| Remember Me The sun shined through the trees, giving the forest floor a splattered paint look. Chris didn’t stop running, instead she picked up speed, jumping over logs and dogging branches. Suddenly she fell. She was thrown down a hill of wet, dirty leaves. She came to a sudden halt when she landed in an unseen puddle of mud. The sixteen year old quickly got up, not bothering to see if she was hurt. She forced herself to climb the hill, slipping and sliding as she went up. She finally reached the top and began to run, a dull pain ate at her leg. Wet, scared, and slightly disorientated, Chris finally reached the edge of the woods. A vast field of green grass, dotted with little purple and yellow flowers sat in front of the teen. She didn’t have time to admire the beauty of the field, she needed to get help. Christina Alder was sixteen years old and five foot, three inches. Her nickname was Chris. She was a sophomore at Blue Wood High. Her best friend, Jade Madera was also a sophomore and had urged Chris to join track in the sixth grade. Chris quickly became one of the best long distance runners on the team, she had only lost four matches since she started. Chris was thankful for Jade’s constant nagging to join the team, it came in handy in this situation. She felt something on her wrist and she brushed at it. Chris looked down at her wrist. “No.” She said stopping. “The bracelet.” She ran back a few steps and looked at the grass. Nothing. “I have to keep going,” she reminded herself and she started to run again. Chris reached the edge of town a few minutes later. She ran along the road hopping he would be at his usual place. Sheriff Lodi paid the bill and walked out the diner’s door. The familiar bell chime reached his ears as he put on his sun glasses. He fished for his keys in his pocket and opened the patrol car door. He turned on the air conditioning, the vents spitted out a warm burst of heat. He looked in the rearview mirror as he backed out of the diner, but then abruptly hit his brakes. Chris stood behind his car, her chest heaving. He quickly opened the door and went around the back of the car. “Christina, what is it?” He questioned, getting a good look at the girl. He noticed her jeans, the leg was ripped and blood had already started to soak around the edges. She was muddy and wet, her short brown hair had little bits of leaves stuck to it. There was a scratch on slightly tanned face, little dots of blood started to form. Her blue eyes were now red as tears began to form. “I-I-I-“ She began. She paused and took a deep breath. “Jade and I, we were down in the woods, we were going to go camping for a few days. We were under the old tree house-“ She paused again and caught her breath. Sheriff Lodi didn’t need to hear the end of her story, he had a good idea what had happen. He reached for his radio. There was static for a moment, when a voice came on. “Sheriff Lodi? This is Ryan.” Chris looked up when she heard the name. Ryan Mace was Jade’s boyfriend, he had been helping the Sheriff with chores for some extra money. That was the last voice she had wanted to hear. ”Ryan, now listen to me carefully. I need you to go get Doc Nil and tell him to meet me under the old tree house. It has fallen and there is someone trapped.” Jade looked at the Sheriff, she seemed slightly confused that he knew what happened, when she didn’t finished telling him. “Who is trapped?” The boy asked. “Never mind that, go get him!” The man ordered. He turned to Chris and spoke “C’mon.” She followed him into the car. “Stay here.” The doctor ordered, coming up from behind. Chris turned around, startled. “Chris!” Ryan yelled from the doctor’s truck. He opened the door and ran to her. “Where’s Jade?” The girl didn’t respond. She just turned towards the woods. Ryan took a few steps forward. “She’ll be fine,” he reasoned, his works were masked with a hopeful voice, but the two teen knew their friend wouldn’t be fine. With Ryan’s help, Chris began searching for the silver bracelet she lost. After twenty minutes of searching, she found it she was putting it on when the doctor came back. Jade laid on the stretcher, not moving, a white sheet was draped over the body. Chris stood there, horrified. Christina crawled into bed and pulled the blanket up to her chin. Weeks had passed, everyone was starting to move on with their lives. Chris starred at the ceiling and let sleep over power her. Chris heard the footsteps behind her. She ran faster, running as if in the last stretch of a race. Her legs burn and her throat hurt. Sweat trickled down her back, as she ran down the dim road. She felt like she’d been running for hours. Chris knew there would be no sense in going any further, this race she was going to lose. She tried to slow down, her mind told her to stop, but her legs wouldn’t listen. She would be caught and would have to face her fear. Her fear of losing. Chris finally stopped and put her hands on her knees. She took a few deep breaths and pushed a section of her hair behind her ear, then looked up. A hooded figure hovered over the runner. The figure reached out a pale hand, palm up, it wanted something. Chris shook her head, she couldn’t give it up. It was the only thing that she had left. The figure thrust out its hand while she stood up. She looked at the figure, trying to see its face. The black hood covered its features, Chris reached for her own wrist. She fiddled with the clasp of the silver bracelet with heart, star, and flower charms on it. She then placed it into the pale hand. The figure turned to walk away when the teen spoke spoke. “Who are you?” The figure turned back and faced the girl. The thick black hood fell, revealing long brown hair. Chris gasped and took a step back. Draped in the black robe, Chris stood, holding the bracelet. Her emerald green eyes sparkled. A slight smile formed upon the hooded Chris’ face. “She wanted to know if you could remember her for the friendship you two shared, not for the scrap of metal she gave.” The hooded Chris turned, about to walk away. “Wait! Did she-did she die because of something I did?” “No.” The hooded Chris stopped, her back towards the teen. “Jade wanted me to do something.” She turned around and walked to the blue eyed, short brown haired Chris. She opened her paled hand and held the bracelet out. Chris sat up in bed, it was still dark outside. She looked down to find the sliver bracelet hugging her wrist. She studied if for a moment and fell asleep. |