Strong leg muscles, born of a lifetime of rigorous
competition, launch her blades high into the air where they spin tightly – once,
twice, three times – before coming apart, flailing to catch a landing and sending
her tumbling across the unforgiving ice.
“Again!”
her coach yells, making no attempt to hide his impatience.
She knows she needs that fourth revolution to
secure her spot on the team, and that others wait in the wings eager for her
to fail.
Looking over at her parents watching from the
stands, she sees the years of hope and sacrifice on their faces, and wonders at
what point it had stopped being her dream and become theirs.
Ignoring the pain now throbbing in her shoulder, she
sets off across the ice once more, building speed and momentum, hurdling herself
upward – ONE – TWO – THREE –
From the
prompt “Blades” at Five Sentence Fiction.
