"Limits were taken out of our vocabulary long ago." One would suppose Ceres's father told her that as a child to encourage her, to push her not to settle for the cards life dealt her. Everywhere she looked that sentiment held true. From the history books she read of life before, where the word limits was still a conceivable part of the nation's, no the world's, vocabulary; this was the era of the United States, so the books claimed, but it was doomed to fail as the continent-spanning nation split into many countries. She had heard of all this and more from her father, how they lived in a nation known as the Confederation of the Northern Lakes, and of how they forgot that cursed word long ago. Limits like the laws of physics began to blur as the Northern Country, as it was commonly shorthanded to, experimented in the possibility of teleportation. Success in this new field allowed the North to rise as the new superpower; however, they couldn't maintain their country on technology alone, and with resources running thin and populations running high, a solution was desperately needed.
Flicker football was a popular sport in the Northern Country; Flicker, a school yard variation of football, became so much more when teleportation came into the mix. The new game took to the country like wildfire to a dry prairie. This test of skill, athletics, and technology intrigued the leaders of the Northern Country who were still searching for their solution. Flicker proved to be what they were looking for, a way to distribute resources to different counties based on worth and merit, on technology and innovation, and on skill and speed. This began the cutthroat era, the era Ceres found herself reading history and literature and above all else, playing flicker.
With a natural drive for success and athleticism, she fabricated a fascination with the game and its innermost workings. The rush she felt transporting herself from one end of the field to the other and back again raised her to the power level she read about in ancient texts like Beowulf. The triumph of winning rose her to even greater heights, and the stab of loss was always thrown onto someone else's shoulders. With her image as a keystone player carefully crafted by her coach, she was sent at age twenty two into the world of professional flicker. She settled down into her routine and quickly found her life perfected by a loving husband, a businessman by the name of Solomon Demir.
Limits? Not for her; for her county, her husband, she'd do anything.
"Now we just have to wrap it up with a six mile run," the trainer said to Ceres as she held her knees to catch her breath. He looked down at her before adding, "do we have to do seven instead?"
She held up her hand palm facing out and after several more heavy breaths replied, "no, no, I'm good now, start the clock Roy" before she stood up straight and began her run. Roy hastily grabbed his stopwatch and started it before sitting down on a park bench to wait for her first lap, and after 9 minutes she passed the bench.
"Nine minute mile Demir, bit slow. Speed it up!" he yelled to her as she disappeared around a corner yet again. Finally, by the end of the sixth mile she had settled comfortably into a 7 minute mile. "Made up for it in the end. Make sure you stretch out before going home." he sat and made notes about the session while she stretched. When he was finished, he looked up from his clipboard, "you were using the symbiotic braces on your knees last season for speed, right?" he asked.
"Yeah, I didn't want to push the modifications too much on my first season," she replied.
"You thinking about getting the new leg prosthetics out on the market? They say they're more compatible with the neural network than the previous model with a quicker recovery time," he inquired.
"My physician is coming over today, so I'll see what he says, but that's what I planned to do," she responded while she reached downward to touch her toes.
"Well you may think you have time, but you have to start training on those new legs as soon as possible."
"Yeah, I know." She finished her stretches and said goodbye to Roy before she began the walk back to her house. On the way, her cell phone rang; she looked down to see that it was a call coming from her flicker coach and promptly answered it.
"Hello Coach," Ceres answered.
"Demir, your trainer told me that you were looking at trading your braces for prosthetics," she replied.
"Yeah, I just have to check with my physician before I make the appointment," Ceres confirmed.
"I just talked with the county executive. She made the recommendation for you to get the prosthetics," she pushed.
Ceres paused before she responded, "I'll make the appointment." She hung up the phone and dialled in a number.
"Eve County Prosthetics, Curie speaking," a voice on the other line said.
"Hello Curie, this is Mrs. Ceres Demir. I would like to make a high priority order for the newest model of above the knee sports design prosthetics in a size 12 thigh. I believe they're the C8s," she requested.
"Hello Mrs. Demir, we are honored by your patronage. The newest model is indeed the C8, and we have that size in stock. When would you like to schedule your precheck and installation?"
"Schedule the installation for tomorrow at 6pm. I have a physician's appointment today; I'll have him send the records over."
"Okay, all set, thank you Mrs. Demir."
She ended the call, slid her cell phone into her back pocket, and continued to walk towards her home.
Ceres opened her front door and walked into her house making her way towards the kitchen. She had started making her breakfast when her husband walked in and smiled when he saw her by the stove.
"Morning workout went well?" he asked earnestly.
"It went well," she simply replied. "However, I have some more pressing news."
Solomon raised his eyebrows before asking, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," she hastily corrected before she continued, "I'm upgrading my knee braces for the C8 prosthetics." Solomon's smile turned into a slight frown. "The newer model will help me win more games and bring more government grants to Eve County and Demir Solar," she further explained.
Solomon walked towards his wife and sat down on a chair opposite the stove. "When did you decide this?" he asked.
"I've been interested in this since last season. My trainer brought it up to me today, and then my coach called me and said that the county executive recommended the alterations. My appointment is tomorrow and the physician is coming over today," she elaborated.
He set his elbow on the counter and rested his forehead in his hand before he continued, "Cer, your team lost one game out of twenty two last year. You're the number two player in the county, now number one since Stephan retired. You don't need the prosthetics."
She looked up from the stove and locked eyes with him, "You know that I lost the game because I wasn't fast enough to catch the ball in time to score. Your company lost possible grants to Lillith County and its conglomerates and that can't happen again. I could be fired and your company would lose funding!"
"It doesn't matter if you get fired. I would take care of you. I'd be there for you." his expression and voice softened, "I don't want you undergoing a risky procedure if that's not what you want." He reached over and grabbed her hand. She pulled away without breaking eye contact with him. "Please, just don't rush into this. Reschedule the appointment for next week."
"I still don't see the problem, but I'll take rescheduling into consideration."
"Thank you." He relaxed his shoulders and asked, "so can you make me breakfast too?"
She smiled and replied, "What else would I be doing?"
After breakfast, Solomon drove to work, and Ceres went to her home gym to lift weights while she waited for the physician to come. She was in the middle of bench pressing when the doorbell rang. She set the bar down on its holders before she walked over and answered the door. She wasn't surprised to see it was her physician. They exchanged pleasantries before they walked back into the gym where Ceres began to explain the prosthetics.
"I've seen the C8s in action. They're a sturdy and robust model, and they're neurolink is more streamlined and synchronized than the C7s," he commented.
"Quicker recovery time as well. Anyways, I need you to do the basic check while you're here in addition to my usual checks and send the records over to Eve County Prosthetics, please," she added.
"That shouldn't be too difficult," he said and began the exam. He was almost done with the exam when he drew her blood. He slid the vial into a hand held tester and waited for the results. "So, how's this season looking?" he asked.
"I like the way it's shaping up, always room for improvement. This is going to be a critical season for me, and the expectations are high. I just hope that I don't miss a pass like last year."
"Yeah, that one game lost by business a grant or two, but the grants gained from the other games outweighed the losses, so good job," his compliment was sincere, but Ceres only heard the former statement, and her smile faded.
The silence only lasted a few seconds as the blood tester beeped soon after their exchange. The physician picked up the device and scrolled through the results before his expression intensified. He looked up to her and said, "you might have to cancel this season."
Her eyes widened and her shoulders tensed before she shakily asked, "why?"
"You're pregnant, about four weeks," he said. "You know the implications of this, correct?" She turned her gaze forward and blankly nodded. She knew that teleporting was moderately strenuous on an adult, but on a developing fetus the strain would be detrimental.
She broke her blank stare after a quiet moment and faced the physician. "What are my options?" she asked.
The physician's face grew stoic before he replied, "If you want to play you must abort." Her face began to reflect the situations severity; she was barely able to dismiss her physician from her home with a steady voice. He left her with a bottle of pills sitting on the table in her kitchen. She might have had sat there all day if not for the sharp knock at the door. She snapped back into reality and walked to the door to answer it. When she opened the door, she saw her coach standing at the other side.
Ceres's coach was slightly shorter than her with thin and judging eyes, a tight jawline, and hair pulled back neatly into a prematurely greying bun. She didn't wait to be invited inside, and she pushed Ceres aside to gain entry. She walked purposefully into the kitchen and motioned for them both to sit down.
"You know why I'm here?" she asked.
"I might have an idea, Ma'am," Ceres replied.
"How could you be so irresponsible? You're not seriously thinking of carrying that child to term, are you?" she sneered.
"If I may interject, I am still a private citizen, and I am entitled to have a say in what I do with my life," she defended.
"You belong to the county, and you know it. From the day you signed your contract. Your physician is a county employee, and so are you. You will take those pills and you will play this season," she stood up, walked closer to Ceres, and looked into her eyes with her piercing gaze, "You don't have any say in this." She walked out of the house and slammed the door. Ceres was left sitting and waiting.
Hours passed before Solomon walked through the door and called to her. When she didn't respond to him, he called out again before he found her in the kitchen, "Are you okay? You didn't answer when I called you at lunch time. I assumed that you were doing some more training, but," he began the conversation.
"Solomon," she replied. "I'm surprised you weren't notified." She held back tears through cracks in her voice.
He sat down next to her and held her hands, "notified about what?" She grabbed the pill bottle from across the table with one of her hands and handed it to him. His confused expression soon faded into an obscure combination of emptiness and concern. "What's the next step?" he asked.
Ceres snapped her head up to meet his eyes, "The next step," she firmly said, "is that I take those pills and everything goes back to normal."
"Are those your words?" he asked.
"Those are the only words that matter," she reinforced.
"Your coach doesn't control you. They wouldn't dare touch us," he pressed.
"You don't understand the position I'm in."
"Then tell me, make me understand."
"You can't understand anything!" she raised her voice sharply and halted the conversation. She looked to the floor to mask her teary eyes. "I don't expect you to understand my devotion; the ends I would go to are limitless. Just let me be," she turned and walked up the stairs to her bathroom with the pill bottle still in hand, and Solomon sat in the kitchen with his head in his hands.
Ceres grasped the pill bottle in her hand and stared at it intensely before she turned to bathroom mirror. She looked into her eyes and tried to envision every possible scenario, every possible option, as a tangible future, the result of each decision. She pulled her gaze from herself to her choice, the abortion pills. My legacy, she thought. My husband, she brought her free hand over her eyes. My county!
"What choice do I have?" she screamed and threw the bottle across the room as she fell to her knees, her forehead against the cabinet beneath the sink. Her eyes heated her frozen hands as searing tears poured down her face. She eventually drew her head up after a time, and through her blurred vision she saw the bottle of bleach next to the cabinet. "What choice do I have?" she repeated, quieter the second time as she reached for the new bottle.
She unscrewed the cap and brought the opening to her lips. Her hands began to shake as if the bottle weighed hundreds of pounds. The liquid bleach sloshed around in the bottle as she attempted to steady her hands and tilt its contents into her mouth, but just as the first drop of bleach touched her lips, her hands slipped and the bleach spilled over her bathroom floor.
She blankly stared at the puddle as it spread farther and farther across the floor, flooding the grooves of the tile until it reached the pill bottle where it began to pool. She slowly lowered her head into her lap before violently grabbing her hair and shrieking at the top of her lungs until her throat was raw. She then fell into the lake of bleach on the floor and silently added her tears to the tile grooves. Solomon was quick to run up the stairs and open the bathroom door. He saw her lying there and helped her walk toward the shower to wash the bleach off; he then guided her to their bedroom and made her comfortable on her side of the bed.
Before he went to bed, Solomon grabbed his cell phone and dialled Ceres's coach's number. Her Coach answered on the other line.
"Who is this?" she asked.
"This is Solomon Demir," he replied while he tried to contain his anger.
"What do you want," she bluntly asked.
"I want you to listen to me Juno," he began. "This decision is between me and my wife. I had my company's lawyers look over the contract she signed the second we were married, and the only thing she could be bound by is if she played while pregnant. She's free to choose whether she aborts within the confines of the law or takes a season off, so this is my warning to you to back off." He hung up and violently set his phone on the kitchen counter. He then went upstairs and joined his wife in their bed to catch some much needed sleep.
When he woke the next morning, Solomon didn't see Ceres next to him. He hurriedly jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to see her putting on her running shoes. She looked up and greeted him.
"Are you okay to go training?" he asked.
"That's about the only thing I'm okay with right now," she replied. He accepted this and kissed her before she left.
"By the way," she said while she stood in the doorway, "I rescheduled the prosthesis appointment." Solomon smiled at her before she turned to close the door.
"Now we just have to wrap it up with a six mile run," the trainer said to her as she held her knees to catch her breath. "Do you need some water?" he asked.
"Yeah. That'd be nice," she replied. Her trainer handed her a water bottle from his bag and she took a sip.
"You'd best drink the whole thing," he encouraged. She took a minute to finish off the water. She handed the bottle back to him and saw his regretful and sunken expression.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
He turned to face her, "I'm sorry we had to make the decision for you," he said callously. "It's for the greater good," he pulled his gaze down to the empty bottle of water.
She look at the bottle and frowned in confusion; then, her eyes widened in horrific realization. She shook her head and turned to run away. He stood there a minute before pulling out his cell phone, "yes ma'am, I did it."
Ceres ran for her house and soon came to the front door where she burst in and ran up the stairs. Solomon was in the kitchen and tried to ask her what was wrong; she either didn't hear him or ignored him altogether. She ran into the bedroom and locked the door. She sat on her bed and looked at the door joining her bathroom to her bedroom. The smell of bleach was still prominent and nearly unbearable. She looked at the vanity counter and saw the bottle of pills sitting next to the sink. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She grabbed it from her back pocket and saw her coach's name sprawled across the screen. She rejected the call and set her phone down. Her husband knocked at the door and requested to be let in. She didn't respond. She instead made her way to the bedroom window, opened it, and stepped on the ledge with her back to the outside world and her eyes looking at the door to see that Solomon forced it open with his shoulder. He momentarily stopped to take in the situation before running towards the window just as Ceres let go of the frame; her hands lingered in front of her as she fell, and he reached for one. He didn't reach her hand in time. That was his limit.