Separian - Book 1

Prologue:

June 10th

It's been four days since school let out for the summer and Sarah is still AWOL; nowhere to be found or reached. I've tried calling her cell, her house, her parents, even her sister who's away at college, but all I am getting from anyone is, "she is overseas" and, "she will be back before you know it." It isn't that I can't survive without her for a little while, don't get me wrong. But when you ask someone a question like that, one would think you'd want to spend more time with them to try and flesh it out. Or, at the very least, hear the response. But what do I know? She's been gone from the moment she said "goodbye" that day and now I'm here, writing in a journal to pass the time. 

Call it a funny feeling, or merely my pessimistic mind, but I don't think I can wait the entire summer -and not just for my own benefit, although I admit that is at the forefront of my mind. I don't just want Sarah to come back. I need her to come back. 

Something happened- is happening, and I'm not sure if I can tell anyone else.

June 20th

It's been over a week since I've written in this thing, but I need to keep track of things now. I don't think I'm crazy anymore. I haven't been able to fully test what's been happening, and I don't know how much of it I should be writing down, but I can't talk to about it with anyone. Certainly not my parents.

First things first, I've been researching my conditions every way that I know how -the internet, reading, even anonymously calling the local health clinics and talking to the 'nurse on call'. All I can turn up is insomnia, hysteria, hypochondria, and the flu. I don't know anything more than what I'm experiencing. There is every chance there is nothing to it, I admit.

And next, onto the facts. 

1) I'm not getting tired. Not 'I don't get AS tired', I mean that my body is no longer growing exhausted from my day to day activities. Not at the end of the day and not first thing in the morning after a sleepless night. Initially I thought it was just a mild case of insomnia, perhaps I'd eaten something or taken something unknowingly and whatever it was lingered in my system, but it's been three nights now. I'm beginning to wonder. It's difficult to explain in full, but at this rate, it feels like I could run for days without stopping. As if I have a limitless supply of energy that I've barely tapped into. It's still too early for anything concrete but I know it isn't normal.

2) Strange marks have appeared on my left forearm and the right side of my body. I thought it was dirt at first, something I'd gathered after playing with Jetta in the yard, but when it didn't come off in the shower, I investigated further. It is embedded into my skin, whatever it is. Like a birthmark finally bubbling to the surface.

Still nothing from Sarah... My skepticism is getting worse.

June 23rd

Today, I went for my morning run, like I always do. I turned on my music and left the house at exactly five o'clock. An hour later, I was still running. Seven o'clock passed and I was still running, and I was moving faster than when I'd first started. Eight and nine o'clock passed the same way. I was still running, practically sprinting by the end.

I passed under the interstate bridge and continued to run away from home until the sun was directly overhead. 12:45. I didn't stop because I was tired. Almost seven straight hours of running without taking a break and I was prepared to continue on, if my absence from home wasn't already lengthy. Compared to yesterday, however, that's over a six hundred percent increase in time spent running.