Remembering Her

Growing Up

Past

Riley's POV:

"Riley!" my best friend Jax whined, running after me on the playground, "Wait for me! You're too fast."

"You'll have to catch me if you want any of the gummy worms my mom packed me!" I yelled back, scrambling to get away from him. He was quite fast, but I was faster. I climbed the stairs up to the slide and threw myself down.

"Come on Jax, you're getting slower by the minute" I teased. Really, he was catching up much too fast for my liking, because I really wanted those gummy worms to myself.

Reaching the end of the slide, I raced across the playground to the edge of the park, weaving in and out of people, picnic benches, and trees. My ten-year-old mind was quite content that I had put such giant obstacles in Jax's path.

"Riley! Slow down! We're too close to the road." I could faintly hear Jax panting behind me, but I was too focused on keeping away from him to register what he had said. Pushing myself faster, I reached the end of the park, but I didn't stop there. I kept running, right into the middle of the road.

"Riley! Get off the road, the cars drive on there!" I heard Jax yell from the side of the road.

"There aren't any cars Jax, and I'm not coming back because I don't want to share the gummy worms!" I really loved gummy worms if you hadn't figured that out.

Just as I finished that sentence, I heard a loud honking coming from behind me. I turned just in time to see a large transporter truck barreling down on me.

My mind went blank as my body froze in fear, just as I felt a force pushing me out of the way and landing on top of me.

The squealing of brakes and the pounding of my heart were the only noises that could be heard. I still couldn't move, I was too petrified to try.

"Riley, Riley, you're all right." I heard a voice saying to me. I looked up to see the person that had pushed me out of the way. It was Jax. How he had gotten over to me in time I couldn't understand.

"Jax?" I questioned, not quite believing the whole situation.

"Yeah Riley, it's me." he responded quietly.

"What happened, how'd you get over here so fast?" I asked him.

"I don't know, I just saw the truck coming and ran as fast as I could. Then I pushed you out of the way." He answered, while helping me to my feet.

At this point, we had drawn quite a crowd, and there was a very freaked out man stepping out of the transporter. He ran over to us and asked if we were okay and made sure he hadn't hit either of us. We told him we were fine and he let out a breath of relief.

"You're very lucky this friend of yours is so fast." The man said, motioning to Jax.

"Yeah, I am." I realized.

Promising the man that we'd stay off the road, he got back into his truck and drove away.

"Riley, you know, I caught you just now, so, does that mean I get to have some gummy worms?" Jax asked when we got back to the playground.

"I guess you do get some gummy worms." I replied rather reluctantly, handing him a handful from my bag, "But, I still get more than you, because they're mine."

"Fair enough, even though I did just save your life." He said.

"Oh, alright." I gave in and gave him half of the gummy worms, and then stuffed the rest in my mouth so that he wouldn't be tempted to take more.