{"id":2700,"date":"2012-06-29T10:50:07","date_gmt":"2012-06-29T14:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/wpblog\/?p=2700"},"modified":"2012-07-27T12:07:57","modified_gmt":"2012-07-27T16:07:57","slug":"play-by-stephanie-palmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/play-by-stephanie-palmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Play"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Play<\/p>\n

Pounding. Pounding. Pounding.<\/p>\n

A shrill squeak, Quick go!<\/p>\n

Body springs forward<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t think now,<\/p>\n

do.<\/p>\n

Pounding faster, pounding, pounding
\nAct on the survival instinct-<\/p>\n

Do do do,<\/p>\n

Run.<\/p>\n

Footsteps fall to the ground, harder harder, heavy<\/p>\n

It\u2019s silly to chase-<\/p>\n

Mind ignores the fact-<\/p>\n

Play chase,<\/p>\n

Play.<\/p>\n

PoundingPoundingPounding<\/p>\n

Fast! Run to it! Legs resist<\/p>\n

But mind insists.<\/p>\n

They all chase-<\/p>\n

Hurry! Turn, again!<\/p>\n

Run with it<\/p>\n

Run away<\/p>\n

You have it now<\/p>\n

They follow<\/p>\n

They chase<\/p>\n

They swallow<\/p>\n

Hard.<\/p>\n

Silence<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear now<\/p>\n

Your body controls your head,<\/p>\n

It knows what to do.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re ahead!<\/p>\n

They can\u2019t catch you.<\/p>\n

Can they?<\/p>\n

Could they?<\/p>\n

Fight the fatigue that fills your legs<\/p>\n

Fight the pain that gnaws your ankle<\/p>\n

Fight for air<\/p>\n

Fight for life<\/p>\n

Fight for the game.<\/p>\n

The game of\u2026<\/p>\n

Close.\u00a0Thud<\/em>. Too close.\u00a0Thudthud<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Body movements sharp-quick-sharp-quick again again.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t stop! Move f o r w a r d- move, it\u2019s too close!<\/p>\n

The white net<\/p>\n

Sharp eyes of the guardian on you. Just you.<\/p>\n

The world moves slow.<\/p>\n

One last jerk!<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s off.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t chase.<\/p>\n

-You watch.<\/p>\n

Waiting<\/p>\n

And the<\/p>\n

Pounding. Pounding. Pounding.<\/p>\n

Continues.<\/p>\n

Swoosh.<\/p>\n

Yes?<\/p>\n

Pounding, pounding. Pounding away.<\/p>\n

They couldn\u2019t catch me.<\/p>\n

What about<\/p>\n

\n

You.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

—-<\/p>\n

Stephanie Palmer is a creative writing student at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Author of countless peer reviewed essays, Stephanie enjoys writing fiction and poetry in her free time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Play Pounding. Pounding. Pounding. A shrill squeak, Quick go! Body springs forward Don\u2019t think now, do. Pounding faster, pounding, pounding Act on the survival instinct- Do do do, Run. Footsteps fall to the ground, harder harder, heavy It\u2019s silly to chase- Mind ignores the fact- Play chase, Play. PoundingPoundingPounding Fast! Run to it! Legs resist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,223,219,199,220],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2700"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3579,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700\/revisions\/3579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}