Cursed [Book 1] ✔

Chapter 4: Wake Up!

Running, running, running.

My life was one run after the other. Instead of measuring out my life with coffee spoons, each run earmarked a new day for me. Treadmills never gave me the same adrenaline rush as a good run did. Part of why I loved to run was the scenery rushing by with every pacing step.

Cement homes and silence slipped into whistling birds and the crunching of leaves. Trees, flowers, and dirt blurred into green, pink, and brown.

My speed picked up as a lovely blank slate replaced the cacophony of sound that usually filled my head. I closed my eyes to savor the peace, an emotion I rarely achieved.

When my eyes fluttered open, I glimpsed a sun-kissed girl running ahead. She disappeared at a bend in the path of the forest, black hair her single discernible trait.

When I had been younger, no one had dared broach the forest's edge, except for me, Rosalind, and Rafe. In the years I had been away, others must have discovered the soothing effect a run through the forest yielded.

Again, I spied her flitting through the trees, with barely had a stitch on. Instead, she wore a woven doe-skin skirt and several turquoise necklaces to cover her small breasts, each one tinkling against as she ran, like wind chimes. She glanced back at me briefly, but I had the feeling she was looking past me.

I mouthed a "hello." She either didn't see me or was ignoring me. With the sunlight back-lighting her between two trees, she shared more in common with a wood nymph than a person. For the second time, she dashed out of sight.

It was obvious she was no ordinary jogger. Following her wouldn't be smart or safe. Since I had never thought myself to be either of those things, I followed her.

Time and atmosphere expanded. I had the same sense of being followed, even though I could not see or hear anyone in my vicinity, not even the mysterious girl. I ran deeper and deeper into the forest, the canopy of trees thickening to create a false twilight.

A heavy thickness settled into my lungs, not unlike smoke. A smell accompanied the smoke, like burning bacon on a Sunday morning. My heart slammed in my chest, and the smell intensified. Not only that, but breathing in invisible smoke was taking a toll on me. I hung my head to rest my hands on my knees for a minute. The minute ended, and I raised my head to find the mystery girl a few inches from my face.

She was gorgeous in a way hard to capture without the use of makeup. Her wide-set eyes and bow-shaped mouth complemented her glossy black hair. Her beauty, coupled with her strange clothes, prompted me to believe that she was a part of a vision, one that had pulled me in.

As if she could read my thoughts, she nodded.

"Leave, and do not come back." Her whisper didn't leave her lips, but I heard it echo in my head all the same. "Coming back will lead you down a path of no return." Her words reached me through some unknown conduit. Before I could ask her about her cryptic statements, she whirled and ran from me for what I assumed was the final time.

My ears popped, and the woods flooded with sunlight. There was no more smoke invading my lungs, and no more sickening bacon smell. There was me, the birds, the trees, and something else.

The something else from before was still near.