One more mile
“One more mile,” Sierra thought to herself. The screen on the treadmill read four miles. If she ran one more mile, it would be enough. A nice, easy run to calm her down before Randy noticed that she was gone.
Why did it feel so much better when her legs were pumping away beneath her? On the treadmill and trails, Sierra felt like her old self again. Before the Dot Bomb. Before the Zerbitz fiasco. She felt in control and everything was a little better.
The LEDs on the treadmill illuminated 4.5 miles. “Half mile, ” she thought to herself. “That’s all I’ll do. Then I’ll stop.” The thought of going back to the Bowen house filled her with a sinking dread. “Samson’s right. That house IS haunted,” she ruminated.
Was it haunted by the guy who sprayed his brains all over the wall in the master bedroom? As far as she had heard from June, their realtor, the house had changed hands a half a dozen times before that sorry man took possession of it. When did it start?
Maybe when the renovations were made, something was disturbed. That master bedroom was added by a previous owner. So was that weird water heater that never runs out of hot water and the Internet access. Maybe that owner dug up an old grave to add that master bedroom.
The silliness of her thoughts overtook her and Sierra laughed out loud in a strange pant. Two years ago, she was a lawyer in San Francisco. That woman she had been would have never even considered the possibility of a haunted house. Yet here she was today, wondering if there was a way to research the provenance of a house she owned in some back water town twelve hours away from home.
She smacked the bright red button on the treadmill with a force that surprised her and the aged gentleman toddling on the treadmill next to her. There WAS a way to research the history of the Bowen House. It was just the kind of thing that Sierra was really good at. She wiped the stinging sweat away from her eyes. Her next stop would be the County Records Building. She needed to shower first, though. The stench of her own sweat made her feel a little nauseated.
The treadmill readout said 7.2 miles.