Nothing is Certain

         I ran down the slippery road, rain slapping hard on my back in thick sheets. My bare feet pounded theough asphalt, tearing away skin from my soles. But I was too preoccupied to care.

          I could hear them behind me, racing through the streets. My heart was beating faster, and my side started to constrict. I turned off the road sharply, into a thin strip of wilderness. Mud splattered behind me, and I stumbled over brambles and twigs as I tried to outrun the ones behind me. My black hair provided cover in the night, a single advantage to this battle. I could almost feel my enemy’s breath on my neck. Not fast enough, I thought painfully, not fast enough.

Rose

          I trudged along the scorching-hot asphalt to my ’99 Corolla, as the afternoon sun beat down on me. I dug my hand inside my bag, searching for my keys. When I lifted it out, all I came up with was a handful of sticky quarters.

          “I don’t have the time for this,” I grumbled, dumping the contents of my purse onto the empty parking space beside me. Plucking my keys from the very top of the pile, I stuck them in the lock and popped the door open. When I managed to finally shove all of the trash back into my purse, I threw it onto the passenger seat before jumping inside myself.