Across the Divide and Through Valhalla

Morning Jog

Chapter 15

The next morning, Sherry woke with a yawn before she stretched and reached for her phone on the bedside table to see what time it was. It was still dark, but it looked like the sky was lightening. When she couldn't find it, she sat up and turned her lamp on. She started looking for it when it wasn't where she usually put it, but she realized after only a few moments that she had been so exhausted the previous night that she had left it in the living room. She groaned when she remembered why she had been so tired in the first place. After sleeping in her own bed, she had almost felt like it had been a bad dream. All she had to do to dispel that notion was look down at her wrist. The geometric pattern that greeted her eyes was enough to shock her back into reality, as strange as reality was.

She forced herself out of bed. There was no point in putting off the inevitable. She stood at the door for a moment and listened for the tell-tale sound of the boards creaking that meant others were up and around. When she didn't hear anything, she decided that she would go for a jog before she started making noise and waking the others. Not that she thought they would be sleeping in. It was likely that at least a couple of them were up and just sitting somewhere, but that didn't mean she was ready to wake the rest if she didn't have to. She decided to let them sleep in if they wanted.

It didn't take her long to throw on some pants and put her hair up in a messy bun. She wasn't thinking about looking good, as she was likely to be sweaty by the time she was done anyway. She was thankful that she had a sliding glass door in her room, so she was able to slip outside and not have to face her houseguests.

Once she was outside, she made her way around to the front and grabbed her iPod out of the car before she put in her headphones and started toward the perimeter of her small plot of land. It was enough that about six trips around would make close to two miles. Plenty for a morning jog, as long as it was light enough for her not to trip on any unexpected gopher holes.

She made it about two-thirds of the way around before she was suddenly stopped when something dropped down in front of her. She screamed and fell back before she realized what, or rather, who it was. Caius had jumped out of a tree. She finally caught her breath and stood as she pulled her headphones out. She gave him a slight glare for surprising her, but then her eyes widened. "You... did you sleep in that tree?"

He gave her a slightly confused look. "Is there a rule against sleeping under the stars here?"

She suddenly realized that even though he lived in the city of Paddra, there was no telling if that was where he was originally from. It was likely that he had been part of one of the nomadic tribes before he went there. Even if it wasn't, Paddra likely didn't have the same light pollution that most of the earth did even though they were an advanced society. From what she could remember, they lived closer to nature than most civilizations on Earth did, so it made sense that he might want to see the stars. She finally shook her head at his question but didn't get a chance to answer. Both Zack and Genesis had come out of the house and were headed their direction with frowns. When she heard their approach, she looked back with surprise and saw Noel exiting the house as well. When she realized why, she felt her face flush. Once they drew even with them, she spoke before they could ask. "I apologize if I startled you. I was jogging and not paying attention, so when Caius jumped out of the tree, I was surprised and screamed before I realized what was going on."

Zack rolled his eyes and gave her a grin, but Genesis didn't look entirely convinced. "Do you scream at every little thing that startles you?"

By that time, Noel had joined their little group and was eyeing Caius warily. As much as she wanted to roll her own eyes at his question, she knew she needed to answer and diffuse the situation. "Out here? Yes. This is a rural area, so the only things that might jump out of trees at you are usually only squirrels and mountain lions. He's far too large to possibly mistake for a squirrel, so I assumed predator."