Running

“Our words resounded in my head.”

“Are you going to be here?”

“At seven, I will be there.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

I skidded my eyes over the wrinkles on her skin, at the corner of her eyes and at her temples, and then over the dark circles under her puffy eyes as I awaited her response. She had tiny holes all over her skin. Her damaged red colored hair was matted on top of her head. The darkness inside her mouth startled me when she finally spoke and I looked down at my balled fist on the gray counter. “That train is scheduled to be here in one minute and it looks like it’s going to be on time.” My breath escaped me. My eyes swept up and landed on hers. She glanced at the huge digital clock on the wall to my right and her left. My eyes followed. “You better run.”

I swallowed hard, took one last glimpse of her deranged appearance and I did what she told me. My knees started bending, my legs started extending, and my ponytail started swinging all before I took in how vast the crowd was in the train station. There were people scattering everywhere. Some carrying things, some not. Some people eating, laughing, carrying on, screaming, arguing, pushing, and crying. Adrenaline pumped through me and I didn’t care who I smashed into, who I knocked down, or who I stepped on. I was thinking about one thing and one thing only. I had to catch that train in one minute because I had to get to Penn station, hop in a cab across town, and get to Maurice in less than an hour. This time, despite everything, I was keeping my promise. People were slinging profane threats at me, pushing me back, and someone even tried to trip me. But I kept going. Even when someone grabbed my arm. I grunted and looked behind me back at the person who had my arm. I stared into the dark face of an angry man who seemed to be a mile tall. I never stopped moving. He followed, tightening his grip.

“You need to excuse yourself there miss.”

I snarled at him and narrowed my eyes.

“Let. Go. Of. Me!” I shrieked and wrenched my arm back out of his grasp, gaining more momentum as each word fell off my tongue.

I straightened my body and dashed away and ambled my way through the relentless crowd. I didn’t feel it as much as I normally would have when two little boys crashed into me from the side, spilling a Coke on my leather jacket and an overweight woman shoved me, causing me to loose my balance and stumble forward. I ignored it all and kept moving like I was wanted for murder.

Gasping and grasping for air and looked above and saw the sign for track 1&2. I quickly pushed through the double doors and tore out the two flights of concrete stairs despite the sudden whisk of humidity and tenacious downpour of rain. Wheezing, I looked around expecting to either see the train pulling off or hearing the loud blaring horn of the train coming in. Instead, I saw a bunch of calm people shielded from the rain under the large umbrella, some sitting, most standing, all either talking or on the phone or listening to their i-Pods. I coughed through the rain and tried to catch my breath.

“Where is this train going?“ I exclaimed, stopping an old white haired man.

He seemed disturbed and spat out a one-word answer.

“Miami.”




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More About Amber

After I graduate from Rider University with my bachelor’s degree in communication with a track in public relations and attaining a position as an intern for a notable magazine I plan on climbing all the necessary flights of stairs so that I make it to my ideal position, a fashion editor. I will not set boundaries for myself and keep my mind open to attaining an even higher position than that such as executive editor or editor-in-chief. After I land my first real job I will start paying my loans off and won’t stop until they are long gone. Somewhere in between all that I am going to use all my newfound contacts and networks to find myself an agent and become a published author of a novel. If everything goes as planned, I will soon officially become a bestselling author and smile with twinkles of my dreams in my eyes as I sign copies of my creation. I’m going to use a healthy portion of the money to launch my own charity organization and team up with some others, another portion to take my mother on a dream vacation to see a part of the outside world, and the last to fund my master’s degree education. My family comes next. By the middle of my life, according to simply numbers, I want to be a known writer, humanitarian, mother, and wife. 

After that, I’m gonna party!




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