[ WP ] What do you do when you ca n't run any more ?

She sat in front of the television and stared at the dancing colors on the screen. She could hardly focus on them. She certainly did n't care about them. And yet she could barely tear her gaze away from them to crane her neck to get a look at the clock hanging in the kitchen. 
 
 Her mouth hung open. God, it was 9:52. 9:52. Nearly time for bed. Another day was gone, and yet another day loomed. She did n't want to go to bed, did n't even want to move. She wanted to sit here and will time to slow to a crawl until it oozed like molasses. She wanted to sit here and feel nothing. She knew that when she got into bed and closed her eyes, she would open them again and it would be time to face another day of drudgery. 
 
 In spite of that, she fought her way up from the warmth of the couch, and stretched. She reached for the remote, and clicked off the TV. This was the worst part of the night, she thought. That silence when I turn off the TV. That silence that I go to bed with, that wraps me up in its arms. 
 
 But she did n't go to bed. She went to her computer. 
 
 It took her a while to actually do it. She always found every reason not to: `` I will in a minute, just let me watch a couple YouTube videos first.'' `` I'll just play a few minutes of this game before I start, I *did* just buy it.'' She forced those excuses out of her mind. They were trash, and she had no more time for them. 
 
 She realized she was tired of running. No, more than that. She was exhausted, absolutely exhausted. She could n't run anymore. 
 
 She opened up a blank document, and the moment she saw the cursor blinking slowly against that white background, she just wanted to close it and go to bed. That blank sheet was scary, almost accusing. It seemed a declaration that she was n't good enough, was n't smart enough, that she might as well give up. 
 
 But she was too tired for that old bullshit. 
 
 `` Darkness consumed the land, and all seemed lost,'' she wrote. `` But though none suspected it, hope lived on.''
