She Runs

I see her every morning, and sometimes in the afternoon. She runs up and down my road every day, but she doesn't look like a runner. She doesn't have proper running shoes, or clothing. She looks pained but isn't sweating. She doesn't move like a runner, she holds her arms the wrong way.

It is safe to say that she is probably new at this sport of running, but it isn't only that. She is overcoming something. Running, for her, is not just an avenue for a firmer body and better stamina. No, she is running for other reasons, and I can see them written all over her.

She runs to escape a past, to get ahead of the present, and in the hopes of arriving in a new future. She runs to break the barriers between the universe she lives in now, and the parallel universe that could be her life. She runs to build...her muscle, her confidence, her dreams, her will. She runs to escape the last remnants of darkness that cling inside her. She runs against the grain, against everything she has ever been shown, ever been taught, ever been allowed. She runs for freedom. She runs to save her soul.

(Image: Sean Gabriel Ellul http://www.sellul.com/dmaster12.html)