The Golden Girl

Chapter 1: On Your Left

          Sometimes, being me isn't too easy. Sometimes I just need to clear my head, not even clear it. Fill it. Fill it with the information I'm missing, fill it with the things that I don't know. So in a way, when I'm stressed, I learn. I haven't needed to do it since I escaped. Well, that's how I got into that pickle in the first place, I stuck my nose where it didn't belong. Now I'm battling with myself to decide whether or not to go with my gut which is telling me no, or with my head who is screaming yes.

          I'm suddenly snapped out of my day dream when the waitress places down my plate in front of me. For a moment, I had forgotten that I was even at a restaurant. My thoughts begin to settle when she begins talking. "

"Do you want the bill?" she asks.

I stutter my words as I blink and look up, "Yes, yes of course, thank you" I respond.

          As she trots off, I stare down at my plate, then at the wall where a clock hangs. Time really does fly when your day-dreaming. I got here at midnight and it's now nearly 2 o'clock in the morning. How could I let this much time get away from me? After I eat and pay, I'll take a walk. I don't eat much and completely over tip the waitress. When I saunter out the door, I pull my hat over my eyes and as an added precaution, I whip on some sunglasses. Even if it's the wee hours of the morning, you never know who might be out.

           Once I turn the corner, I can spot the Washington Monument in the distance. It's such a beautiful building, it's not even really a building, it's just a tall slab of cement with a pointed top. But it means so much more than that to people. I wonder how people can see a simple object as something more symbolic? The walk I decide to take is not a short one. For some reason I feel myself being pulled towards that pointed slab of cement. Time passes and I start to see streaks of red and orange colour the sky. I wish that the sun would never rise all the way, so that I could stare at it all day long. But something isn't beautiful because it lasts.

          I slowly creep up to my destination and sit on a small hill, a little ways from the monument. The sky is still coloured with red and orange, so I decide to lie down and enjoy it's beauty while its here. I take off my hat and sunglasses and lay them next to me. I link my fingers in behind my head and just stare up to the sky. My eyes feel so heavy, so I let them close, but I don't sleep, instead I listen to the noises of the dawn. The crickets quietly waiting for their shift to finish, the cool wind that makes the trees rustle and..."On your Left"? I sit up after I hear the phrase several times. I look towards the sidewalk that circles the water near the monument to see two men jogging. Actually one man's jogging, the other looks as though he's sprinting?

           He'll be slowing soon. I think to myself as I watch the blonde pass the other man. The blonde is well built, tall and that's about all I can see from my current vantage point. The other man has short dark brown hair, dark skin and I believe facial hair. They're are both quite amusing. My previous thought of the blonde slowing down has not happened yet, he still keeps the same pace.

Who is he?

          I'm oddly enthralled by the blonde. Not because of looks or athleticism, but the aura that he projects. There is no real way for me to articulate it but there's something, something that makes me want to know more about him.

          Even more time passes as I watch the two continue running. I become so oblivious to the lapse of time that I don't notice the red and orange vanish from the sky and be replaced by light blue and white. Then, in the distance I notice that they stop slowly and begin to walk towards a green patch near the road. I can't let them leave without knowing their names. I suddenly get up from my spot and start to sprint.