The Swords of Memory: Second Chances

Chapter 13

She was in her bed again, this time covered in sweat. Why did she have to wake up at the most inconvenient time? It wasn't even her family that had woken her up, it was her own stupid body. Why had she gone to bed so early? If she had gone to bed an hour later she could have been there to help Eli. Who knows what could happen to him there in a day? Before she had felt confident that he was at least safe under Aaron's protection but Zara doubted that even Aaron would be able to save him from a mob that big. Zara tried to fall back asleep for over an hour but was too worked up. She finally forced herself up and threw on some cloths. She went over all the best ways to fall asleep. There was always hitting her head to knock herself out but that would be dangerous with her lingering concussion. Instead she opted for a hot shower. They always made her sleepy.

She got out of the shower feeling more on edge than she had when she had gotten in. The warm water had felt good but the time to think hadn't done her any favors. As a second attempt she decided to go for a run. It was eight in the morning and the sun was only just starting to come up. Exercising would let her burn her energy and then hopefully fall asleep. She wished that visiting the portal game in her sleep didn't make her sleep so rejuvenating. She felt like she had slept amazingly even though she had woken up so anxious. She got on shorts and a T-shirt and went downstairs. Her parents had left for work but Veronica was at the table looking at her phone. "I'm going on a run. I feel a little stressed and need to just work it out. I'm not sure when I'll be back."

"Just don't push yourself too hard. You don't want to hurt yourself. Where are you going to run?"

"On the bike trail. I'll make sure to look both ways before I cross the street." She grabbed a bottle of water and dashed out of the house. Zara had never been especially active but when she was really stressed she ran. Always the same route along the highway. She would run until she couldn't anymore and then she would turn around and head home. She ran like she could outrun the problems she was facing. The thing she loved about running was that no matter how hard her mind tried to make her think about something when she was running, her lungs and her muscles always overpowered the thoughts. They demanded attention and tore it away from everything else.

Before she knew it hours had passed. She had never run so far. She stopped and turned around, barely able to breath. The harsh summer sun beat down on her as she walked. She opened her water and drained half of it. She would normally walk back and use that time to actually work out her problem but she was in no mood to do it now. There was nothing she could do until she went back to the portal game. That meant falling sleep and she wasn't desperate enough yet to fall asleep next to a bike path when she was all alone. She reached into her pocket for her phone and realized that she had forgotten to bring it. "Great, now I'm stuck walking home." She muttered. Zara finally made it home and it was already four. Her parents would be home in a few hours.

She walked into the kitchen and downed a glass of water. She glanced around the room and saw that the landline had six missed calls and three messages. That was her parents' problem though. Anyone who needed her knew to text or call her cell phone. She was amazed her parents still had a landline. They both had cell phones too. She climbed the stairs slowly. The run had felt good but the aftermath was not as enjoyable. She was sore. She didn't have healing powers in her own world to take away all of her pain. She finally made it upstairs and found her phone on the floor next to her bed. She realized that last night she had forgotten to plug her phone in. The battery rarely lasted more than a day and it was dead. She plugged it in and took out her laptop. She wanted to distract herself and social media was usually her best outlet.

She opened Facebook and saw the notification. She opened it and saw the usual "birthday today" notification. It was her best friend Warren's birthday today. Amongst all of the portal game drama she had forgotten about it. She hadn't planned on having to worry about his birthday. With horror she realized the implementations. She remembered the letter she had given to his mom. He was supposed to get home this morning. Zara looked at her phone and it was still charging. It wouldn't turn on. She rushed downstairs to the kitchen and pressed the button to listen to the messages.