Chasing Pavements [open]

[Sara Elizabeth Doe]

Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements
Even if it leads nowhere?
Or would it be a waste even if I knew my place
Should I leave it there?
Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements
Even if it leads nowhere?

Sara had woken up with a restless feeling, a feeling that would not go away. It was as if something was in her head, egging her to go out and do something. During all her classes, it was there. You need to do something. This is boring. Why are you sitting? You should be walking, or jogging, or running, or jumping, or climbing. Continuously. Her knees shook under the desk, the pencil twirled in her fingers. It was one of those days where it felt as if time knew she wanted it to quicken, so it slowed. Every class seemed to drag on for hours. If anyone had asked her a question, she wouldn’t have had a clue to what the answer could be. With time slowing, her notebooks showed doodles instead of notes. ”These classes don’t mean anything anyway,” she thought. “The real world doesn’t care what elements are found in mustard gas or whatever we’re talking about.” One. Second. After. Another. Sara watched as the hands of the clock shifted, ever so slightly, towards the time of her release.

She was the first one to leave as class let out, grabbing her bags and running out of the door. She dashed up to her room, threw her bags onto her bed (allowing all her books and papers to fly onto the floor), and quickly changed into a pair of black riding shorts, a white tank top and a sports bra. Her hair was pushed out of her face with some bobby pins, and her feet were stuffed into a pair of running sneakers as she ran out her dorm room.

Her face hit the sunlight first, and her lips curled into a smile. There was nothing quite like being able to be outside without worrying about somebody trying to kill her. It was probably the same thing nudists feel whenever they leave a McDonalds and go back to their little home-thing. Compound? She didn’t know. It didn’t matter; she wasn’t a nudist, and she hated McDonalds. All that processed, not-real-chicken-or-beef and those soggy fries… She shuddered just thinking about it. But why waste time thinking about that when she should be using her time to run.

Making sure her shoes were tightly laced, Sara started jogging. She decided to veer onto one of the paths she hadn’t used before. She felt safe here. Why wouldn’t she take advantage of this place and everything it offered? If she got too tired, she would just turn around at any time and sprint back. Sprinting back usually tired her out more, but it got her back to the academy sooner.