spirit week Drabble

The four-inch clover was meant to be lucky, wasn’t it? At least that was what Mercedes had heard, and right then, she needed all the luck that she could get! It had been six months since the accident and her dreams had been completely dashed. She’d never thought that one accident could change everything, but it had. A simple slip off the balancing beam had turned her world upside down, but she’d hoped that physical therapy would help her get her life and her dreams back on track. She pushed herself far too hard sometimes but it would all be worth it when she was standing up on that podium with a gold medal around her neck. Breathe. She needed to take a deep breath and calm her nerves or she knew she would make a mistake that had nothing to do with her injury. Closing her eyes for a moment, the 15-year-old walked through the doors of the gym and over towards her team. It was going to be now or never; she had convinced herself that she was okay and that she could do this, but now she just had to prove it.

“Mercy! You’re back!”

A small smile tugged at Mercedes’ lips when she heard Chloe, one of her best friends on her gymnastics team. “Didn’t think a silly little broken leg could keep me away, did you?!” She questioned as she wrapped her arms around Chloe for a tight embrace. It wasn’t just a silly little broken leg though. When she had fallen off the balancing beam, she had shattered her leg in three places, damaged her hip, and had been told she would be lucky to ever walk again without a limp. Pulling back, a small smirk tugged at her lips before she turned to her coach. This was it. This was the moment that she was waiting for; hr entire future was depending on this very moment. Biting down on the inside of her mouth, she glanced at the rest of her team for a brief moment before walking passed them in her shamrock colored leotards. Shamrock was her signature color, having worn it in every single competition since she was five. Her mother had tried to entice her to wear the color pink, but even then, Mercedes had been a stubborn child.

A front-forward handspring seemed like the best place to start. It was something she’d done at least a thousand times, but the moment her legs were in the air and she was preparing to do a non-twisting roundoff, she wasn’t sure it was going to end well, and the moment her feet came into contact with the floor beneath her, her leg gave way. She could feel the tears filling the brims of her eyes as the realization hit. Her leg was in pain and she knew that if she couldn’t even do a simple stunt like this, her gymnastic dreams were over. Mercedes wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear but she didn’t want to cry in front of her team. “I’m okay,” she insisted as she slowly stood up with the help of Chloe. “I’m okay.” She wasn’t okay. She knew that, her coach knew that, her team knew that, but she needed to put on a brave face. “I um..” she couldn’t even think of a good enough lie at that moment. Turning, she pushed herself away from her friend and slowly walked out, unable to contemplate a future without handsprings and backflips.