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fortitude
I could see him catching up with me. I felt the diminutive breaths scratching my throat. I just had to make it to the train track and I was safe. I felt the sting of the wind cutting at the thick skin I had built up. I could see the boisterous crowds standing between me and my safety. Behind me, Charles was gaining on me. It seemed that the harder I ran, the closer he got. The blood running down my face had dried in the harsh night. I knew she was out there past those tracks. I just knew it.
“Damn it, Ben! You can run as fast as you want, I’m still gonna get you!” said Charles. I could hear the smirk plastered on his harsh face.
As I ran past the shelter filled with destitute people where I had grown up, I thought about my mother. She deserved a better fate than they gave her. I focused on the shooting pain in my calves to distract the tears from blurring my vision. As I neared the crowd, I had two choices, try to run through them or get lost among them. I ran straight through like a cold front battering the coastline. Most of them fell down. Some just shifted to the side with a look of shock on their faces, but I didn’t care. I had to make it.
In my cursory move through the crowd, I hadn’t realized I had just given Charles the perfect path. But I didn’t have time to regret the choice I’d just made. I had to make it to the tracks. I had to see her. I had to feel her again. I had to live.
“It’s not me you’re running from,” Charles sputtered, “I hope you know that! No matter where you try to hide, Ben, I will find you!”
I could hear my mother’s voice in my head. Desperate and soft.
“Keep going. She’s out there. If you let the evil consume your thoughts, you let them control your mind.”
I didn’t have the heart to stop the tears this time. I could feel her hand in mine. A velvet touch that belonged to no one else. For a moment there, I thought I saw her gentle face among the crowd. Not scared or worried. But just a light smile upon her rose-kissed cheeks. And in that split second, I knew I had to make it. Even if all the odds were against me. If God himself tried to hold me back. I had to feel her touch again. I had to leave the place I once knew as home.
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I am 16 years old and a casual writer. I was inspired by the assignment I got from my teacher. We had to use some vocab words of the week to write a short story. I hope people want more of this story. I may add to it if it's something people are interested in.