RUN

[Deamon]

"Push forward. Keep going."

Dakota told herself the same thing every time she ran.

There was always a certain point when you were running where your will to live left you and fury would overtake your legs and lungs as they at screamed at you to stop, or at the very least slow to a walk. It was a feeling you got on the roof of your mouth and the back of your throat. Thighs aching, lungs heaving you would have to force yourself not to give in to your body and stop. This was the part Dakota loved the most. At the moment where you had the chance to break through the wall. It was where she thrived, where she felt at home.

She had always loved running. The reasons had changed as she had gotten older, at first, like every kid it had been because it was fun, then as she grew older it was something she gained a passion for, then it just became a way to keep fit. Now she ran because it was an escape. Her true passion for it was gone, she didn't have a chance of getting a scholarship for running, if she even had a chance to get a scholarship. The idea of running for the sport and competition had been a reason once and to that end she had joined the track team.

It had been a mistake, the track team had been an awful experience. It was too strict and the atmosphere was too toxic. She had lasted a month before she dropped out completely. She hadn't run again for another month after that. They had taken her passion from her and smothered it. It had taken a lot for her to resuscitate it.

Now she ran because it allowed her to truly be herself for however long she decided to run for and it allowed her to escape the socio-political minefield school had become.

Punching through the wall Dakota kept running.

Her legs cried out for a reprieve but she forced down their complaints.

She ran.

It was what she did.

It was what she loved doing.

She kept running and she didn't stop.

She made her body push past its limits and for those few minutes, everything made sense.