Keep Me Running

Keep Me Running : I knew you (chapter1)

I leaped down the staircase skillfully leaping over the loose papers left on the last step. “ANTONIO you bloody idiot move this crap, I almost died you douche” I shouted towards his room, over exaggerating about my near death. I slipped into my red and cheetah print creepers and vanished out my front door, slamming it deliberately hard behind me, not caring if I woke his lazy ass. He could afford being late to whatever job he had. Though he still refuses to tell me what he does, I've had my suspicions that it might be something dodgy anyway, its unlike Antonio to keep out of trouble. I would not be surprised if one day i found myself running because shit he got involved with. as bad as it is to admit he was destined to be the 'bad boy' he is today, he was one of those kids older people would walk by and shake their judgmental heads at, setting his place in society without giving him a proper opportunity to prove himself. 

 We’ve been living together since I left the psychiatric unit when I was thirteen, he hasn’t stopped reminding me how mentally unstable I was and apparently still am, since. I moved in with Antonio and his mum Sandra and my adopted aunty -who was kind enough to take a mental child who couldn’t remember anything from before she was twelve into her home- although social services wanted me to live with some catholic family in Glasgow, she managed to stop that as She was my mother's adopted sister and they thought maybe she could help me remember my parents and my life before. I still couldn’t remember anything but at least I had someone who was somehow related to my life. Sadly Two years ago Sandra vanished, there was a huge search for her in the area, articles in news papers, search groups, and there was even a mention on two local news channels a couple times, but after a year and a few moths of searching for her the police couldn’t find any links to her or anyone who could’ve been involved with her disappearance, and the investigation dulled down. Antonio was eighteen at the time though he would act like he wasn’t torn up about it in front of others, at nights I would hear him cussing with anger then cry then cuss all over again about his madre. I loved her like I would have loved my own mother but just like my real one she was gone.     

I walked out of our apartment that was just a large house converted into about two apartments. The morning air was cold stinging my lungs for the first few breaths as I crawled between the splintered loose boards in the fence behind the pear tree, leading me onto a path that would be the quickest way onto the high street. I looked at the clock on my phone.damn. I stepped faster. If I had forgotten anything it would have to be left as I was already way too late to turn around plus I was not risking ripping my new above the knee socks I ordered all the way from Japan on that fence. It was only the second half of the first term at my new college and it was way too early in the school year to have a bad reputation for being late, I was lucky that my serial lateness at my previous sixth form didn’t affect my place at this new college to badly. 

I picked up my pace down the busy high street. My train was due in five minutes, I hadn’t even past the pizzahut that I marked as the half way point between our apartments and the train station and I was still a good seven minutes away. Even though I absolutely hated running, jogging or any act that involved being at a fast pace in public drawing attention to myself, I would have to if I wanted to make it anywhere near on time. The cool autumn air filled my lungs as I picked up my pace, pulling my phone out to match my foot steps to the seconds passing on its screen. As I approached the station I shuffled around in my bag for my oyster card.                                                                                                  

“Shit, no, no, no it has to be here”. Maybe I had forgotten something.  A few heads turned as I ran over to the nearest bench and emptied most of my books onto the seat, pieces of loose paper falling through the gaps between the wooden planks. as I reached for them I could feel the seconds peeling and scrapping away, it was almost painful. I sighed in relief as I saw the blue card that would save my ass today hidden amongst the loose papers, I stuffed the papers and the books back into my bag, swiped my card and ran onto platform 1 just as the last passengers began to enter my train. I rushed over making it onto the train just as the conductor signaled to close the doors. I moved along the train as it departed the train station, I spotted a few faces I recognized from my collage, but avoided eye contact not wanting to force a polite ‘hello’ or answer to ‘what you saying B’ when I clearly hadn’t said ish to you in the first place.