𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗞𝗦 - 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘧𝘧

𝐨𝐧𝐞

𝐨𝐧𝐞 - 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

"AND SHE'S DONE IT! ALEXANDRIA CAMPBELL HAS WON IT AGAIN!"

    Alexandria almost collapsed the minute she crossed the finish line, the rubber track catching her spikes barely as she lifted an arm n the air. Her teammates rushed out onto the track, some tackling her, others standing and cheering, some even crying. Crestview Highschool just won the D1 Track Nation Championship, thanks to Alexandria Campbell, one of the best female track athletes in the United States.

Alexandria felt like crying, the most incredible feeling settling in her chest. She had worked years for this, devoted her whole life to track and she deserved it. She deserved every minute of it.

As she stood up on the podium with her team, hoisting the trophy, everything felt right.

"Congrats honey!" Alexandria's mom said, giving her daughter a side hug as they walked back to the car, people congratulating the girl as she walked by.

She was tugging a national championship t-shirt over her head with a smile, she was only 17 and was already shooting to run for team USA. It had always been her dream ever since her Dad introduced her to the sport. Alexandria smiled at the thought, her dad would be so proud. 8 years ago, Alexandria's dad was sent overseas on a simple research trip when his jeep ran over a land mine. Everyone on his team died including him and Alexandria's brother, Lucas. They were innocent.

"Alexandria Campbell?" A voice sounded from behind them.

The two women turned to see a man, his eyes shielded by sunglasses as he was glancing down at a clipboard.

"That's me," The girl smiled at him.

"Hi, my name's Grant Phillips, I'm on the recruiting team for Stanford University," The two shook hands, Alexandria's eyes widened excitedly.

Stanford, her dream school.

"What you did today was truly incredible, have you ever thought about Stanford?" He said.

"Yes," She said rather too quickly before clearing her throat, "Yeah- yes, I have."

"Wonderful, expect an email from us later, I hope that you'll consider contacting us further."
"Yes- yes, of course."

"Alright then, congratulations again."

"Thank you, Sir," She smiled excitedly as he walked away before turning to her mother and squealing loudly, this could be the best day ever.

"Sweetheart, that's incredible," Her mother said sweetly, "my baby's going to Stanford!"

Alexandria smiled as they neared their car. Everything she had worked for, all of the classes and workouts, all of the nights she spent wide awake studying was all paying off and she couldn't believe it.

"Why don't we go get some ice cream to celebrate not only Stanford but my final chemo treatment this month!" Her mother said, pulling her daughter into a side hug.

Emily Campbell had been fighting osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. Her mom was constantly in and out of the hospital getting bone marrow transplants and this month, she was going to be done with it, done with the whole mess.

Alexandria was elated as she sat in the passenger's seat of the car, everything was alright.

"Man, it's getting real cloudy," Her mom pointed out, "I'm glad it didn't start raining in the middle of the meet."

"That would be incredibly annoying," Alex snorted, "But a little thunder and lightning never bothered me."

ϟ

"Mom, I'm going down to the hydrotherapy tubs!" Alexandria called to her mother from the small living room area of their fancy hotel room. The NCAA had paid for everything for their family due to Alexandria winning Gatorade athlete of the year.

The hotel was huge and made for athletes. There were ice baths and hydrotherapy tubs downstairs along with treadmills. Though everything was cool, Alexandria really wanted to try the underwater running therapy thing she saw on their way in.

As she made her way down in her athletic swimsuit and shorts, the lights flickered slightly causing her to glance outside. The rain was coming down hard and you could feel every large rumble of thunder. A flash flood warning had sounded hours ago and she could only hope there wasn't going to be any tomorrow cause she had to fly back to New York pronto.

Alexandria sighed as she entered the room, swiping her hotel key. There was no one else in there since it was almost midnight but she didn't mind, her cooldowns were always a little embarrassing.

She peeked over at the weird water treadmill and decided, why not, it looks fun, let's try it!

The water was cool on her legs as she strapped a thing around her waist which held her in. The water was only up to her belly but she didn't mind one bit as she started the treadmill. It felt weird to run in water but it was kind of fun, to say the least.

Alexandria was trying out sprinting in the water when there was a large flash and boom. The lights flickered and shut off. The girl was about to groan in annoyance as she ran until a surge ran through her body. It felt as if her body was being struck by lightning, her muscles constricted on themselves and she screamed in pain. It felt as if her whole body was breaking down.

The string of the treadmill pulled out and it stopped as the water quickly drained.

Alexandria fell to the bottom, screaming in pain. The feeling didn't leave, it felt as if she was being torn apart. The lights turned back on as she tumbled out of the tank, curling up on the floor. When the girl looked down at her hands, they were shaking, very very fast. The girl could've almost sworn she saw lightning spark on her fingers.

Another surge came again and before she knew it, she was on the other side of the room.

What the hell?

She leaned against the wall, her hands shaking incredibly fast, inhumanly fast. She screamed again, this time louder than before which caught some of the worker's attention.

"Miss!" She heard through the buzzing static in her brain, "Miss are you alright?"

She screamed again as another surge of electricity came again and her body tried to fight it off to no avail.

"Call an ambulance!"

"Quickly!"

"Someone call 911!"

She could feel the presence of people besides her but the static drowned it out again.

That was the night that changed everything for Alexandria Campbell.