If this run was not hailed as the one for the century, then Zachary was… actually he wasn’t going to do anything, but he was going to be quite mad about it. He could drop dead on the ground and he would think of it as his crowning achievement.
Up until now, he wasn’t much of an athlete, he still thought of himself as someone with an average build as he would keep up with daily exercise to make sure that health did not deteriorate. But he never imagined he would be speeding through a quarter of the town in less than ten minutes on foot.
His heart was on the verge of stopping. He felt a shortness of breath in his lungs. His legs felt numb yet still kept going.
But he did not care.
It was all worth the—
Just as the thought came to his mind, he saw the rest of the street before him emerge. At the end of the horizon, was the girl he desperately broke himself for. She stood solemnly among a small crowd at the station. Seeing Lauren still in the place she mentioned brought him a huge sigh of relief. Not only because he got the station right, but because her words were truthful.
That sense of relief, however, was soon to dissipate.
Not a second later and he saw Lauren climb onto the tram before the car started driving off.
Of course, it was somewhat slower than most vehicles, and certainly a train, but it could still rival a human’s speed, especially against someone who wanted to stop running as much as the next person.
Nevertheless, Zachary still ran, putting in more speed in his legs. He used his motivation to reach Lauren as a boost and it worked perfectly.
Even as he got closer, there was still the lingering feeling that he would not make it. This was the body of a human. There will come a time eventually before it deteriorates and completely collapses from exhaustion.
He had to do something about it, he thought. He had to call out to Lauren.
If he weren’t going to make it then he should at least make her know well that he still made it to the meeting spot.
He must shout, say something, anything, to not keep it all in.
The times of hiding most of his thoughts were a thing of the past. To advance toward his dream and the betterment of himself, he needed to be forthright and honest with himself.
This was something that he absolutely needed.
And so, taking what little air remained in his lungs, he shouted, “Lauren!!!”
On the other side of the street, inside the tram, Lauren heard his voice.
She immediately looked away from her phone and leaned out of the open window. There was only one thought on her mind that made her smile: ‘I knew it.’
She quickly took a step down the stairs, held onto the pole, and brought out her hand for Zachary to reach. No one inside tried the minimum to warn her or pull her back, which worked to her benefit. No matter how dangerous doing something like this was, she could not worry about her own safety now.
“Hurry up!” She finally shouted back at him with a look of confliction and resolve.
‘I’m not gonna let you go,’ those were the words her eyes were telling him.
Zachary used his last resort and put all his barely remaining stamina into one final leap that would push him to reach Lauren’s hand.
He stopped for a second, took a deep step, before jumping forward near the car.
She immediately caught onto his hand.
Taking a bit more of her strength to pull him in with one hand while holding onto the pole, she leapt backward. The two of them dashed inside and trampled on their feet in the process.
With a laugh starting to rise up in her throat, Lauren brought herself up on her feet and approached Zachary, who had crawled into the corner and sat there to take a breathing room for himself.
This was indeed the run of the century.
“And here I thought you dipped out on me,” she put on a wry grin, “I missed out on two stops, because of you, before I sorta gave up.”
“I know…,” he was still breathing heavily, “I’m… I’m very sorry for… keeping you… waiting… like… oh god, my legs,” he coughed and tried to adjust his breathing patterns, “I was caught up with—”
“It’s fine. All that matters now is that you’re here.”
She seemed glad to just have him with her, and truth be told, he felt the same.
A mistake, an excuse… those meaningless things went away the moment they locked eyes with one another. It felt like they could forgive and forget all about their mistakes just to be like this. There was them, and only them in their little world of theirs. They needed to look out and trust each other.
Not one for savoring moments until the time was right, Lauren stepped away and looked at the window. And after enough time had passed for him to recover, Zachary stood up and joined her.
“So where are we going?” He still wondered.
She had determined that she was to keep it all a secret till they reached their destination. However, it was too hard not to say anything. She could not avert his question. It was bizarre, but strangely comforting in her view.
“...,” She let out a sigh of defeat, “I guess I’ll tell you. We’re heading off to the Old Pier.”
“Th-The Old Pier?!” He gasped in shock but tried to hide it.
「That place hasn’t been touched in years. It’s practically abandoned.」
“I’ve been there a couple of times,” she held a genuine tone in her amiable voice, “You know there’s an amusement park there? And it’s still functional! Well, at least, most of it is… I think. There’s a Ferris wheel, a carousel, a Tilt-A-Whirl, uh… what else… Oh! And a rotor, can you believe it? It still looks old but it’s pretty impressive that it’s still hanging. Best of all, no one’s there, but I think you knew that already. It’s a perfect place for a moment of peace. It has all sorts of colorful and eye-opening stuff, that’s something we need as authors, don’t ya think?”
He laughed nervously, “I guess so…”
But in his mind, Zachary wondered if he could make a run for it and escape.
The Old Pier was infamous for being a subject of bad rumors and terrifying myths. There was not much that he knew about the place. All the little bits and pieces he heard about made him figure that the place was rundown. He could not also ignore the fact that the town hall had deemed that place off-limits to everyone in the town — he was shunned out in his own world but he wasn’t completely ignorant to what happened around him.
As much as he liked being with Lauren, he was not willing to give up on his life right then and there. He had had the impression that she was odd, and a little off the rails when it came to talking with him, but this was heading into “crazy” territory and he didn’t want to be there for it.
Matter of fact was… this was not going to be an easy trip.
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