Babineaux Bléu

1

The Run

Pounding the pavement with labored breaths, inhaling warm air and exhaling frustration, Siani let the thoughts in her mind fade into nothingness.

She couldn't remember that last time she'd went out for a jog around the neighborhood, or this late in the day for that matter.

The current month hadn't been kind to her and the urge to clear some mental space was at its highest.

Her father touched down earlier in the day and her mother's arrival was expected later on that evening.

They were staying for a few days to help with her grandmother who recently became ill-something that couldn't have come at a worse time for Siani. She had to make drastic transitions and sacrifices to accommodate.

Like moving out of her college dorm for one. Catering to her grandmother left no room for socializing, and most tragic of all, her relationship with her boyfriend, Anel, was treading on thin ice.

With everything that was going on, Siani hadn't been able to find the time to reach out to him. It definitely put an extra strain on their already complicated situation.

Being in a long distance relationship was hard enough, and now with the little time she had it was nearly impossible.

Their last encounter was three weeks ago and it hadn't ended on a good note after Siani informed him that she wouldn't be able to visit him or her family during her break from school for obvious reasons.

She could tell he was trying his best to not let his frustration and disappointment show, but even with the approximated one-thousand, four-hundred, and eighty-one-mile distance, it stood clear at attention on her tablet screen and somewhere between a petty comment from him started an ugly dispute.

It was displaced aggression. Siani knew he hadn't meant to take it out on her. The situation just sucked.

That's why she was grateful for her parents. They were also staying to monitor the new nurse Siani requested to help with her grandmother.

She wouldn't be completely relieved of her duties, but it would lighten the load to some degree and give her a bit of freedom. Just the thought alone began to lift the metaphorical weight off her shoulders.

Moving her feet at a steady pace, Siani ascended a steep hill. She closed her eyes and welcomed the balmy autumn breeze against her mocha complexion, basking in the soft winds that caressed her cheeks.

Upon opening her eyes, she almost had a heart-attack. A dog with sleek black fur, the size of a horse, came into her line of vision, sitting obediently in the middle of a large well-manicured lawn.

Still and unbothered, Siani assumed the dog was on an electronic leash of some sort and quelled her internal trepidation before proceeding with her jog.

The beast stood up and it began barking and Siani turned her head, watching it skeptically, not moving an inch from its position, woofing.

Looking out from the side of her eye, she continued to watch the large animal until it passed her peripheral.

She thought she was imagining things when she heard its bark grow nearer, as if it were coming up behind her. Paranoid, she glanced over her shoulder expecting to be proven wrong and the dog to be standing in the same spot on the lawn as it were when she'd passed.

It wasn't.

Siani double took and jumped out of her skin when she saw the beast galloping towards her with haste. She didn't have time to think of where the owner was or why they would leave such a vicious animal outside without a leash unsupervised.