Read Running Shoes (The Shades of Northwood) for Free Online

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halfway out of town and still Katie stood there, half-focussed on
something and nothing on the horizon. And then she collapsed.
    The ground
rushed up to meet her and then two strong arms grabbed her. She
felt the arms scoop her up and into the air just before she
expected the cement and gravel ground to send her bones into shock.
Were her eyes closed? Had everything in the world suddenly turned
black? Her over-worked mind kept trying to absorb the information
it was picking up but her body refused point blank to even move.
Outside was blue sky, a grey house, only she couldn’t see any of it
so Katie turned her eyes inward instead. There were tiny parts of
her face that stretched and tightened with her breathing. Yes, she
was still breathing. Cords and tubes vibrated as if in some
semblance of a laugh. Vital signs all present and correct – she
traced another, thicker trail up to a mushy looking thing – a
brain. Synapses fired and neurons connected. Little impulses
shivered off into her body shimmering and shiny like something
magical. Ripples of endorphins bulged out and then dripped away,
receptors taking what they needed and returning what they
didn’t.
    “Bring her over
here Ad. Watch the step.”
    Something
flared behind her eyes. Katie felt as though she were floating. She
tried to drag her eyes open, the total darkness she was seeing was
boring and disorienting.
    “Here on the
sofa.”
    “Clear it off
then.”
    “No, not the
chair. It’s too small and she’ll get all scrunched up. Here.”
    “Oh right.”
    “I’ll get a
cold cloth.”
    “Hang on, help
me get her feet up. She keeps kicking them off.”
    Was she
fighting the man keeping her from a very close encounter with the
floor? Katie had no connection to her body. It could be flamenco
dancing for all she knew.
    “Better. Now
what?”
    Katie tried to
make a sound of thanks but it was a waste of effort. Lainy and Adam
shuffled out of the room and that was it. The loneliness was so
complete but, as she allowed her mind to lose grip on reality and
touch the black she felt, if not happy, less alone.
     
    “You awake
now?”
    Lainy was
squeezing a damp cloth over the carpet. It was the spot where Dan
had spilled her juice.
    The young girl
had only been passed out for a few minutes. It probably seemed
longer.
    “God, I feel
stupid. Dumb little girl can’t even be away from her parents
without fainting.”
    “Don’t feel
bad,” Lainy said. “It happens.”
    “Some kids come
and go straight home because they can’t make it without Mommy and
Daddy.”
    “Afraid I’m
here to stay.”
    “I hope you
don’t mind but I went through the box for the bathroom in case you
needed painkillers or anything. We’re not allowed to buy them for
the whole house in case someone’s allergic or what not.”
    “You went
through my stuff?”
    “Sorry. Lainy
just thought you might need anything.”
    “It’s fine. I
just was looking forward to unpacking myself.”
    “Everything’s
still here. When I couldn’t find anything, I just closed the box
and put it in the bathroom.” Lainy dropped the cloth into a bowl
and sat on the edge of the sofa with Katie. “We share most things
in this house but if you have anything special not in your room
then just write on it.”
    Katie braced
her arms at her sides and pushed up to a sitting position. A grey
rag slipped over her face, leaving tepid, moist tracks. She picked
off with one hand and tried to scrub her face dry with the other.
Lainy tossed the rag in the bowl with the other. “Take that out,
will you, Adam?”
    The clock told
her it was late afternoon, just after five. There would just be
enough time to unpack most of her stuff and find homes for it. No.
That would have to wait until tomorrow. No way was Katie up to
that. “I’m just really tired. I think the heat and the move have
just done me in. Sorry about the fainting thing.”
    “Katie, stop
apologising,” Lainy scolded her. “This is partly your