"You have about an hour." Granny spoke beside me. We stood at the farthest reaches of the city next to some old diner. Swamps and forests lay beyond the border, blocking the bright sunset and sitting ominously under the pink and orange dappled sky. The old echidna gave me an encouraging smile. I nodded at her, already determining how far I could go.
"Call me if anything happens...although I'm sure you can handle yourself." She added. I grinned and stepped up to the line of shadows. For once I was wearing shorts with a loose T-shirt, exposing all my scars from previous runs. Sometimes I zoned out in the middle of a sprint, and I'd end up in the dead center of a thorn patch or face first into a tree. Painful as the consequences were, there wasn't anything I loved to do more. With a deep breath, I took three quick steps forward before sprinting at a much larger speed.
Objects and colors blurred in the background and I swerved and dashed under the forest canopy. Moments later, it was all replaced by flat, outstretched land reaching far and wide. It was the perfect course. Up ahead, a wide ravine laid as my next obstacle. I braced myself and picked up speed. One flaw or wrong movement and SPLAT! I'd be a pancake. I reached the edge at a pace far greater than nature designed. At the last foothold, I pushed off and was sent high up into the air. Butterflies crowded my stomach at the descent that waited for me. Gravity dragged me straight back down to the other side, but I was ready. I landed with my knees bent and sprinted even faster down the terrain. Wind billowed my pink quills, sending them into a mess. No roller coaster could compare to this.
I finally stopped on a sandy shore with dark, blue waves crashing up against it. Here, the sunset was in clear view. Blinding light cascaded upon the scenery to make a romantic setting. Or it would've been had sand not decided to get all up inside my sneakers. For it to be "romantic" there had to be more than one person, anyway.
A sigh escaped my lips as I closed my eyes and melted. If only I could stay here. No school, no drama, no depressed city...what I would give for that. But if I left, Mom would throw herself into a deeper pit than the one she already dug, and my entire family might end turning even more insane than they already were. This dream that I had would just have to be like it was now. Nothing more than one of the stops on my runs.