Dream, Dive, Daley?

Chapter 12

Sutton’s point of view

I landed flat on my back. The fall hit all the air out of my lunges and made it hard to breathe properly. The spring floor made me bounce a couple of times off the ground. I could hardly breathe, and a hurting sensation appeared in my chest. Time ran out faster than ever.

‘Sutton, are you okay?' Eric’s voice which came from the other side of the gymnastics room, faded in my mind. It felt like as if I choked on something. Soon I could hear my heart pound faster and faster and the blood running through my veins. A set of strong arms pulled me up in a sitting position in one fast movement. ‘Now breathe’ I pushed myself to breathe, but the pressure grew in my chest. A panic attack started to develop inside of me. I signalized that I needed a push on my back to hit the air out. Eric responded immediately and hit my back again and again, till I coughed in my hand. The strong scent of sweat filled my lunges. Thank God I wasn’t going to die off a failed front flip step out.

‘Thanks’ I panted as I supported my weight on my brother as we stood up. The floor seemed crocket as the room spun around right in front of me. I tried to close my eyes in an attempt to stop the dizziness. Stars appeared in front of me and I felt like falling again. 

'Ok, now you're getting heavier' he complained and put me down gently on the floor again. Then I lied down on my back to catch my breath. It was high under the ceiling and some Moroccan flags hung down from the ceiling. Eric continued on as if nothing really happened, because it actually didn't. These things happen far too often in my opinion, but it was fun. I smiled at the thought of being dead. Ever since I first failed and almost died, I wasn't really scared of dying anymore. 

The rest of the team soon appeared. Although it was early in the morning, none of us were really tired. Some of us still had the jetlag, and I was one of them. My head ached badly and my body was exhausted from the one hour plane ride. I wasn't able to the front flip step out because of the headache and my sleepy body. My head was disoriented, which made it harder for me to know where to go. Usually, I would sense which direction I was facing, but jetlagged, I seemed to have lost that special power of mine.

Tom’s Point of View

Team GB walked in two lines behind the coaches. We were heading in for a morning practice on dry land. It was high under the ceiling and the gym smelled like athlete’s sweat and tears and bit of blood as well. Simply just like any other gym we’ve been to. Really, there was nothing new about this gym than any other gym in the world I had been to. It had small pits of foam, diving boards and platforms. The ribbed walls stretched from the ground to seven feet above the ground. Above that there were windows that let in natural lighting. There were matrasses and trampolines spread in the other end of the large hall. In the middle of the room there was a large blue spring floor which was used for tumbling. And on the floor, there was Sutton. Her brown hair had highlights in them after only a couple of hours with sun last night. It was spread around her small head and framed her angel-like face perfectly. Her eyes were glued to the ceiling. Curiously, I looked up to see what she was looking at…

‘What are you doing?’ I tilted my head upwards and crossed my arms over my chest. Then I moved my gaze down at her. Her cheeks were red and forehead all sweaty and her eyes were still pointing in the direction up.  Andy called after us, and we had to go. Let the training camp begin.