Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Eye of the Tiger"

The day of the race, everyone was standing around wishing me luck. It was strange... I felt like I was just watching myself, and I was no longer a part of my body. Or I wasn't me- just a stranger watching from the outside. I had felt that way before, but never this badly. I guess it was one of those out-of-body experiences. Whatever the case was, I started to wonder if I could really do this.

"Just do your best," my mother, who had flown in earlier that morning, kept telling me. "No matter what, we're still proud of you."

"Heck, I'm proud just to see you show up," Keto said with a laugh. "I would have chickened out at the last moment!"

"We'll be rooting for you," Ms. Harlow said with a grin. She patted my shoulder before turning to the others. We better find our places to watch."

There was a flurry of "good luck"s as they walked away. Valerie paused and turned back to me. For a moment, we just stared at each other.

"You'll do great," she said, a small smile on her face.

"Thanks," I said quietly. I was still thinking about our conversation about getting back together, but I tried my best to force it out of my mind. I needed to concentrate.

But Valerie took all chances of pushing those thoughts aside when she touched my face and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek. "For luck," she whispered, and then she was walking away. Geez...now the butterflies were multiplying in my stomach.

I did what I could to focus on the race.

~ ~ ~

A short time later, I was at the starting line with others who were in wheelchairs. I was already sweating. My shoulders already ached from the months of training I had done. But I just kept remembering Valerie's words to me. I brought Stephen to my mind- remembered how confident he was and the horrible things he said about me. I could beat his time. I could prove myself to him. To all of them.

I gripped the wheels of the chair as I waited for them to start the race. It was only a few minutes before it began, and I was rolling off with a flood of other wheelchairs. As I focused on simply moving myself forward, my mind kept trying to wander to how long this would take. What if I couldn't do it? It was one thing not to beat Stephen's time.

What if I couldn't finish the race at all?

No, I told myself. Focus on what's happening right now. If I could just keep wheeling myself forward, the finish line would come. Everything else was crowded out of my mind when I focused on this. And even if I didn't beat Stephen's time, I could still finish the race and prove that I could.

~ ~ ~

It felt like we had been going for hours, but I knew it couldn't have been more than one. The ache in my shoulders grew to the rest of my arms. Despite it being a cool day with clouds covering the sun, I had sweated right through my clothes. But I kept going, pacing myself so I wouldn't run out of energy before the final stretch.

I started counting in my head. I don't know why, but I guess it was something to focus on. Ten seconds. Thirty. Sixty; there was a minute. I counted the minutes that went by, everything else fading to the background. It was just me and the time. Me pushing the wheels as fast as they could go without wearing myself out too early. Everything else was white noise in the back of my mind.

Halfway through the race, I felt pretty good. I had no idea how much time had passed. The other racers were all around me- some ahead, some behind. I thought I was doing pretty good to be in the middle. I kept thinking we might all run into each other and cause some sort of collision.

That didn't happen, really, but not everything can work out, right?

I don't know what happened exactly. One minute, I was rolling down the pathway at what I thought was a great speed. The next, I heard a weird crack. There were numerous cries, and the second after I registered them something crashed into the side of my chair.

White hot pain shot up my arm and made me see stars. I instantly let go of the wheels in the confusion, unsure of what hit me. When my vision cleared, I realized that someone's wheel had randomly popped off. I could see it laying on the ground. The unfortunate racer was behind me. Her frustrated shouts filled the air.

Most of the racers zoomed past us, save for one who had been nailed in the back of his chair after it knocked off of mine, much like a pinball. The racer was stopped in the middle of the track, like me, the damage to his wheelchair visible. Was he bleeding from the back of his head?

Wait... I was stopped? It finally registered with me that I had stopped pushing myself forward. Yet when I started forward, that pain ripped through my arm again. I looked down to find blood dripping from a large cut. My right wheel was a little bent.

Panic built in my chest. I couldn't stop now. I spotted a person in a first aid shirt running towards us, but I couldn't let myself stick around for that long. Not if I wanted to finish the race. To beat Stephen's time. But every time I moved, that horrible pain raced through my body, gooseflesh popping up on my skin from it.

One thing kept replaying in my head. The words that brought me here in the first place.

He said he wished you died in the car accident.

_____________________________________________________

Thank you so much for reading! I reached 1k views thanks to you all!

Listen to "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor!

Peace✌️~ A.J.