Runaway Train (Preview)

Chapter 9

With the morning once again upon the world, I laid there in bed. Half of my body hanging out from underneath the covers. The subtle chill that entered in through the cracked open window was enough to get me to drag myself out of bed. I was the first person to get up in the house as I wandered around my room, scavenging for some basic clothes, settling on a pair of running shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Sliding them on, I looked at myself in the mirror while running my hands through my greasy hair. That was my only flaw since the rest of me looked perfect as I got my phone and flexed in the mirror's reflection.

"Looking good today, Jack," I told myself, snapping the photo before sending it to a bunch of my lady friends, who I felt would like to wake up with a smile on their face when they saw me.

Doing a few more poses, I was delighted with how my muscles were coming along. That wasn't going to stop today, though. Soon I'd be out the door to get to my morning workout with Chad at the gym. We were the hottest things in there, and when the girls saw us, we gave them another reason to sweat. We were the best-looking guys for miles, but I was more focused on getting those reps in with my boy. Although before I could even get to that point in my day, I first needed to make a hearty breakfast. Toast, eggs, bacon, and cereal. I needed everything I could get just so I could burn it off when I hit the weights.

At the same time, I enjoyed these moments in the morning, where it was just me, myself and I. Doing whatever I liked. I didn't have my parents grilling me with questions, while at the same time, I wasn't disgusted with Hayden's behaviour. The kid was lazier than a sack of potatoes. Although, the only reason his actions annoyed me was because I saw so much of myself in him. At his age, I was being shipped off to a military academy to earn some respect and to settle my rebellious urges. I figured that it would be a benefit to Hayden if he went as well. It would give him some sort of drive-in his life, but as in typical family fashion, our parents cradled him like a baby, and I guess I was jealous of him in that aspect. I knew I was better than him, but still, he pissed me off.

Putting those thoughts aside, I finished preparing this thrown-together meal and placed it on the table. I'd join it a second later after retrieving the newspaper from the front step. Sitting down to eat, I opened the paper and started shovelling as much food into my mouth as I could. Minutes passed when I suddenly heard the alarm clock going off in my parent's room. It was echoing loudly, and as expected, I started to hear someone shuffling around. I already knew by the steps who it was, and my alone time was quickly coming to an end. At the top of the stairs was my mother, who seemed to be in a bit of a panic. Looking over at the clock, she had overslept slightly but nothing too dramatic. However, I was at the point where I just wanted to finish the cereal as I shovelled the last few spoonfuls into my mouth.

I stopped as I turned the newspaper's page, finally getting to the sports section, as the headline caught my attention. The Runaways are going to the finals. The Runaways were a local football team that I had loved since the day that I was born. A part of me always dreamed of playing for them. I could never commit or try out, though I wasn't a leader outside of my family or friends. That's when I noticed the side article saying Missing female teenager. I didn't jump to attention with the urgency to search for them since I figured someone else could do that, and I'd only act if I got the order.

Returning to the cereal, the crunching sound echoed in my ears as my mother moved like a ninja. Somehow she had gotten behind me, and she patted me on the back. Utterly unaware of her actually being there, I jumped in my seat. I was fumbling around with the spoon, spilling milk and cereal chunks all over the table mid-panic, as I quickly turned to look over my shoulder at her.

"Good morning, son." She said with a smirk, knowing that she destroyed my cold personality in one move.

"Morning, Mom," I replied.