Cora

CHAPTER 2: ONE YEAR AGO

The sound of church bells was ringing on and on. Then, they started to morph into something deeper and creepy sounding, a constant beeping that made my heart beat faster and faster.

I bolted awake and was shocked by the brightness of the day already. I reached my arm over to shut my alarm off and then rolled over onto my back, taking deep breathes to slow my heart rate down.

Today, I had to send out the first assignment for the online class I am teaching on Natural Resources and Conservation. Everything was all set up, I just had to turn on my laptop and hit the send button.

This was my second year teaching the online class. I received a lot of positive feedback from the students who took the course and the administration who asked me to do it again this summer. Teaching this online class during the summers gave me a little extra dough and was only five weeks out of my vacation.

I took a deep breath, peeled the covers off the bed, and walked over to my desk. I opened my laptop and signed-in to my account. Everything I needed was right up on the screen and I read it over to make sure it was all correct, then hit send.

I glanced at the clock on the screen which read 6:30 am and closed my laptop. Last night was the second night that I spent in this house and I was still getting used to my new room. I leaned back into my chair and stretched my arms out, yawning. There was more I had to do today with boxes still not unpacked and what-not. But, instead I decided to start my day out with a run.

I pulled myself up from my chair and went into the kitchen to pour a glass of water. I leaned over the counter, looking out the window and sipped from my glass. The window was cracked open a little and I welcomed the warm breeze and sunshine coming right through onto my face. My mom brought over a cute Golden Pothos plant the day before that I kept on my window-sill next to the sink.

I downed the last of the water and placed my cup in the sink. I went back into my room to put on my favorite runner's shorts, t-shirt, and sneakers. I fixed my hair into a tighter ponytail and then stepped outside the front door. The sun was not too warm this early in the morning and I smiled as I set off running down the road to finally explore my new neighborhood.

Being in this new neighborhood, new town, new state, was quite exciting, yet a little scary. My mom has never moved before or lived anywhere else other than Maine.

She still has not even been on a date since my Dad's passing eighteen years ago. She was very supportive when I decided to move out here and realized that nothing was keeping her there either. We each got our own place, but I can tell already that she will be checking up on me more often.

I laughed to myself and took a deep breath, picking up my pace.

I passed vast empty hills, dense woods, old farms, and various shops. I continued down different roads and came upon an old rundown shack in the distance. There was a man outside that seemed to be watching me.

I slowed my run and squinted to try and get a better look. I felt my shoe get caught in a pothole in the pavement and all of a sudden, I was falling knees first onto the ground, twisting my ankle.

Immediately, I felt a shooting pain from my left ankle up to the side of my leg, as I saw that my ankle was contorted in a weird way. I gasped from the pain and grabbed my ankle which has already began to throb. I looked back to the house to see the man had disappeared. I looked around me to see a clearing ahead that looked like a parking lot. I balanced myself on my good leg and heaved myself up so I was standing again.

I gritted my teeth and limped towards it. As I tried not to put too much pressure on my ankle, I slowly made my way over the hill to see that the fenced in area was a park. A really nice park with giant trees, benches, and plenty of open space. There were openings in the forest where there must be walking trails. This area was even more populated with runners and dog walkers that were either playing fetch with their dogs, moms walking babies in strollers, and kids running around playing tag.