The Runner -a Magpie Tale

Another Magpie muse just for practice and fun!

This one is called:
"The Runner"

It was an exceptionally dark April night. Rain was pelting down in cold, hard streams. She could feel the spray splash up, and hit the backs of her legs as she ran. Ahead she could see the blurry trail and smear of tail lights, brake lights and blinkers flashing....she was occasionally blinded by the oncoming headlights on the opposite side of the street. Perhaps she should just run across the street and try to hide away in an alley?

She knew it would only slow her down, if she dared to turn and look to see how close behind he was..but despite her best efforts, she couldn’t help herself and turned to gauge the distance between them...ropey, wet, strings of her dark hair whipped across her eyes blocking her view for a moment. Using her free hand she cleared them away. In her other hand, she clutched her last memory of him. The last cheerful, carefree moments they had shared together.

She remembered how the laughter felt in her throat...and how his smile could turn her inside out. She remembered how it felt to have his fingers entwined in hers and the way the bell on the door of the thrift shop jingled as they entered...the smell of the old clothes and the possessions that were being revived to live another life...someone else’s life. Discarded and used up by their previous owner....or treasured even, but abandoned nonetheless, for some reason. Perhaps their former owner had died or moved away. She felt a kindred with all of the things in that shop...they...like her, were attempting at another go around...neatly displayed on the racks and shelves, sequenced by color or category. She remembered the shop keeper’s pleasant smile. She remembered how it felt, to finally know the feeling, of being loved by another human being....and more importantly how it felt to love another human being. 2 years prior she would never have been caught dead in a thrift shop let alone think to purchase something. Something that she would treasure, just because of the memory it held.

She had spent her younger years as a money hungry fashionista always accumulating the next best thing. Scooping up hordes of designer clothes, jewelry or shoes, as if they were free gumballs just sitting in a bowl for the taking. Without thought or reserve she would just whip out daddy’s credit card and take whatever it was she wanted. That is until, she met him. In an instant her life was changed forever. The shell of who she was, wasn’t even real to her anymore...her former self was more like a character from a book she’d read long ago. But now he was gone and here she was with these shoes clutched in her fingers...the only reminder she had of the times they had shared together. She didn’t even really care for the style of the shoes...the low heel did nothing to accentuate her legs, in fact they made her calves look bulky, rather than shapely. And yet she loved them. She knew if she would just drop them right there she could probably gain a little speed. Just the thought of letting them go made her clutch them even tighter.

Running with both hands moving and swinging differently, threw her balance off just enough for him to gain on her. She was running clumsily now, the debris on the pavement was slicing into the tender flesh of her bare feet. She did her best to readjust her stride, but she knew she couldn’t out run him. She would have to think of something and fast...the gap between them was closing in.

© Copyright 2010 Christine Maxwell
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