Runner

He had no idea where he was going. He just ran, blindly, foolishly. Desperation filled him, though he didn’t know why. It was a feeling from deep down in his gut, that said, “Go! Now!” and he obeyed.  He felt as though he had been running forever, his whole life.  Nothing existed before his feet began to swiftly cover the ground below them.  Time was playing with his head. Every moment was both an eternity and an instant.  Fear and adrenaline were the only things that kept him going.  No knowledge of where he’d been or where he was going, or even why.

He ought to have been hot from the exertion, but he wasn’t.  Fear turned his sweat to ice, as if he had just stepped from a freezer, icicles running down his spine.  His breath came short, his chest hurt, he slowed. “No!” he thought to himself.  “I must keep going!”  His adrenaline kicked in, and he sped forward for just a moment, then his world went black.

* * *

“What happened to Tank, Mom?” the little boy asked with tear filled eyes.
“I don’t know, Tommy.  It looks like his little heart just gave out.”
“He sure did love that wheel, didn’t he, Mom?”
“He sure did, baby.”

The solemn gong of the church bell sounded as mother and son gently set shoebox with the little hamster’s body in the ground beneath the oak tree in the back yard.