the sweet escape

[madison araseli carter]

twist it, shake it, bend it, don't break it!



The beach. Madison wasn't sure if it was the soft sand, the beautiful ocean and the people that filled it, or the small secluded area to the far end of it that called her name, but she loved the beach. She had been there everyday for the past few weeks working on volleyball with the locals and even a few kids from school, but today she walked past the nets toward that small secluded area. She had her iPod, it's dock port filled with new batteries, and her gym bag with her. She was going to work on her tumbling, jumps, and fluency today. Sure, she had fun hitting a beach ball around with random people, but cheerleading had always been her favorite sport and the one she took the most seriously. She'd been tumbling since she was six and dancing since she was twelve. Cheerleading just seemed to come naturally to her. She had always been a flyer because of her small body and light weight, but she loved tumbling the most. Back at her old school she was barely ever given the chance to show off her skills because someone was always throwing her in the air. It wasn't that she was so tiny, but she was a good two inches shorter than most everyone else on her squad. She was hoping Sunset would give her a chance to be more versatile.

When she finally reached her spot on the beach away from everyone else, she set up her music, letting a special playlist of old competition music play as she stretched. She did her usual toe reaches, back bends, and arm circles to loosen her body up before standing and re-adjusting her ponytail. She started with a few cartwheel-round-off combos to warm up. After about five minutes of that she eliminated the cartwheel then went straight into her round-off single back-handspring, gradually adding one as time went on. She stopped to take a break and take off her t-shirt, showing her white and red striped bikini. She prepped again and went for another set of flips, smiling as she felt her body catching air quickly followed by her feet landing safely on the soft sand. She really needed new cheer shoes, but her mom didn't want to buy anymore until she was sure her daughter would stick with it. Madison hated asking her mom because she always got the same answer. It was only so long before her current shoes would have a hole worn through them and then what would she do? She didn't like using her uniform shoes to practice, but it looked like she didn't have a choice.

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[eli ackerman]

WAVING FROM SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS.
"Come down now," they'll say.

---

At least it was a nice day. The sun was out, a necessity of pleasant weather. The sky was an incredible blue, the color of blue-suited plastic action figures, the ones meant to be displayed rather than touched, with not a wisp of cloud trying to invade the beautiful spectrum, it would be a defilement more than anything. A breeze infiltrated the streets, twisting whatever small pieces of trash lazy people had thought would go unnoticed. Bird thought to make themselves known, and have conversations with one another from opposite sides of the street. Cars weren't anywhere to be seen, and niether were the people, all of them places other than the streets and sidewalks, probably lying in the park, the grass, enjoying the relaxing day. Relaxing, yes, enjoyable? Not always the case. There was a boy playing follow-the-leader with the sidewalk who could elaborate.

Sunset was a nice place, there was no doubt about that. It was quiet, peaceful, and humble. Everyone knew eachother in their respected communities, and for the most part the rivalries between them were kept quiet, for surely it would offset the balance of the whole city. Word got around quickly, so even shut-ins would know what was happening with everyone. There were nice people who kept the culture alive, and a decent amount of places to go on a boring afternoon such as this. Still, the place was creepy. It was the perfect place to film a monster movie; the little town, innocent, harmless, then BAM! Suddenly the couple down the streets' baby was born, human? Of course not. However, this mid-afternoon was the calm before the storm, completely silent in the center of town, except for one sound: footsteps. No, not from Godzilla or any other supernatural giant, from Eli Ackerman, resident of Sunset for two months.

Today had been anything but calm and relaxing for the boy. Though today perhaps should have counted as yesterday, as he had hardly slept since. As usual, Dan had set out a giant list of things for him to do, and the previous day's list involved landscaping, a boatload of physical labor. Yesterday he had slept through his alarm, and woken up nearly two hours later than usual. Though those extra two hours hadn't gotten him very far, for he got no means of rest for the remainder of the afternoon. The day got more and more tiring, as he missed breakfast and from making up lost time Eli ended up missing lunch. It wasn't until he had sat down to dinner that he found himself refueled. Kind of. Dan soon came home to zero in on all the mediocrities of Eli's work, and so... That evening and late into the night he had spent re-doing the work, in the dark now, from all the corners he had cut out on. This left him with two nights of poor sleep. No, the waking hours weren't the best for him, so he had done the one thing that would clear his mind, maybe make a flat-line in this ever decreasing scale of happiness. Too bad it didn't work out, as he forgot to turn off his alarm clock, which woke him up early.

Eli was on a morning run, morning being afternoon, finishing his ten miles in a disappointing time of one hour and seven minutes. The boy was quick, with a mile time of four minutes and twenty-three seconds. However, today had proved not to be a quick day. Maybe because he was tired. Understatement of the week... his sarcastic, tired mind shot at him. Two nights ago Duncan the I'm-sorry-about-how-you're-feeling-right-now-how-about-I-get-you-a-dog-to-compensate-love-Mom border collie had finally found his way out of the yard and into the free world. Knowing that Dan wouldn't even try to catch the dog, Eli had been drafted to chase after him. The dog was still young and spirited, therefore full of energy and hard to catch, even with Eli's speed. Ergo, he had spent half the night chasing after the animal, had gone to bed immediatly, and forgotten about the next day's landscaping assignments. Needless to say this had not been the best day, nor was it the most distinct, and there were many little details that seemed to have gotten lost on the way to Eli's memory. There was one thing he did remember, though: No way in hell was Duncan getting a walk today.

The local beach was merciful in the way that it was nearly empty. which Eli didn't hesitate to take advantage of. Slightly frustrated, as he had been all day, he took a seat, breaking the patterned noises of his own breathing and the wind chasing itself around. It was an odd thing, realizing the comfort of previously grainy and rocky things such as sand. And the wind, too, was calming. Usually Eli had thought of it as rather flustering, especially in the fall when it aided the tumbling leaves in finding their way onto his car. Now the white noise was the most calming thing in the world. Hell, even this town was relaxing right now, the creepy few square blocks that had so recently sent a chill down the boy's spine were now putting him to sleep. That is, until he heard music. It seemed someone else had taken advantage of the vacant beach, too.

With a small groan, only audible to his ears, he opened his tired eyelids again, ignoring the sting from the sun. Turning his head towards the direction of the disturbance, he saw a girl, no doubt from Sunset High, tumbling through the air. Cheerleading squad. They were meant to pump up the crowd, but it would take more than thumping beats to excite the tired Eli right now. Though he supposed the flips and tricks were enough to wake him a little bit. Well, the least he could do is talk to her... "Hey," he called out, offering as friendly of a smile as he could muster. "You're pretty good at that."

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---

EVERYTHING LOOKS PERFECT FROM FAR AWAY.
"Come down now," but we'll stay.[/font]

---

STATUS; complete.[/size]
WORDCOUNT; 1,008.[/size]
TAGGED; madison.[/size]
JAMS; shine a light -- wolf parade.[/size]
NOTES; sorry about this one, my muse was up past its bed time during these last few paragraphs...[/size][/center]

[madison araseli carter]

twist it, shake it, bend it, don't break it!

Madison had been tumbling so long that she'd forgotten about her surroundings. Sure, the occasional gust of wind on her skin or the warm feel of the sun beating on her skin while warming her up would occasionally draw her out of her daze, but for the most part she had completely forgotten about she was out in public. In her head she was tumbling through the air in a secluded gym, like the one she attended back home, with other skilled gymnastics taking their turn on the mats. She had been keeping to herself, being careful not to break her careful routine of tumbling down the beach, walking slowly back to her blanket and catching a quick breath, then starting all over again. She was locked in that zone, the one that nearly no one and nothing could bring her out of.

After a few minutes of rest and removing sand from her shoes, Madison was at it again. She prepped and began, sending her body tumbling along the tide finishing off with a back tuck. She loved the adrenaline rush she got from flying through the air at such a fast pace. It was exciting. It was a skill she held over many people at her school, though she feared she wouldn't be able to show it considering her current position was on top of the stunts, yet again. Still, there was always the possibility of a tumbler getting hurt, and Madison was ready to step in. It wasn't that she didn't like flying, she really did enjoy being seen by many and waving the pom poms and hand-made signs, pumping up the crowd, and the stunts that tested her flexibility and balance, but she didn't want to limit herself. She was hoping to talk to the captain about maybe adding some basket tosses or anything that would allow her to combine her tumbling and flying skills.

After her last set, Madison began walking back to her spot, dusting the small grains of sand off her hands. A few pieces of rock had also been pressed into her hand, but it was nothing too serious. She removed the last bit of debris and pulled her wind-wept hair off of her sweaty face. She was about to go for another set when she noticed someone had joined her. She smiled at the boy as she placed her hands her hips, panting. Whoever thought cheerleading wasn't a sport didn't do it the way Madison did. She sat on her towel which had also been covered in sand along with small bits of trash. She groaned as she looked at the contents of her blanket. It was the usual on the beach; napkins, cups, cans, things like that. She kicked them out of her way with the toe of her shoe, then looked up at the boy.

One thing Madison could greatly appreciate was a compliment or any kind of praise for her talent. The boy didn't look too much older than her, probably a student at her high school. "Thanks, I would hope so since I've been training all summer. Trying to make a good impression on these Sunset cheerleaders. It's my first year on their squad,"[/color] Madison explained between deep breaths. She had been lazy for the past few weeks, and her body was paying for it now. She took a second to watch the small waves crashing upon the sand, drawing back whatever object it could into the water. She offered her hand to the boy. Name's Madison,"[/color] she introduced, adding. a friendly smile. She didn't have a lot of friends, and she wasn't going to turn down an opportunity to make some more. Besides, the few friends she did have never seemed to be able to get out the house. Unlike her own mother, they had parents that liked knowing where they were 24/7.
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[eli ackerman]

WAVING FROM SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS.
"Come down now," they'll say.

---

The girl's workout ended soon enough, which made the tired Eli feel that perhaps he had wasted his energy. He could have been sleeping on the beach right now, but due to this girl he was now wide awake to speak with her. But of course, that was probably the wrong attitude to have. He should have been glad that he was ready to meet people in this unknown town, despite not having hours and hours of sleep to back up the energy.Of course, the sudden energy burst had burned up paying attention to the practice, leaving him exhausted once more, giving new meaning to the phrase 'dead man walking'. Eli felt like he was sloping to the side like a palm tree, hardly able to comprehend words like a palm tree, and felt as dormant as a palm tree. For a second, he forgot about why he was there at all, and who he was talking to. It was quite possible he had fallen asleep both with his eyes open and in a standing position. Quickly, he snapped out of it, shaking his head and returning his posture to a normal standard. He had a conversation to fulfill.

The girl was speaking now, informing him of her vigorous training habits that had taken away her summer time. Eli knew how that was. He was often stubborn complete his daily ten miles. Unsurprisingly, days like today took up more time than it did otherwise. Still, the school had no team he was practicing for. Eli supposed he had a huge edge on the rest of the soccer team because of his constant unintentional training, but soccer was really just for structure in his schedule. Running was the real passion. Th cheerleader continued, telling him how it was her first year on the squad. "Me too," he said, quickly realizing his mistake. Wide eyed at his own stupidity, he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I mean, it's my first year on any team at Sunset High, period. I'm not on the... the squad." He spoke carefully, not wanting to screw up any more sentences. "I play soccer," he elaborated with a smile.

Madison. That's what her name was. She outstretched a hand to shake. Eli thought that little scare was enough to worry him out of mistakes, but it seemed he had yet to make the biggest mistake thus far. "I'm---" Outstretching his hand to shake like a kind and normal person, the boy found himself pulling his hand back midway to subconciously cover a yawn. Rude. Unbelievably rude. He couldn't believe how rude that looked. He was officially the rudest person on earth as far as he was concerned. "I'm so sorry..." he apologized, flustered once again. "I, uh, I'm Eli. And I think I stayed up a little too late tonight..." Still rude. He wasn't yet in the clear. Though she seemed cheerful, maybe if he offered an embarassed sort of smile she would overlook his unintentional rudeness... Eli would've fled then and there if he wasn't so tired. He could see it now: Him trying to run away, but unable to for lack of sleep. He would fall face first into the sand, asleep before he knew it. In which case this girl, Madison, would bury him in the sand, no one ever to find him again... Eli decided he would rather just face the wrath.

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---

EVERYTHING LOOKS PERFECT FROM FAR AWAY.
"Come down now," but we'll stay.[/font]

---

STATUS; sadly complete...[/size]
WORDCOUNT; not enough.[/size]
TAGGED; madison.[/size]
JAMS; epiphany -- staind.[/size]
NOTES; i am so so sorry about this post. it is a combination of a late night, no breakfast, a very stubborn muse, and not enough time. i promise the next one will be a million times better. god... i feel like eli...[/size][/center]

[madison araseli carter]

twist it, shake it, bend it, don't break it!

The boy that had come over to speak to Madison looked as though he might fall over on her at any second. She wasn't sure if she should scoot out the way, or try and keep him awake with more tumbling. After all, the whole reason he seemed to come her practice area had seemed to be the way she tossed her body through the air. She pushed herself up off the towel when he shook her hand. She'd only just grabbed it when the boy withdrew to it to cover a yawn. She was right, he was exhausted. His unattentive demeanor had clued her in, but the yawn just verified it. Still, he'd made his way over to her so maybe he was trying to wake up.

Madison had stifled a giggle when the boy said it was his first year on any team at Sunset, not the cheerleading squad. She'd understood what he meant, but it was still funny that he had a temporary moment of embarrassment. He played soccer, which Madison could admire considering all the running the sport took. "Cool. I do volleyball, softball,"[/color] Madison took a step back before doing a back-hand spring, "and cheerleading."[/color] she added, smiling. She'd already made it clear she was a cheerleader, but she was hoping to keep the boy awake with more tumbling. Whenever she saw people doing something she thought was interesting or difficult, she perked up and paid close attention. Then again, Madison was a naturally curious person and was always wondering what others were doing.

Madison had known the boy was tired, but she figured he was awake enough to remember what his own name was. Maybe her music was too loud and woke him up. Still, when he did eventually reach his hand out Madison assumed he would be ok, until he withdrew it to cover a yawn. It was slightly rude, but Madison said nothing. Besides, the boy's smile seemed to say sorry for him, almost like he was too tired to find the words to apologize. When he did eventually tell her his name, she simply nodded and smiled politely. "Are you ok? You seem a little..." Madison said, her voice trailing off as she looked for a word to describe the boy's current state. After a few seconds of silence, Madison still hadn't found a work but didn't want the boy to think she was rude, if he was alert enough to notice, so she looked for something else to say. "So, you come to the beach often?" she asked, turning to watch more waves crash against the sand and draw back in.
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