Grace was running for her life. She was wearing a large gray shirt as a nightdress and it puffed behind her like a little tail. Her short, glossy black hair stuck up like little ears. Big, brown eyes twitched back and forth, scanning the terrain, making decisions as she weaved through the trees and bounded over logs. In fact, she looked rather like a rabbit, running from a wolf. Other than, what was chasing her was far more sinister. As a sprinter, Grace could run fast easily. However, this was much faster than she had ever run and longer too. Grace wasn’t tired,( she had too much adrenaline) but her lungs felt like they were shriveling up and dying. Her heart was also about to explode. Cuts covered her feet from the sharp rocks and sticks but they were numb from the cold and snow. She had been running for awhile and had not yet looked back. If whatever was chasing her hadn’t made so much noise, Grace wouldn’t know that it was there. It felt like something was tugging on her head, tryin

g to make her look back. After a while, she gave in. Turning her head slowly, she completely forgot to look where she was going. Right before what was chasing her came into Grace’s vision, she slipped on a piece of ice.

Landing on her head, the impact jared her to the core. Blood spewed from the side of her head as the woods became quiet. Fear was like ice down her spine as she felt something sharp on her shoulder. Slowly turning, her heart sped up even more. Screams filled the night. However, these terrified screeches were not from a girl meeting a horrific end, but a girl waking very abruptly from one of her frequent nightmares. Grace found herself terrified and on the floor. She had tossed and turned so much during the night that she had fallen out of bed. Soon realizing that it was only a dream, her screams melted into sobs. As she lay at the foot of her bed, she tried to remember what the thing that had chased her looked like. Grace stayed that way for the rest of the long night. At the first light of dawn, Grace shakily got up to get dressed. She put on black running shorts then gray sweats over them to stay warm. Then she put on a purple team shirt with a large sweatshirt of the same color. She went to the bathr

to fix her hair. After she put her short hair in a tight ponytail and put on a headband, she glanced at her reflection. Grace was shocked. There were dark bags underneath her eyes, her lips were dry, and her cheeks were tight and pale. She looked all around awful that she considered putting on makeup. Soon however, Grace dismissed the idea. After all, she was going to a track meet, not Prom. When she had finally gone downstairs, Grace glanced around the old kitchen. The cabinets were in need of a good sanding and repainting. The floor was in need of a good mopping and the counter was absolutely filthy. Trash and junk covered the surface willy nilly and unknown spills overlapped each other. After a long search, Grace found not so

stale cereal, and miraculously, unspoiled milk. Not exactly the breakfast of champions, but it would work. “Meow?” tittered a little voice behind Grace. Grace turned and replied, “Hello little chatterbox. You would like your breakfast don’t you?” The little yellow and orange cat sat down at Grace’s feet and purred. “All right,” Grace put down her spoon, “I’ll get that for you.” After the cat was fed and Grace was fed, she looked at the time. Oh dear! She thought. She was going to miss the bus! She grabbed her bag and rushed through the door. “Goodbye Chatterbox!” She called then shut the door. The door was closing when the bus came into Grace’s view. She yelled for them to stop and jumped onto the bus. She was breathing heavily now, and her teammates were giggling. When Grace sat on an empty seat, Claira turned around to greet her friend. “I thought we’d have to leave you behind.” “Yeah,” Grace replied, “I thought I’d have to run to the meet.” This got the girls laughing. Claira most of al

Claira was tall with sparkling green eyes and long brown hair. With Clair being outgoing, outspoken, and popular, Grace and Claira were very different. Still, they were best friends. They were always together. “I’m going to take a nap,” Grace said after a long yawn. Claira looked at her funny.” It's only seven in the morning. We’ve had meets earlier than this.” “I know. I just,” Grace paused to yawn again, “I just don’t feel that well. I also couldn’t sleep last night.”

Claira’s face showed concern. “Did you have another?” “Yes.” Grace answered. “Go to bed then. I’ll keep these hooligans quiet.” “Thanks.” “No problem.” Grace closed her eyes and drifted into a dreamless sleep. She was shaken awake by Claira. “Wake up. We’re here.” Shaking her head to wake herself up, all Grace could do was nod. The meet went in a blur for Grace. The long jump. The 500 meter. The javelin. Soon, too soon, it was time for the hurdles. Walking up to the starting line, she could feel her legs shaking. Usually, when the race started, her head cleared like magic. Today however, Grace felt as though she would throw up. “YOU GOT THIS!” screamed Claira from the sideline. Grace did her best to smile and nod. Then, she started. With short legs, people are always surprised when they find out that Grace does hurdles. However, her powerful legs could jump over things easily. She made it over the first hurdle. Barely. She landed, getting ready to try the next one. Grace jumped. She so

She soared! Right into the hurdle. From there, it was nothing but a domino effect. When Grace looked up, five hurdles were knocked over. What made it worse, her shoe came off and her knee was bleeding. What really punched her in the gut however, was the look on her

teammates’ face’s. They. Were. Mad. Just the sight of them made Grace cry. She started to walk over to her teammates. She was full of shame. “You made us lose the Championship spot!” yelled Bree. “I didn’t-” “Oh just shut up.” Couch just shook his head. The ride home was torcher for grace. Not even Claira was talking to her. Grace never felt so alone. When it was finally time to get off, Grace quickly gathered her stuff. When she was walking down the aisle, she saw a foot go right in front of her. Grace crashed to the floor. Fresh tears in her eyes, Grace began to turn. She expected to see Bree. Bree never liked Grace. However, the person on the other end was Claira. Grace was shocked. Her mouth moved silently as Claira glared. Finally, she gathered her witts and ran off the bus avoiding a few other legs along the way. When she got to her door, a new wave of fear, sadness, and dred went over her. Grace’s mom was hardcore. Grace doubted that she would see daylight for at least a month. Finally, she gath

Finally, she gathered enough courage to open the door. “What have you to say about this morning?” asked a raspy voice. Grace cringed. Here she was again, crying on the floor of her room. Her mom had grounded her “for the rest of time”. Grace found herself hating life. That feeling built up so much during the next hour that she got up. She started running. Down the stairs. Through the door. Down the street. Grace ran so long and so far that she didn’t even know where she was anymore. All she wanted to do was get

away. Even though one side of herself begged her to stop, the other wanted to run. She was so tired. So tired that she collapsed, adding new scrapes to her collection. Grace hadn’t cried while she was running but now the tears spilled over. Curling up in a ball, she wanted to leave, to go home. The other side wanted to stay here forever. It was dark now, and many of the street lamps were broken. Grace hated the dark. It brought back horrible memories of past nightmares. Grace half suffled, half crawled to an alleyway. Sitting near a dumpster, she let the tears roll down her face. She stayed there for a long time without noticing the man. It was strange, he didn’t ask questions or leave or do anything. It was like he was keeping her company in some strange way. When Grace finally noticed him, she screamed. “Don’t be afraid,” said a raspy voice. Her body shot with fear, Grace backed into another dumpster. “Who are you?” He smiled sadly, showing yellowed, crooked teeth, “I’m nobody. You however, your someb

ebody. Not from fortune, but misfortune. I can change that, you know.” “What?” was all Grace could say. “Yes, yes,” he said with his disgusting smile, “I can make your dreams come true.” Grace should’ve gotten up, and started running. She should have gone far away. That would have been the smart thing to do. The only problem was, she wasn’t in the mood for good choices. “What kinds of dreams?” said Grace quietly.

“Any kinds of dreams you have.” Grace thought. She had many dreams in life, good friends, good grades, good parents. She wished for that with all of her heart. “Okay. What do I need to do.” “Well, there’s usually a big price. But for you, it’s free.” When Grace didn’t reply, he continued. “All you have to do is close your eyes, count to ten, and twirl around. Go ahead.” This was the stupidest choice of all but Grace did it. Closing her eyes, she counted slowly to ten. When she finished, she got up and twirled around as fast as she could. “Good. Good.” When Grace finished, a large gust of wind knocked her off her feet. The man also disappeared. As Grace was gathering her witts together, a large snarl came from right behind her. No, no no no no, NO! Just like the man had said, her dreams had come true. She didn’t even have time to run. Screams filled the night again. Epilogue “Any idea what caused this miss?” “No idea. My daughter just got up and ran through the door. It was the strangest thing.” “

“I’m terribly sorry, miss. Our detectives still haven't found the cause of death.” “Where was she found?”

“In an alleyway, seven miles form your home.” “How did she get there!” “We still don’t know.” “What condition was she in?” “It was very strange. She was unrecognisable. We thought it was the leftovers of an eaten animal. We did a DNA test and that’s how we found you.” “How did she die?” “No idea. Nothing man made could have done this. It was horrific. I’m terribly sorry.” “Thank you for your condolences.” “We’ll keep working, miss” “Thank you.”

End