Lost In the Ivy by Randy Richardson

Author:Randy Richardson [Richardson, Randy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780989402996
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2013-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Running On Empty

The puffy clouds of his breath floated out of his mouth as his legs churned on. Charley hadn’t felt the Midwest cold in a long time. The crisp air felt good on his face. Lifting his T-shirt, he wiped away the sweat that, in spite of the thirty-five-degree temperature, still managed to bead on his forehead.

He hadn’t run in weeks, and it showed. After about four miles, his legs felt heavy and he was winded. He was, in both a literal and figurative sense, running on empty.

Yet he couldn’t stop running. The reality was he hadn’t stopped running since he left California. Yes, he was running away. Running from his past. And now what was he doing? Running from his present, too? The two worlds seemed headed on a collision course.

When he needed time to think, he ran. Now he thought about his past. Why couldn’t he escape it? The more he tried to run, the faster it seemed to catch up with him. Images flickered through his mind as if they were projected on a screen. There was the image of Dani, as she died in his arms, and then there was the image of him, cursing at God for taking her away from him.

Why couldn’t he just let it go? Why couldn’t the past just stay in the past? Why couldn’t he start anew? Why? Why? Why?

So many questions haunted him. Too many of them unanswered. So he ran. Against the backdrop of a deserted Lake Michigan beach, watching the waves pound the rocks on the shoreline.

As he rounded a turn, he saw her first from a distance of about twenty feet, running toward him on the trail. He wasn’t sure. Her hair looked longer, but it looked like her.

Ten feet—his heart raced faster. Could it really be?

Five feet—her eyes met his, or so it seemed. He was almost certain—it had to be her. He was about to call out her name—Lizzy—but then her eyes turned away, and her body brushed by his.

As he slowed to a stop and turned, he saw only an image of the back of her body. She didn’t slow her pace.

He continued watching the image, as it faded into the distance, until he couldn’t see it any longer.

Had it been her? He thought he saw in her eyes a glimmer of recognition, but if so, why then did she keep running? That was one he didn’t want to think about. The pain was too much for him to bear.

Standing at the edge of the lake, he watched the waves pounding on the shoreline and thought about jumping in. That would be one way to make it all go away. A splash of the cold lake water on his face triggered his memory of the promise that he’d made. Moments before she died, Dani made him promise that he’d start his life over again without her.

“Promise me, Charley,” she whispered in his ear, using her last breaths of life to salvage his.

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