The Runner

The stars and moon were the only light outside the windows and I was overwhelmed by total exhaustion, fighting with my heavy eyelids to stay awake. If I fell asleep then the others wouldn't be able to keep us in the air for long.

But I was just so tired. Surely a quick nap wouldn't hurt…

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I woke up with a floating sensation in my gut, the kind of sensation I'd only felt once before on a roller coaster. I was falling.

Screams were tossed around me along with the flailing bodies of my friends as we plummeted towards the ocean that shone like black ink in the moonlight.

"Lift, Cordy!" Chris shouted and it took me a second to register that it was all because I had fallen asleep.

I focused my might on keeping us in the air but we kept falling too quickly and the ocean rushed closer, ready to claim us. I focused again and muttered a prayer to my dad asking for a lend of strength.

The ocean kept coming.

"Please, dad." I wept. "I've never asked for anything else. I'll burn you some food when I'm not falling to my death."

Time stretched as the waves reached up to claim us. And then we hit the black and my world was consumed in its salty depths

Notes