"We agreed. If I won, you'd marry me someday."
"Why'd you wanna marry me, anyhow?" I ask.
"So, I can do this for the rest of our lives," he stops walking with me in his arms, his radiant blue-green eyes flickering between my eyes and lips as the ons...
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Rain pelts against my face as I run feeling like I'm running for my life.
The salty air laced with the scent of the earth enters my lungs as I take ragged breaths through my nose. Wet sand makes its way between my toes as my feet pound against the shore.
The harsh wind sends my curly, wet, brown strands bellowing behind me as I push my legs to move faster. My heart pounds erratically in my chest with adrenaline. My drenched clothes are weighing me down, slowing my speed.
Lightning flashes through the sky, brightening the dark, low hanging clouds. A loud crack of thunder follows moments later, drowning out the sound of the waves crashing violently against the shore.
"Alec!" I scream at the boy ahead of me. "Wait for me!"
"That ain't how a race works, Lana!" He yells over his shoulder with a hearty laugh.
Rain obscures my vision and I misstep, tumbling to the wet sand. I push my palms out before me in the hopes of protecting my face.
I scream in agony as something sharp penetrates my right palm.
"Lana!" Alec screams with worry. "Are you okay?" He asks as I feel his hands on me.
"I don't know," my bottom lip trembles.
I sit up, wincing in pain. "My hand is bleeding," I say absentmindedly, inspecting the red liquid oozing from my hand.
Very gently, Alec brings my hand to him. "It's deep."
I don't respond, inspecting the wet sand, searching for the object that punctured my hand when all the hair on my body raises. A bolt of bright lightning hits the sand a good couple of feet away from us. We scramble to our feet in fright, our chests rising and falling rapidly.
We stare in awe at the smoke rising from the sand, and I lean forward in the hopes of getting a better look.
"C'mon," Alec wraps his blue tee around my hand as he leads me to the spot where the lightning struck.
We kneel in front of the sand glowing an orange, red color. I reach to touch it, feeling the heat radiating from it but he stops me. "It's hot, don't touch it."
"It's beautiful," I say, standing to my full height with a wince.
"It is," he whispers back with a small smile. "I won the race."
"That don't count," I huff.
"Yeah, it does," he snickers, wrapping his arms around me.
"What are you doing?" I ask, curling my left arm around his neck.
"Picking up my wife 'cause you're hobbling. I need to get you to mama. She'll know what to do about your hand."
