Growing Out of the Light

Chapter 11

I wake up to the sound of All My Friends Are Falling In Love by The Vaccines blaring through my alarm clock. I jump out of bed, slamming the off button. I find getting out of bed abruptly helps me wake up. I trudge over to open my blinds and wince at the bright light filtering into my room. After changing into running clothes, I fill up my water bottle and tip toe into Alvina's room. Her light snores fill the room and I regretfully wake her up by nudging her shoulder.

"Hmm." She mumbles sleepily.

"Good morning. I'm going on my run." I respond.

She nods her head and rolls away from me. I hear some sort of "have fun" from her as I softly close her door allowing her to get more sleep.

Once I'm out of the house, I stretch a little preparing for the long run. There is a waterfall about 7 miles away from the house. Alvina doesn't like me going that far but it reminds me of home so I try to go every two weeks. It's a fantastic place to sunbathe and on a beautiful morning such as this, I pray it won't be too busy. I try to avoid human contact as much as I can because my red eyes tend to scare people away. Alvina tried to get me to get contacts while I'm here but I refuse to cover them my eyes. They're a part of who I am, and they are the only good thing I got from my father.

I begin the run at a slow pace enjoying the sun on my face. It's chilly but not enough to force me to wear a sweatshirt and the sun feels fantastic. Two miles in, I pick up my pace leaping over fallen branches from the previous week's storm. I lose myself in the sound of nature and the rhythm of my breaths and soon enough, I've arrived at the waterfall. I check my watch noting my time — a little less than an hour. Looking up, I luckily realize the waterfall is empty. Not surprising since it's barely 8am. I begin the hike up the side of the falls and quickly reach the top. Taking off my shoes and socks, I dangle my feet in the falls. After taking a few sips from my water, I lay back closing my eyes. If I pretend, I can hear Lawson's cheers as we jump off the cliff together. And Brynn's obnoxiously contagious laughter as she follows behind us screaming all the way down. Hayden always refused to jump because ironically as an aerokinesis, he hates heights. Oh how I miss my friends. It's been a long 10 months and I can imagine all the trouble they've gotten into since I've been gone. I can say confidently as the only sane person in that friend group, that they are probably driving the coven up the walls. I laugh remembering the time they convinced me to sneak out at 3 am to prank our training leader. It was an awful idea considering Lawson forgets how to be quiet anytime we're doing a prank. It's like his brain just forgets that we're sneaking around and decides to be loud and annoying. We ended up being caught and punished to an extra training session which wasn't bad considering we all loved training.

I sit up taking another sip of my water before setting it off to the side. I look around to make sure no one is around me and pull off my shirt and leggings. Standing only in my bra and underwear, I take a deep breath before plunging off the side of the cliff. I scream out in joy laughing once I surface from the water. It's absolutely freezing but incredibly refreshing. I swim around enjoying the cool water on my aching joints. I float onto my back observing the blue sky. Julius crosses my mind and I sigh, trying to push him out of my head. He's a traitor but I can't help wondering how he's dealing with his mother's death. Losing someone is always unsettling no matter how you feel about them. When my father left my mother many years ago, I was furious. How could he leave my mother, someone who is absolutely amazing and selfless. How could he leave his young daughter for a different coven. My mother seemed to erase any memory of him by burning his items and refusing to acknowledge him. It's like he never existed so I just adjusted to the new normal. Lawson didn't have a father either so we clicked perfectly together. The two kids with crappy fathers who left. Our damaged trio became a quartet when Brynn and Hayden became the orphans of the coven. All different losses but we connected through our mutual grief of what we could've had. To think I probably wouldn't have been friends with them if my father hadn't left. I guess I can thank him for that and my odd colored eyes. The only thing he was good for.