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Roux was enjoying the sun on her face as she ran, the wind catching her long red curls as she paced herself. The summer day was hot enough that she could see the long road ahead of her moving in the heat waves. She never felt so free as when she was running alone, and living in this small town of Constantine was the perfect place for it. Surrounded by woodlands and mountains, she never had to worry about traffic or neighbors trying to talk to her. She got to fully take in her surroundings, smell the bark of the trees, and hear the clicking cicadas. This was contentment for her. She could feel the sweat beading down her lower back, soaking the waistband of her sweatpants. Since she had started her daily run, she had already covered several miles, passing the Robinson farm, the small gas station that always looked abandoned, and even the private nature reserve on the border of town. As Roux approached the town limit sign, she slowed to a walk. It was hot today, hotter than most. Being this close to the Kamden Falls was too enticing. Besides, it was a long run to the house, and she really wanted the sun to dissipate a bit before heading back. There was a small worn path that trailed off the road and through the trees before opening up at a rock ledge. Below was a pool of water that Roux had swam in her whole life. This was the place where the popular kids would go to drink and rope swing into the water, but she was never part of that. This was somewhere she liked to go when she knew no one would be there, and this day was one of those days. Tomorrow was the 1st day of the new school year, and Roux was going to be a senior. While everyone else was getting ready for their final year, she was dreading it. There was a pageantry to school, and the cliques, that just never sat well with her. The way that they paraded themselves around was as if they all thought they were the best that this town had to offer, and everyone was trying to out-offer everyone else. And Roux wanted no part of it. Part of her had always fantasized about heading for the mountains with nothing but a backpack and a will to live alone. But she would miss her Uncle Mark, who had always looked out for her. When her parents died in the car crash, Mark had been the first on the scene to take responsibility for the baby that had miraculously survived. Though he had always been a natorious bachelor, nothing would stop him from stepping up in that moment. He also wasn't someone who would stop persuing beautiful women just because he was thrust into parenthood. And so the years went on as Mark cycled through seemingly all the women that this town and all neighboring towns had to offer. But Roux was never bothered. Rather, it gave her the space and solitude she craved. He was present when he needed to be, showed up to all the school track meets, cheering her on like any doting parent. But now that she was almost an adult, Mark had been sleeping elsewhere for most nights. He would swoop in and make sure that the groceries were stocked regularly and then skedaddle just as quickly. Roux would get texts from him regularly to check in with her, but since her responses were always limited to one or two words, he wouldn't press the issue. There had always been a mutual respect for each other's privacy between them. But Roux had never been the kind of girl that Mark would need to worry about. She was fiercely independent and smart, too smart for this town. He always thought she had been destined for more than what this town had to offer, but she seemed to want even less than that. When he asked her what her post graduation plans were looking like, and her response was a simple shrug, he excitingly went into a whole presentation on what a great school Ithaca was, and that him being an alumni would give her a leg up for entry. Putting herself into another silly school structure just after escaping her current one seemed like the worst decision she could make. But there was still a year to decide what her next chapter would look like. For now, she just wanted to feel the water and sun on her skin and not think of tomorrow. She took off her sweatpants and tank top, left them on the rocks, and jumped into the water from the cliff's edge. From under the water she could see the sun's rays beeming through the top and thought how beautiful it was. How peaceful must it be to live in the water, even during a storm. She floated to top and laid back, resting in her hands tucked under head, truly nature's Lazy Boy. Roux stayed like this for ehat seemed like hours, listening to the distant underwater sound of the fall's waters crashing down into the pool. She observed the treetops and the way they swayed in unison to the gentle breeze blowing through them. The beams of light coming through the treetops were like something out of a biblical tale, the heavens opening up to shine upon her. In that moment, a large section of that beaming light flickered, as if something large had just passed her overhead. Roux popped to an upright position and looked around her, but she didn't see or hear anything besides her nature retreat. "Hello? Who's there?" she called out in a voice barely loud enough for her to hear it. Just then, rustling came from the wooded area along the embankment, and 3 familiar teenagers came stumbling out. It was the Bradley twins from school, both seniors again this year. Roux had always thought how annoying it was to have 2 of these idiots to have to deal with from time to time. They felt like a pair of gnats that you just couldn't kill no matter how many times you swatted them. With them was Rachel who had actually graduated 2 years prior. If the twins were gnats, then she was the rotted fruit they ate. She only had two facial expressions: resting b***h face and gaping mouth breather, both of which were horrible. But Roux could see what these bone heads could see in her, or rather on her. She had huge t**s, the kind that were unproportionate to her frame. And she seemed to wear bras that were purposely a few sizes too small to further cartoonize the juxtaposition. Taking their arrival as her queue to leave, Roux made her way for the embankment to make the climb back up to her clothes. As she began passing the 1st twin, Kyle grabbed her wrist. "Where are you running off to?" Kyle said with a curl to his grin that meant he was not just making small talk. "We don't bite...hard" he said with a wink as he bit the air. "I do!" Roux barked as she jerked her arm back, pulling Kyle's arm into range so that she could bite the hand that was still clenching her arm. Kyle yelped in surprise, but then let out a huge gasp just before a branch from the tree above fell on him, rope swing still attached.