The Only Delicacy

As fast as a ninja running away for his life or as fast as passerby being chased by a viscous canine, the youth ran to school like her life depended on it. To maintain her excellent grades in which she painstakingly placed a huge effort into, she absolutely must not be tardy today!

By now, she was long gone from the small hill where her house resided. She ran through the forest and squinted her eyes to adapt it from the contrast of the surroundings.

She checked her ten year old Nokia cell phone, hanging on the side of her backpack, for the time. She did not care whether her phone might be stolen or not, due to it being old and out-dated.

"Even thieves have their own standards," was what she concluded and mentally consoled to herself.

She looked at the time, not at all scared on whether she may bump into someone or not. She was highly confident over her familiarity with the same road and city she resided on for, as a matter of fact, her whole life.

Moreover, with the help of her bloody training which began when she was just five years old, her versatility was topnotch.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that even her track and field record had exceeded the current world record. Hence, it would not also be an exaggeration to conclude that she was almost as fast as a lightning!

Not to mention, her bumping into someone was close to impossible, or just literally impossible, because they would not even notice her to begin with.

What their eyes would catch was just a mere shadow, gone by the next second.

Yet despite her God-given talent, she was humble. Humble enough that she felt her speed was as slow as a newborn fawn. The time was now 7:28 am, and she only had two minutes left to arrive on time!

Her sweat dripped from her forehead and scattered onto the wind, glittering like stars under the morning sunlight. Her dress fluttered with the wind, not showing her cute, plain and cheap underwear, like the dress had a mind of its own. She elegantly ran like a cheetah, leaving no sounds upon her footsteps.

Except her heels. Her one inch heels were now considered a hindrance to her speed! She mentally noted to herself to find the cheapest or most affordable but durable sneakers and purchase it on her next pay.

She thought, "I need to go faster! Let's use the shortcut by the alley!"

With her abilities, she could even run through rooftops, which would only take about 30 seconds to arrive to school at a distance of 10 miles away. But sadly, it was daytime. She would never risk being found out by passersby, breaking her contract, crumbling the trust her mentor had for her, being spotted by enemies and, most of all, endangering herself in broad daylight.

But because she did not want her mother to feel guilty for her 'share of responsibilities', because she wanted to lighten her mother's load, and because she also wanted to feel like a normal child whenever her mother was around, she watched that same channel every time her mother was there.

Thus, even though she had a tinge of regret, she thought it was worth it, for she those minutes to spare for her mother was like a treasure worth more than gold. So no matter how long those minutes would be, she would spare them for her only mother and would disregard the consequences.

No, to accurately put it, she would motivate herself more to accomplish the goal, given her limited time left.

Failure was never an answer. Or she would have died a long time ago.

With a strong resolution, she increased her speed by three times. Now, not a shadow was left to be seen. She fully converged with the background. It had been a long time since she went past her limit. Now, she had actually received a breakthrough!

What a blessing in disguise.

However, she was too preoccupied with her matters now to even realize it, herself. If she had just realized it, she would have planned for more similar scenarios to come in the near future.

Her cell phone silently ticked the seconds away...

10... 9... 8.....

She was now 1 kilometer away. From her perspective, there stood a large magnificent building with white, black, and blue walls that were exquisitely decorated with transparent glass panes. Upon the entrance stood an elevated stairway, huge Greek-like columns, and two massive white wooden doors open for all to pass.

Surrounding the building was a vast garden, with perfectly trimmed cone trees, round bushes, and a wide variety of flowers, a small playground by the side, a parking area on the other side, a wide grey pebble road on the center that leads to the entrance, and lastly, tall gates, with large iron bars, guarding the building on both the front and back.

On the gates were carved, "Grandure Sinclair Academy."

This school had a well-known history of leaving new students, tourists, employees, and many others gawking, again and again.

7... 6...

She squinted her eyes, for the wind felt like razors cutting through her skin.

5... 4... 3....

Her feet cramped, for her body was not yet used to an inhumane speed like this.

2..... 1....

But, she did not care. She went past the gates, onto the entrance of the school, and then proceeded to her classroom.

0.

"Yes! Thank God!" She mentally exclaimed.

She arrived at exactly 7:30 am, not one second more or less! Despite her heightened emotional state, she still kept her blank face, as if she should have expected that more or less. But in fact, as the saying goes:

Habits die hard.

No matter how much she wanted to dance or yell out "YES!", she just could not do that. Literally speaking, she did not even have the luxury to do that. Years of training never allowed her to. Letting your enemies know your feelings, discover your feelings, and use it to their advantage were all big NO's for her survival.

With a scent of lavender and roses wherever she went, she got her handkerchief from the side of her backpack and wiped her remaining sweat while walking. Having a good run first thing in the morning felt very refreshing.