Chapter 54 - 54. Double Running
The emotional moment passed as soon as Cara took the pen and signed her name on the voucher Asher had gifted her. She was going to go right to the design department and request gear for herself in the morning. She had so many ideas and designs that she had been saving up for that would work perfectly with her sound based power. However she had been limited by money and always settled for the basic things she could get through school.
Jane had grabbed Cara\'s phone number and the two eagerly promised a girls night. Asher\'s mother had even joined in saying that she would kick the boys out of the house one night so they could have it to themselves. This made them a little fearful since they could unexpectedly be told not to come back to the house one night in the future.
Jane who had started to fall asleep from her food coma realized if she didn\'t leave now she wouldn\'t ever leave. She said her goodbyes and was escorted by Asher all the way home. The two took an extra long time due to their over stuffed condition. By the time Asher returned he was barely awake.
Cara had fallen asleep on the couch and Art had made his way to the guest room. Asher saw that his parents had finished the clean up and gone to bed themselves. This just left Asher who was about to head up the stairs to bed when he heard his sister talking in her sleep. The tired and slow voice was hard to make out but Asher swore he heard what she said, "My Art makes the best cake…"
\'What kind of dream was she having? Don\'t tell me she is going to chain Art up to the kitchen and make him cook forever.\' Asher\'s imagination ran away with the craziest possibility. \'I might need to protect Art in the future. I knew my sister was really evil.\' He thought of how he would protect him as he fell in to bed. His last thought before sleep took him was about the weird dream he had had the night before. \'Please no sheep fighting this time..\'
Fortunately for him he was not met with a dream land full of green fields and endless sheep. He slept through the night without any trouble. The only thing that caused him to be unsettled was the blaring alarm that tore away the sweet sweet sleep he had fallen in to. His hand slammed in to the silence button and he was already up and moving. If he was going to commit to this working out thing he could not hesitate.
When he made his way down to the entry way he found that Cara was looking extra motivated and wearing a new headband. "That headband looks pretty nice." Asher made sure to throw the compliment out since it looked like Cara was going to be pushing them a little harder today and it may save them from being way too sore the next day.
"My friends gave it to me as a gift yesterday. It\'s supposed to have some cooling fabric that keeps me from getting overheated." She looked at Asher who had started to follow his stretching and also at Art who joined them as soon as he came down.
"That headband looks really nice on you." Art saw the look of determination on Cara\'s face and had the same thought as Asher did. \'It\'s going to be a tough workout today!\'
"Yea I know, Asher said it too." You both can join me or not but I am doing double long run after the circuits so I can eat another piece of cake." Asher and Art looked at her like she had just said something insane. \'She\'s doing double cardio so she can eat cake?\' Asher could not fathom why she needed to work out to eat cake.
"Alright. Then I will do a double run too. I know you will be ahead of me but I can\'t let you stay ahead of me for too long" Art was quick with his reply and started to put himself in to the right mindset to properly survive this.
\'Wait, what? Why is he doing double running too, he isn\'t going to eat cake? Wait, what does this have to do with cake?\' Asher really didn\'t understand it at all, why was this all related to the cake.
"Then you should have a piece with me later, I know you didn\'t have one last night since you were cutting it." Cara smiled and even acted nice. She had changed the entire way she treated Art. \'His cake must be magic...Art can actually make magic cake!\' "Let\'s go and get working. We have stretched enough." Cara was off before Asher could say anything or fully figure things out.
The three started off with Cara way ahead. However her pace was significantly slower and she stayed in sight of the other two. She was keeping her energy for the longer run after, it was all about pacing.
Art and Asher were able to keep pace with each other all the way to the park. The usual circuit was quick and they tried to keep up with Cara. However the two were both crushed by her speed and efficiency. Everything went smoothly as the last days of work out until they got to the time they needed to do the longer run.
Cara did a little extra stretching before setting her watch. She set off a slower pace headed in the opposite direction of the house. Art gave Asher a determined look and followed suit. \'I guess I can\'t avoid it then, off I go too.\' Asher followed Art with the realization that he was going to have trouble walking the next day at school.
Their work out time was at the same time that the garbage trucks were roaming the streets to pick up household trash. The three ran in a way to avoid the trucks but there were still the worries that they would get in the way. Cara was way ahead of the group but when she went to pass a truck she suddenly stopped in her tracks. Asher and Art quickly caught up to her and wondered why they had stopped there. "Do you guys hear a weird sound?\' She was trying to listen to the truck which seemed like it had no employees on it.
"Actually, I think I hear yelling…" Art heard it too and the three realized it was coming from the truck.
"help...I got pulled in….help…" There was a faint yelling from the closed truck.
"The worker got stuck inside! We need to get them out!" Cara knew that they needed to get in to action immediately. The inside of a garbage truck was not any place for a person to be. There is a compactor inside and if things go wrong then a person pancake could be made.
"We are here outside! We can help you. Just tell us how to open the back!" Cara got close and used her power to control sound to make her voice louder and clear through the metal door that would normally dampen the sound.
The muffled voice was not easily heard and Cara couldn\'t decipher it with her power at all. "I can\'t hear him either, what do we do?" Art was booking to Cara since she was the older one. She still looked calm and collected.
"You head off for the police, try that house over there. None of us brought our phones…" She gave Art a little push then motioned for Asher to come over. "Look in the cabin of the truck and see if you can find a manual. If you can bring it to me."
"You got it!" Asher jumped in to motion. \'Cara really knows what to do.\' Asher admiration grew a lot in just these few seconds. He wouldn\'t have even noticed that someone was in trouble.
He had some trouble opening the door and climbing in to the cabin of the truck. Digging around he realized that there was no such manual for the truck or anything other than just a lunch box and extra jacket. He was not the right size for the large cabin since the seat was adjusted for a much larger person.
Without realizing it he leaned against a black handled lever. The sound of the truck roaring to life and metal screeching pierced his ears. Yelling from inside the back of the truck became frantic and Cara rushed to the cabin. " What did you do!?"
She had lost her calmness and was showing all of her worry. The screams for help were more than she could handle at the moment. She was still in high school and not ready to face these kinds of harsh situations. Asher was now equally freaking out realizing that he must have hit something. \'I tried to be a hero and here I am accidentally killing someone!\'