literature

Unexpected

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Literature Text

Friday afternoon. A special time for me, especially after an extra stressful week. So, driving with windows open, a breeze rushing through my hair (which I will, no doubt, regret later and I have to brush the knots out), I am free. Between juggling two jobs (the au-pair of three miscreants under the age of five and an online language tutor running on the 11 hour night shift) and my other miscellaneous responsibilities (family, friends, daily chores, you know, the usual), by Friday afternoon I pretty much feel as though I’m ready to die. Except that, of course, Friday afternoon is the time I spend at the river.

Ah, the river. The last haven of nature near our city, except for the beach, but with all the… people at the beach, why ever would I want to go there? I park as close to the entrance as possible, grateful for the lack of cars. The moment the car stops, I’m ripping the keys out of the ignition, grabbing my back pack and running. In the city, running about twenty steps normally results in me doubled over with an asthma attack, however here in the outdoors, I feel free, as though I could run forever. My normally clumsy feet avoid tree roots, rocks and other obstacles, and every frustration melts away.

“So, let go, yeah, let go
Just get in
Oh, it's so amazing here
It's all right
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown.”


I feel the song in me as I run. I can hear the world around me, but Frou Frou’s Let Go seems to be playing from within, urging me to run faster and faster. So fast, that by the time I reach my favourite secluded bench by the river, I’m winded, heart pounding, muscles burning and feet aching. It’s a beautiful feeling, being tired and sore because I want to be, rather than being forced into it by the world.

For a while, I just play, releasing little leaf boats into the river and picking flowers, placing them in my spare bottle of water, a reminder of the life that awaits me outside the city each Friday afternoon. When the sun becomes a bit cooler and dimmer, I fulfil another little ritual of relaxation. Reading a real book made of paper (not that the electronic copies are any less real, that is) and eating whatever lunch I’d brought. Sometimes, the lunch is extravagant, some kind of salad that beautifully put together and some delectable type of desert, and other days it’s as plain as can be, today’s example being peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches and a couple of apples. I will always maintain that it’s the simple pleasures in life that make life worth living, even if they’re just sandwiches.

Somehow, between the slightly-less-than scalding tea in my flask, the warm sun and the security of reading a favourite book, I fall asleep.

When I awaken, it’s evening and my safe haven is lit by an eerie light that seems to be growing brighter and brighter, and then I realise that it’s falling towards me. In an instant, I’ve scrambled to my feet and I’m running. Running and running and running, but no one can run faster than the speed of light. I give up, screaming as light over takes me. For a moment, I feel cold. And then, I feel... nothing.
((I'm done. so freaking done. I actually left this really nice little note here with apologies and excuses and everything. Even all the little things things that were happening in my life. There was bagpipes, Peter Pan, Mr Hiddleston and all sorts of things explaining my current madness and exhaustion, but somehow DA lost it, or I accidentally deleted it or something and because I wrote it so late last night/early this morning, I can't even remember what it says. I'm sorry. There was a lot of entertaining, odd hours hysteria there and it's gone and I don't have the heart to try and replace it. So, now I'm just going to apologise for how rushed everything sounds, because for some reason, the first snapshots of Aloe's life all sound rushed and a little bit... off. I want to claim Artistic License and say I was trying to show how rushed and fleeting Aloe's life felt before she became a deity, but that's a lie. I just screwed up and I can't fix it. And please, Please, PLEASE, if you find mistakes, have suggestions or even just feel like dumping some kind of emotional overload on someone, just drop a comment and let me now, please and thank you!))
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