petrichor

Glenner Park

Riley
Normally, Saturday was the day she could relax, but today, it turned out to be one of the craziest day she ever had. It all happened that morning at 08.30 AM when she was busy sleeping. "OPEN UP!" Shouted a voice from the front door.

Riley grumbled in her sleep. Who the f***?! She thought. She tried to ignore it, but it was hard for her to drown out the noise because it kept shouting for her to open the door. Finally, she relented. She climbed down her bed, and straightened her pajamas. "Who is it?" She yelled while she headed towards the front door.

When she opened the door, her boyfriend Jared was standing in front of her. And judging from the murderous look in his red, puffy, bloodshot eyes, he was mad. Before Riley had the chance to say a word, Jared bursted in while slamming the door behind him. "You," He spat. "you little punk, what do you have to say for yourself, huh?!"

Riley shook her head and frowned in anger and confusion. "What do you mean, Jared. What's all this about?" she asked. "You never want to spend time with me!" Her boyfriend shouted, the words coming out of his mouth sounded as if he was eating hard candy. He's drunk. Riley thought.

"I tried everything b-b-but you're just being t-th-this egoistical little sh**, and now you wanna break up?!" He spoke with so much anger, his neck veins bulged as he crushed the beer can in his grip.

Riley backed away a little bit to avoid being hit again. "Jared, calm down. I don't even know what you're talking—" Before she could even finish her sentence, Jared pushed her so hard, Riley's back slammed against the wall. "Don't talk to me like that, you bitch!" He hissed.

The pain in Riley's back made her groan. The next thing she knew, Jared stepped closer, cornering her into the wall. "And if I ever see you talking with that boy on campus..." Jared started. Riley tried to get up, but she couldn't. "That was Oliver. And we weren't doing anything, I swear! He was just returning my pen." Riley answered.

"Well I don't want anymore of that," Jared retorted. "You slut." While Riley was still stunned by what just happened, without saying another word, Jared walked out while slamming the door loudly behind him.

Riley's emotion jumbled all into one. Why is he like this? She thought. A million words flurried through her mind until one of them caught her attention. What if it's my fault? Riley shook her head. No, it's not. But what if it is? She sighed, her own emotions were toying with her.

She staggered down to the kitchen to get some water. A few minutes ago, the place felt as if it was about to collapse from Jared's yelling, now it felt uncomfortably quiet. She looked out the window, the weather looked wonderful today.

Riley placed her empty cup on the table and sighed. The voices in her head was growing louder and louder. Crap, you know what? Maybe some jogging would do me good. She thought.

Riley couldn't take it anymore, she had to get out the house before it drove her insane. She quickly changed into her running outfit, sneakers, before running out the door.

Once outside, the air greeted her warmly.   But her emotions were still warring with her, the faster she picked up the pace, the louder her head pounded. She ran as if she was being chased by muggers all the way until she reached a park near where she lived.

Finally, she ran out of breath and stopped running, or as she realized, sprinting. Her breath wheezed as she walked down the park sidewalk. Despite all her efforts to clear her mind, she couldn't get the event earlier that morning out of her head.

Riley found a bench near a shady tree. Whew. She thought as she plopped her butt on the seat. The wind ran through her hair as she observed her surroundings. there were people running, playing, joking, and generally having a good time.