Jogging [open]

[Daren]

Sitting bolt upright, Daren panted rapidly. He was covered in a cold sweat. Looking around with scared eyes, he relaxed when saw it was only his room. He rubbed his face, as he swung his legs over the side of his bed. Looking up at the alarm clock, he saw it was only 4 am. He sighed and made his way to the bathroom where he washed his face. It had been a long night and Ramok had been seriously injured.

Daren went into the kitchen to get some breakfast. Looking in the fridge, he saw eggs, milk, juice, fruit and bread. "Fried eggs and juice it is" he said, grabbing out the egg carton and the bottle of juice. He set the bottle of juice on the bench and proceeded to cook his eggs in a pan.

After breakfast, Daren went up to his room to throw on a hoodie, a pair of sweats and his joggers. It took him a while to find them but he eventually did. To prevent his parents from him leaving, Daren crawled out of his window. Unfortunately, his foot got caught on the sill and he tumbled out and into the bushes. "d**n bushes!" he whispered hoarsely. Getting up, he listened to see if his parents had heard. Nope, it's all good.

Leaving the bushes, Daren started to jog down the road, unaware of the twigs, leaves and occasional beetle in his hair.

[Angelline Devorez]

"No...no...stop...what's happening," Angelline mumbled in her sleep. Tossing and turning at her violent dreams she started panting and a slight sheen of sweat formed on her body. "NO!" she screamed as she rolled over violently to her right, unfortunately this caused her to fall out of bed in a tangle of covers and blankets. As she sat there, her eyes wide open in fright she looked out the window. It was still dark out, but not as dark as it would be in the middle of the night. Untangling herself from the nest of blankets she turned to stare at her digital clock on her night stand. It's only 4:00. What do I do now? she thought.

From past experience she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep so with a heavy sigh she made her way to her bathroom and let the water run. Splashing the cold water on her face she looked into the mirror at her slightly haunted expression. Recently all she had been having were nightmares, but for what reason she didn't know. Shaking her head she dried her face off and walked over to her closet. Pulling on a tanktop and a warm jacket along with a pair of jeans she opened her window and scaled down the trellis on the side of the house.

Upon reaching the ground she made her way quietly to the front of the house so as not to alert the rest of her family. Once outside of the property she started to walk. Not knowing where she was heading Angelline took the I-pod she had put in her jeans pocket, put in the earphones and turned the volume full blast listening to one of her favorite songs.

[Daren]

Daren jogged down the sidewalk, the only thing lighting the way were lamp posts. His breath let out small clouds of steam in the crisp, morning air. The thud of his shoes were met by the thud of his heart, keeping the same rhythm. It was plain, but the sound was relaxing to Daren. Closing his eyes, Daren's other senses told him where to put his feet, how much pressure on each side and so on.

A few minutes went by. The sound of another's jogging reached his ears. Opening his eyes, he saw a girl. With golden eyes. He couldn't help but look. someone else with odd colored eyes? he asked himself in disbelief. His eyes were red and demonic looking. But hers were golden, angelic to say the least.

DONG! The sound echoed through the street. Daren fell back wards, landing on his back with a bloody nose. He had run into a light pole while looking at this girl who was like him. Sitting up and holding his nose, Daren pulled his hands away to see blood. "Oh man" he mumbled, pinching his nose and leaning forward. This sort of thing always happened to him.

[Angelline Devorez]

Angelline had escalated her walk into a run after a block. Humming along to her I-pod she couldn't help but sing a few bars of the song.

How does life go on for those who lost so much?
How do they still smile instead of giving up?
Do they pocess a strength that I may never know?
Or is it that they just beleive?

As she sang the few bars to the song softly she heard a loud DONG sound from somewhere in front of her. Looking forward she saw that a boy had crashed into a lamp pole and was on the ground. Quickening her pace she moved closer to see he had a bloody nose.

Worried for the stranger she sprinted over and kneeled next to him. "Are you okay?" she asked taking out a handkerchief from her pocket. "Here you can use this," Angelline said offering it to him. And that's when she noticed it. He had red eyes that looked a bit demonic in appearance. Awed by the unique color she stared wondering which side of the family he had inherited those eyes from. Being a girl with a unique eye color herself she knew a bit of what it felt like to be stared at so she politely turned her head to the side so as not to stare.

[Daren]

Daren groaned in pain. His nose throbbed and he had a major headache. A voice cut through the sound of throbbing and groaning that left his throat. He looked up to see the girl with golden eyes kneeling down next to him. Panic immediately came to mind. No, she saw! No, no, no. Now I made myself look like the clumsy fool I am he thought. When she asked the question he nodded his head gently, trying not to move it too much.

Daren to the handkerchief gratefully, holding it to his nose. He noticed that she had turned away. His mood dropped. He had scarred her with his eyes, hadn't he? That always happened when he came face to face with someone he didn't know. "Thanks" he tried to say from under hand hands that cupped the clothe to his face.

[Angelline Devorez]

Angelline grinned as the boy took the handkerchief. She could hear its slight rustling as he used it to stop the flow of blood. A muffled thanks could be heard coming from him. Turning back to him she smiled and shook her head. "No problem. That looks painful, I'm just glad I could be of some assistance." As she looked at him she saw the cupped hands and previously white handkerchief as it covered up a good portion of his face and started to laugh.

Not wanting to seem rude she tried to explain her actions. "I-I'm sorry if you think I'm laughing at you it's just that. With the handkerchief, and the blood...and your eyes. It makes such an interesting contrast I couldn't help myself," she said with a small smile. "By the way my name's Angelline. Who are you?" she asked.

[Daren]

Daren nodded at her words, agreeing with the fact it was painful. She seemed like a really nice person. And then she started laughing. It was beautiful but why was she laughing?

He smiled and tried to imagine what he looked like. Pulling his hands away, he looked down at the handkerchief. It was covered in his blood. He looked back up again. "Daren" he said. Again he looked at the handkerchief. "Would you really want this back?" he asked, holding it up. "I mean, it has my DNA all over it." By now, his nose had stopped bleeding, but he'd have to go wash his face now.

[Angelline Devorez]

As her laughter died down Angelline waited for an answer to her question. Once she got the boy's name she smiled nodding her head. "Daren. That's a nice name. It's one I haven't heard before. And as to your second question..." she trailed off and looked at the gory mess on it. Shaking her head she said, "You can have it. Keep the DNA where it came from," she joked.

Looking around she noticed that there was a slight taint of red on the horizon coming from the rising son. Smiling she pointed in the direction and turned back to Daren. "I think that seems to suit this situation. They say that a red sunrise means that blood's been spilt...and looking at you right now I'd say that's about right."

[Daren]

Daren smiled at Angelline. I covered her handkerchief in my blood, made a fool of myself and she's still nice? Wow he thought to himself. He saw the look on her face when she saw the gory mess. He laughed at her reply to that.

Looking to where she pointed, Daren's eyes registered the sight of the red sunrise. "It does, doesn't it?" he asked. Getting to his feet, he didn't feel like sitting on his butt anymore. Holding out one of his bloody hands to her, he looked down at it and smiled awkwardly, pulling his hand back. He was sure she didn't want to touch a hand with blood all over it.

Playing with the thought in his mind, Daren decided to ask. "So um, Angelline. How did you get such beautiful eyes?" he asked shyly, not wanted to seem rude. It was just bugging him.

[Angelline Devorez]

Seeing him smile made her smile as well. Angelline had made it her life's goal and mission to have everyone around her smile, because she hated seeing gloomy people. Hearing his laugh widened her smile and she felt accomplished. Well there's another person I've been able to make happy.

At his comment she turned to face the horizon again and sighed. "Yes, it does." Hearing the sound of movement on the gravel she turned to see him standing. As Daren offered her his hand she laughed and pushed herself off of the ground. "Thanks for the hand up, but I'd like to keep my hands mess free." Looking at her hands with bits of gravel and dirt on it she smiled. "Well at least partially clean," she said as she wiped her hands on her jeans.

Angelline was a bit startled at his sudden question, but answered it nonetheless. "My mother. She has gold eyes like me. Oddly enough my brother has emerald eyes, and that's not a color common in my family. What about you? Your eyes are a stunning shade of red, how'd you acquire it?"

[Daren]

He couldn't help but laugh at Angelline. She was a funny one. Forgetting all about his bloody hands and face, he listened to Angelline tell about how she got her eyes and how her brother had emerald eyes.

Daren had expected the question, but the way she put it. It was almost as if his eyes were not so scary as unusual. "When I was little, I had a vaccination. Turns out I was allergic to it and this" he said, pointing to his eyes. "Happened." They felt kind of itchy. Maybe he had gotten a bit of blood in them or something.

[Angelline Devorez]

Listening to his story of how he got his eye color she couldn't help but be a bit amazed. Angelline didn't want him to feel bad but instead of thinking her answer out she said the first thing that came to mind. "That's so cool!!! That's way more interesting than being born with them!" she blurted out, before slapping her hands to cover her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said looking down at the ground in embarresment. "My mouth runs away with me sometimes."

[Daren]

Daren was a bit surprised by her outburst. He started laughing. It was the funniest thing anyone had said about his eyes. "It's OK. That's the funniest comment I've gotten" he said between laughs. He was slapping his knee while laughing. Finally getting a hold of himself, Daren asked "So what are you doing up so early?" with a curious voice. Doing the same as you, meat head he told himself after he realized what he said.

[Angelline Devorez]

Angelline watched with wide eyes as Daren burst out laughing. She didn't think it was that funny of a comment, but whatever, as long as it made him happy. She was just here to make others laugh. At his question she felt much more at ease and answered it. "I couldn't sleep so I decided to go out and explore...well not really explore just walk to clear my mind. I really don't know how it turned into a jog," she mused as she rambled on. It was a tendency she had picked up from her wayward but loving mother.

[Daren]

"Really? I had a nightmare and didn't want to go back to sleep. So I started my morning jog an hour earlier" he said, using his hands to talk as he usually did. All awkwardness melted away. It was almost as if he'd known her all his life. Daren absent mindedly wiped at his nose. Little bits of dried blood came off. Daren started to rub fiercely at it until he was pretty sure it was all off. It still left his face red.