegant designs.  It helped me to concentrate on the teacher.

"Claire" I heard my name called by an older female voice.

I looked up and saw my teacher glaring at me from the front of the class.

"You need to focus; do you want to do well in school? Or do you want to flunk at life?"

"I want to do well ma'am, I'm doing this to focus" I replied.

I had to do well, it seemed like getting a job and moving out would be our only means of escape.

The class dragged on for ages before it was finally over and I could head out.  I walked out of the school and ignored the people who called out to me; all they wanted to do was mock me.

I headed down a nice, wooded path; I threw my red hood over my head to stay warm. The way I went was a less used path to reach home, which I preferred. I liked the sounds of nature more than the sounds of empty headed children talking on a smelly bus.  A bird sang in a nearby tree and two squirrels scurried through the leaves and across the path.  I finally had some peace and quiet, just what I needed.

A light, cold breeze blew, making it slightly nippy. The naked trees nicely contrasted the colorful ground and the smell of wood filled the air, and as I walked by a house the smell of apple pie mingled with it.

Suddenly my mind flashed back to two weeks ago on that fateful day.  Apple pie, my parents yelling, my dad's fist hitting the wall, and Colby's struggling face all came to mind like they were happening all over again.

"No!" I shouted.

Without thinking I ran down the path. My heart was racing and my head was rushed like never before. I couldn't think straight. I felt like I was dying and trying to wake up from a dream all at once.

As I focused on the feeling I picked up speed. I was in a full sprint. Not thinking about where I was going.  I felt like my feet weren't hitting the ground.  When I looked down I saw they were. My head felt light and my body seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.  I couldn't explain why though.

I ran for only a few moments before I slowed down and returned to a walk. My breathing was heavy but I wasn't out of breath. I stopped moving and looked at my phone to see what time it was.

It was 2:35; then I realized, I had left the school at 2:00, which meant I had to have been running for at least twenty five minutes.

"What?" I gasped; "It's only been a few minutes."

The weight of what had happened hit me; now I was out of breath from running, my legs ached, and I realized how cold it was.

I bent over and rested my hands on my knees as I tried to make sense of it all.

"Hey, are you okay?" A male voice called out.

I stood up straight and saw that in front of me was a small building, it was colorfully painted and outside of it was a hand made sign that read Hank's Art House.

The man who had called out to me had jet black, layered hair, something like one of the boys at my school would have; and dull hazel eyes.

"Yeah I'm fine" I said.