"Emma," a soft voice calls.
It must be my mom.
"Emma," she calls again, more forcefully this time.
I mumble to myself and roll over, pulling my blanket up over my head. Her hand is on my shoulder and she's nudging me.
"Stop," I murmur, my voice thick with fatigue.
"Emma wake up!"
My eyes slowly open and she's standing over me. Her blonde hair glints in the sunlight pouring in through the window.
Wait.
Blonde hair? That's not my mom.
It's Chrystal.
I don't even remember falling asleep.
I sit up, "What time is it?" I ask.
Chrystal shrugs, "I don't know. We don't have a clock or anything, but it's probably around noon."
I must have gone to bed at like four in the morning.
I kick my blanket off and go to look out the window.
"Where are we?" I ask, realizing the van is now parked, and the other three girls are gone.
Chrystal smiles, "The beach," she says.
She bends down to retrieve something from the hole in the bed platform. She pulls out a box of some generic cereal and stands up satisfied.
"Want some?" She asks, opening it up.
I shrug. "Sure."
Before I can protest she grabs both my hands and pours a mound of cereal into them, half of it landing on the floor.
Then she grabs a fistful for herself and says, "Let's go."
I glance around as Chrystal and I walk down to the beach to meet the others. Turns out the van was parked in the grass right on the actual beach. No one else is around so this must be some sort of restricted or secret beach.
The other girls are sitting in the sand. Jasmine and Emily are reading, and Kara is painting. Chrystal sits down next to them and starts to meditate or something.
As much as I hate getting sandy, I can't resist stretching out on the warm sand.
As my fingers absentmindedly play with the sand, I find myself thinking back to when I used to go to the beach as a kid, before my dad left.
I remember him building sandcastles with me and laughing with my mom about something funny I was too young to understand.
That was before the started fighting all the time. I would do anything to go back to that moment and for all of us to be happy and together.
But I know that's impossible.
The thought of that is sad, but the memory still fills me with warmth.
"Let's go in the water," Jasmine says, getting up.
I expect her to be wearing a swimsuit under her nightgown, but instead she just dives right in, plunging herself under an oncoming wave.
Soon we're all splashing around in the chilly water like we're kids again.
It's the happiest I've felt in a long time.
YOU ARE READING
Run
General Fiction*CURRENTLY UPDATING* After her boyfriend of 2 years cheats on her with her best friend, Emma decides it's time to get away. She has many strange adventures with new friends. But what happens if she decides to go back?
