Storms

I love storms.

I love how everything is just howling around you and the strongest people hunch over and wrap their arms around their bodies and close their eyes. Trees stretch and bend, leaves dancing, and invisible forces are swirling everywhere.
And then the power goes off.

Voices

If you can listen to a voice and then imagine the same voice saying things that you haven't even heard the person say, you have echoic memory!

I do. It's friggin' great and really fun.

Relay

            Why would you do relay?

            Well.
             The second you get out there on the track and glance back, all poised like a cat about to pounce, adrenaline surging through you, you are truly alive. You're all tense and amazing and trembling and your eyes are bloodshot and your heart is screaming and racing. You worry that you're not positioned perfectly, and hundreds of people are watching. You're sweating. Clothing sticks to your skin. And then.
               Your teammate is catching up all too fast, face scrunched up, eyebrows narrowed. You bolt. You're weak. But then you're strong as ever, plowing through. You can't feel anything. You're just light.
              "STICK!" 
              You throw your arm back and are rewarded with the cold metal baton. And then you are abandoned. This stretch is all yours. Your teammate is panting, gasping for breath, watching you for dear life. But you're strong.
                You shoot past a competitor, trusting your feet to follow the lines, head locked into place. You know what to do. You know how to fly.
               And then you're at the next carrier's poker chip. They jerk their head forward and bolt forward, and are much faster than you, you realize. You didn't know you were in such fatigue until now. But no time. You struggle to catch up with them.
             But then you're loudly, hoarsely whispering, "Stick." 
             And then they have it.
             And you stop.
            And you nearly fall over, but it's okay. Your vision is blurry, but it's okay. You're swaying on sore feet. But it's okay. You did your job.
           And you did it well.