Plot Twist

Falling Far From The World

I was fairly excited for our next event. It wasn't bars, my fav. But at least it was my second favorite! Vault was just another event that you could easily hit you back so hard that you could break it on the edge of the back of the board, you know what I mean?

No pressure though. ;)

I stared at my bruise. It was just a bruise. But maybe not. I had been feeling not to good the past week. But I had decided to keep pushing myself, even though I was feeling weaker every day.

I took my mind off of it and focused on vault. I spread my arms out wide and did high knees following my teammates down the runway. Next we did accelerated sprints.

"Run harder, girls!" Riley calls, forcing us to take it to the next level.

My body was feeling weak while running. I knew I wasn't getting the right amount of speed to do a decent vault. It would affect my chance, I just knew it. Without speed, without acceleration, I would have no power to propel myself over the vault table.

Riley watched us closely, pointing out little mistakes during our warm ups. My legs started to feel heavy. Really heavy.

"Haylie, you good?" Riley asks.

I give her a tiny thumbs up before falling to the ground. Riley stares at me as I pull myself up off the floor.

"I'M FINE!" I reassure them.

"Okay, stop warm ups." Riley calls. "I'm changing the order, wait here."

Us girls sit off to the side of the runway and sit in silence. Riley is over at the judge, but is talking too quietly for us to hear.

"What is she saying?" Cora asks.

"She said she's changing the order." Rachael puts her head on her knees.

Riley comes back and her face is full with concern.

"Hailey." She says, looking me dead on. "I'm concerned for your health. You haven't been doing well at practices and I really don't think I can let you compete the rest of the meet."

My teammates give me a frightful face, and I look down at the ground. Not compete? But this was my last competition before states! I had to go to states!

"But, Riley, I have to get to states. I really want to compete today. My whole class is here, and I want to impress them." I plead.

I can hear Riley sigh. "I don't know about-"

"PLEASE?"

"Alright! But if I see you not doing well... you're out. You hear me? I'm worried for you, and I don't want you to get hurt."

I nod. "So am I first?"

"Yes, I couldn't change the order. Just try your hardest, okay?"

I stand on the runway calmly waiting to be saluted. The pressure was on. I needed a good run to be able to get height. If I didn't get height then my score would go down and I could lose good form.

I get saluted (finally) and start to run. I run fast, as fast as my body could let me. I give my biggest strongest arm circle I can and use all my strength to push off of the springboard. My hands land on the board and I immediately feel weaker than I ever have in my whole life.

The feeling was unreal. It was a pain that hit you so hard that you have nothing else you can do but just stay still. Your eyes go black and your hearing fades. The screaming slowly disappears out of the world and everything is silent.

The smell was horrifying. I could easily recognize it from my brother being here before. I had no idea exactly what room I was in in the building. All I could tell you was that this room was painful. Just being there made someone cringe.

I hadn't opened my eyes yet, but I could feel the needle in my arm and the quiet beeps of a machine. A drip drip sound was also in the room. I decide to open my eyes and am blinded by the sunshine beaming through a window. I look down at my arm and see a massive bruise around where the needle is sticking into my arm.

I was alone. No doctors, nurses, parents, family, friends. But most importantly..... No meet. Tears spring to my eyes. I had just lost that chance. But before I could think anymore, I begin to take in my surroundings. I was definitely in a hospital.

I had too many thoughts swarming through my head that I just decided to fall asleep.