Red

Chapter One

Edited*

Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

I swiped a bead of sweat dripping from my forehead with the back of my hand and pushed myself even harder. My lungs felt as though they are going to burst if I tried running any further, but the adrenaline rushing through my body kept me going. My heart beat was racing. I could feel my heart itself thumping violently against my rib cage.

'Come on Alana.' I encouraged myself. 'Keep going, don't you dare stop!' I chanted to myself over and over again, urging my legs to just keep running forwards as fast as they could.

'Think of the consequences.' I mentally told myself. 'Don't stop. Push harder.' My legs pumped ever faster than before.

'Stop!' I yelled out, struggling to form the single syllabled word from being so exhausted. I came to a halt, bending at my knees with my hands on my knees gasping for much needed air.

A hand slapped down and my shoulder, slightly shaking my exhausted body. I jumped in fright, not expecting the physical contact to be so rough. I froze. My body was so sore I physically couldn't move anymore. One more step and I would fall over.

'New personal record! Well done Alana, get yourself a drink.' My coach, Tanner, beamed grinning down at me.

'Mhmm' I mumbled and collapsed backwards onto the hot sand. I closed my eyes, tilting my face to the sky attempting to catch the light rays and let my body relax.

My calves were tight from sprinting on the soft sand all afternoon and my arms were tired from all the paddling and weights I had just completed. I felt like I had been going for years without stopping. No amount of recovery time will let my body heal from this training session. More like torture session.

I sat up gasping for air as I felt ice-cold liquid running down my face onto my shoulders and then down my torso. My arms were frozen, fingertips resting on my temples mouth open from shock.

Fits of laughter could be heard to my left and I slowly rotated my head to face Tanner. His face was red and he was almost rolling on the ground from laughing so hard. 'You're, you're face.' He laughed, gasping for air and clutching his stomach.

'If I could walk, you would be a dead boy.' I seethed at him through gritted teeth. Secretly, I don't mind the ice cold water cooling me off after my hard torture session, but he wasn't to know that.

'Boy?! Don't you mean man? A boy does not look like this.' He defended his pride by flexing his arms. His biceps bulged out. He was right, a boy couldn't have as much muscle as he did. Tanner was ripped, there's no denying that. Tanner is a personal trainer, and a good one might I add. He may be arrogant, cocky and a massive pain in the ass but he was a great guy and a fantastic trainer. If you told him what areas you wanted to work on, he would develop a program that would make you succeed- or money back guarantee.

He bent his head down and kissed his bicep, winking at me in the process, and I continued to glare at him playfully. 'Come on Lani, I know you loooove it.' He said in a sing song voice. I rolled my eyes at him and stuck out my hand waiting for him to pull me up to my feet and in a standing position so I could attempt to get home. I smiled up innocently at him when he looked down at me with an 'are you crazy' facial expression.

'Come on!' I whined. 'I'm in pain here because of you. The least you can do is help me up.' Tanner huffed and grasped my hand in his and pulled me to my feet effortlessly. 'Thank you.' I smiled up at him and limped off to my bag. My legs felt like they were on fire and they burned every time I slightly moved them.