Counting Raindrops

Chapter 15 of Counting Raindrops

Heart thrashing against my chest, I struggled to breathe while my throat ached in agony; begging for water. My lungs stretching unrealistically as I gasped in more air than possible. Sweat accumulating all over my body, my muscles aching terribly to the point I could hardly move. No matter how much I hurt, I continued to work harder . . . Pushing far passed my limits.

And this was my escape from everything.

It was only fifteen minutes into practice and I was already killing myself. I didn't care though, it kept the thoughts of Vance out of my head so I was happy despite the pain of pushing myself harder than necessary.

Shortly after the bell rang and Jayce and I headed to the next class on our schedule, Kerra made it her job to catch up to me and question me as if I was being convicted of a crime. It wasn't the easiest thing to bring up, but with the help of Jayce he warned her away once the questioning became too real for me.

1,2,

3,4,

5,6,

7,8 jump.

My brain was constantly buzzing with annoying and overwhelming thoughts of Vance, I wanted to pull my hair out of my head! It was becoming too much.

Kick line, 1,2,

3,4,

5,6

7,8.

Step back, kick.

The whole time during practice I was earning worried glances from Kerra, whether it was due to her new knowledge about her brother or she was worried that I'd kill myself from working too hard I wasn't sure, and right now I didn't care. Just knowing she was concerned caused me to work all the more harder.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!

My heart pounded quickly against my chest wanting so desperately to break through my rib cage and get free from all the torture that I was putting it through. Putting more emphasis on my moves it helped distract me from my clouded mind full of the thoughts that made me put this much torture on myself.

Thump-thump-thump, thump, thump . . . Thump . . . Thump . . . Thump . . .

Red . . . Black . . . Crash!

All of the heat that had burned through my skin from seconds before slowly dispersed into a freezing cool. It felt like each and every nerve in my body slowly frosted over as tiny ice crystals moved throughout my body. It felt amazing against my once burning skin.

My mind had finally settled down leaving it peacefully empty of the thoughts that had haunted my brain earlier today. Vance no longer showed his face in my mind, and his disgusting act was gone . . . Like it had never happened.

Finally . . .

"Mrs . . ." An annoying voice said through the dark haze of my unconscious sleep. "Ye . . . S . . . Fine . . ." I wanted to grumble and scold the voice to shut up, but nothing came out, and I was glad because my throat felt like sand-paper rubbing together in a painful friction. It was impossible to swallow, and I was getting close to choking on my own spit. " . . . he pass . . . ut . . ."

Accepting the fact that there was no possible way of shutting the voice up I just let their incoherent words slip through my ears.

The feeling in my body slowly coming back to me I started to feel a searing heat on the side of my body as well as behind my back and under my knees . . . It felt so familiar, but I didn't know how. Embracing the warmth I wanted to snuggle closer to the source, but found it futile to be able to move. Smelling was the next sense to come back, immediately I was enveloped in an all too familiar smell of aftershave, but again I couldn't place the name . . . Dang it! For some odd reason I could feel an immense amount of liquid flooding my mouth making me nearly choke again.