Running Wild [Dash]

[CLAIRE MCLEESTER]

Day three

A jog. Yes.. a jog was exactly what was needed in a time like this. Claire needed some time to herself to clear her head. Between the death of the Avisaille leader, her boyfriend's downward spiral of depression and her nutty sister, Claire just needed to take some time to herself and just go jogging. Her senses were heightened, her reflexes better and was she pretty damn fast! It was the cheetah in the girl that usually only came out the days leading up to a full moon. Except there wasn't a full moon in sight and she'd unwillingly shifted the previous night! These were dark times indeed.

The sky had such a dark overcast of clouds and even the occasional crack of lightning in the air, which made her jump every single time, reminding her of the awful noise the tree made as it split. But that wasn't even the best part!

Jesus freaks. EVERYWHERE. The religious nuts thought the world was coming to an end. They seemed to come out like moths attracted to a bright light. Except there was no light. There was only a cloudy sky with a chance of 'the word of our Lord Jesus Christ!' Claire thought that if she went to the park to do her jogging she might find a little bit a peace. She knew jogging down Peanut Street would be difficult and she wasn't going anywhere near the tree anytime soon, but even the park didn't give her any privacy.

She tried to stay off the trails, her Therian senses helping her dodge low branches and shrubbery in a way she wouldn't normally be able to do so far away from a full moon. But even on the beaten path there were people trying to get her to stop and talk to them.

Between the loud crack of the lightning that struck and the overweight man who decided it would be an awesome idea to just step right in her way waving a flier at her she cried out in surprise and had to take a sharp left. There was no way she could have seen the person she practically plowed over with her body, falling to the ground and rolling into a pile of leaves that gathered at the base of a tree. "...seriously?!"

[CLAIRE MCLEESTER]

Claire didn't know who she hit. She was still trying to get herself back up to her feet when she saw the flyer floating down to the ground by her left sneaker. She stared at it for a minute and then started to stomp on it since it was the only thing that she could take her anger out on. She wasn't normally an angry person but between the Jesus freaks and shifting every night she knew she had to take her frustrations out on something! Getting up to her feet she began to jump on the flyer grunting every time her feet dug it into the ground. She didn't even care if she was littering right now.. that's how much of a rebel she was these days.

It was then that she remembered the reason she'd just been rolling around in the leaves was because she had bulldozed over someone trying to get away from the guy with the fliers. She took a few cautious steps in the direction of the stranger on the ground, looking like he'd gotten the worst of their collision. At least he was moving..

Claire thought about just turning and continuing with her jog. Something she wouldn't normally even consider doing but because she didn't care as much these days. What, with all the shifting and her new boyfriend who couldn't bear the thought of being away from her she just needed to run free. "Hey.. hey, you okay?" When she'd collided with him she swore he punched her in the boob. Or maybe it was an elbow. A head? Well he was getting a sneaker to the shin, only not as hard as she got an appendage to the boob. More like she nudged him with her shoe in the leg.

"Wait.. I know you!"

[CLAIRE MCLEESTER]

"Yeah, from way back when..." Maybe it was the way he seemed to almost trail off in the way that he said it but Claire was pretty sure he didn't know who she was. Then again why would he? The only reason she recognized him was because she had sort of thought he was cute back when they were in high school together. Yep. They went to high school together. "You kno-"

"Looks like you won against that one. Do yo ujust have something against people and objects today?" "Wha-what?" She blinked a few times and squinted at him like he'd just said something totally off the wall batshit crazy. But then she looked to the flyer all mangled and soiled that it all came together. "Ah," Claire got it. "Well, that.. guy.. where ever he went he shouldn't have been standing out here trying to hand out flyers. And you were actually the one who ran into me but that's beside the point right now.." Claire had a tendency to ramble and even though she knew it was probably her fault they ran into each other she just didn't care.

"And you don't remember me." She wasn't asking. She was stating the obvious. How could he remember her from high school? She'd been such a dork not to mention timid and really awkward. "I was a sophmore when you were a senior. I used to see you in track. I was in track. Girl's track. Obviously." She rolled her eyes at herself and the way she kept pausing instead of forming one average sentence like a decent human being. "I mean how would you recognize me? I had braces and the body of a prepubescent boy. Not like that changed much but ANYWAYS."

Even though she hadn't seen him since high school he still looked the same. In some ways. Sort of. If she would have walked by him on the sidewalk she wouldn't have noticed him, but he'd practically sucker punched her in the little bit of boob that she had and you couldn't just ignore that and keep going. "You held one of the best times in track."