| LUCID |

Chapter | Ten

Alex

I rolled over and looked at my clock. It read 3:47 am in bright colors. I haven't slept all night, I'm exhausted, mentally. I need to clear the mess in my brain. I got out of bed, and put on my Nike leggings and running shoes. I slip my phone into my pocket, along with my pocket knife, and start jogging. It's pitch black out here besides a couple of street lamps. I see a shadow of another person running. It's almost 4 in the morning? As I get closer, I realize it was Elena. We both stopped running at the same time and took our headphones out. 

"Why are you out here this early in the morning?" I asked, trying to catch my breath. 

"I could ask you the same thing?" She responded and we both laughed. 

"Running helps me clear my head, and quite frankly I have a whole lot going on up there right now," I said trying to clear my throat. 

"Me too." 

"If you want, we can go back to my house and we can talk about it over coffee?" I suggested pointing toward the direction of my house. It's crazy how small this town is sometimes. 

"That would be nice, thanks. My dad won't care," I furrowed my brows at the tone she used while mentioning her dad. "Quite frankly, I don't think he'd care if I came home at all." Due to how she sounded, I didn't pry. She didn't say it like she wanted a response. 

"What about you?" She asked me when we were almost at my house. I knew she meant my parents; the parent talk is just awkward. 

"Never knew my dad and my mom left." I responded blandly. I don't want this conversation to linger. 

"So both of our moms high-tailed and our dads are POS's. Nice." She looked at me with a sarcastic smile and I let out a small laugh. At least someone kinda knew how I felt. 

I brought her a cup of coffee, and we sat down at my kitchen table and continued our conversation. "Where did you guys move from?" I asked sipping my coffee. 

"California." She blew on her coffee before she took a long sip of it. I can see how tired she is. 

 "That's cool, I have family in California." I smiled. 

"Yeah me too." She responded. We have a lot more in common than I thought. 

"Morning Alex." Ryan walked in slowly rubbing the sleep off his face. She looked at me with a confused look on her face before she turned back to look at him... or check him out, I should say.

"I'm Ryan by the way." He stuck out his hand for her to take. She took it lightly and gave it a slow shake. 

"This is Elena, she's new in town, we met in school," I explained, standing up and taking our cups to the sink. 

"Oh, that's nice. It's hard to make it in that school alone. I'm glad you met my sister." He smiled at her, and she returned it once more. 

"We should probably be getting ready for school, don't want you being late to your second day." I smiled and she nodded. Elena went home to get ready for school and I went up to my room. I felt like I could literally pass out I'm so tired. I looked through my closet, pulled out a pair of leggings and a white Nike hoodie, and tossed it on my bed.