Master

October Fourth

The blaring sound of her alarm clock awakened Elizabeth, and though tempted to hit snooze a few times, but she was already awake. It was still dark in her room, the first sun rays of the morning peeking through her window. The golden light made the gel pens on her desk form a rainbow. Her phone was blowing up as she checked all the notifications. A text from Jayden came in.

Good Luck Pumpkin. I'll see you after the race.

     A light breeze was coming through her open windows. Her hamster, whom she named Carrot, was running on his wheel.

"Good morning, Carrot." She spoke. After taking him out of the cage, she put Carrot in his hamster ball and changed the old bedding with a colorful confetti bedding in the garage.

      As she cleans the food bowl, she thought about how her hopes and dreams were on the line. The Lake In The Hills cross-country team is traveling to Fox Lake University where they would battle to bring home a state championship. Elizabeth had done this before, a three-time state champion. She focused solely on winning a fourth title. When she finished washing Carrot's wheel, she went back up to her room. She placed each item back where it went. Letting the hamster run around a bit more.  Elizabeth watched c her hamster run around bumping into the legs of her desk. Then he would turn around and walk the other way to bump into her bed.

"Carrot, you should probably stop running into things." Elizabeth said.

     She started packing, checking items off the list. Her hairbrush and hair ties went into a small cosmetic bag, her running shoes went into the middle. She added a cooling towel and water bottle to the bag last. She took a few moments to watch Carrot run around before putting him back in his cage and changed into her cross-country uniform. When Elizabeth opened her door, she saw a young woman in her late twenties, with long brown hair and green eyes. She blinked a few times before realizing that it wasn't her mother standing there, but her older sister.

"Raelynn?" Liz asked.

"Hey, Liz," Raelynn replied. Liz took two steps and jumped into Raelynn's arms. "Hey, little sister," Raelynn said.

"I thought you were coming in next week," Elizabeth said.

Fiancé wanted to return early. Raelynn said.

"If you wanted to see me, you could have said so." Elizabeth said.

    Last May, Raelynn graduated with a master's degree in public health and ended up being implied by the Center for Disease Control and moved to Atlanta. There is a weeding three weeks away on November First. The stress was starting to show under the eyes of Raelynn.  Her fiancé Michael as a senior executive for the company called Midnight Storm. He was head of product development, working with engineers and the government to create new forecasting tools.

"How's my maid of honor doing?" Raelynn asked.

"Good I have some fun plans for your Bachelorette party." Elizabeth said.

"You can't even drink." Raelynn added.

"I know but I still am planning it." Elizabeth said.

"Last race?" Raelynn asked.

"Last race of Cross Country." Elizabeth said.

"You ready" Raelynn asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be, Elizabeth replied.

"Good, Jordan and I will be there."

Elizabeth's Eyes grew wide. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Oh my god this is going to be amazing." Elizabeth said. "It's nice to have you home."

"It's good to be back."