Your number 1 fan

Breathtaking Beauty (1)

2012

CARINA POV

I don't think my dad expected me to fall in love with a runner when we attended the Olympics. You see, as much as I hate my dad I was pretty surprised that he invited me to come to London with him. It was another gift given for a new research proposal he investigated for four years, sometimes they were good and sometimes they were pure evil. But with a crazy dad, you'd never voice your opinion. It's really just been me and my father for the last two years, my brother and mother both moved to America because of my dad. His mental health issues were becoming more and more directed towards my mother and as my brother is the youngest, he needed to be protected. I wasn't really taken into consideration, for the last two years I have become my dad's parttime carer.

Anyway, today is another busy day at the Olympic park in London. Sports really isn't my thing but my dad is in a good mood and has been for a while, I'm here for it. Today is full of athletic races and other things. My dad has been excited to see the running for ages, there's apparently been some competition between the Americans and us, the Italians. Of course, my dad is supporting our country and I'm just sitting here.

The women lined up for the 1500m race and for the first time ever, I laid my eyes on a blonde beauty in the 3rd lane. She looked pretty stressed and was slightly leaning away from one ankle, she's injured for sure. You don't need to be a doctor to notice the discomfort. With the camera zooming in on her face as her name is called, she gives a bright smile but it vanishes slightly too quickly. That smile is something special.

The race begins and she's taking her time. The others have already formed a line and seem to be pulling away. She's overcompensating on her ankle, there's a very slight limp breaking through her run. By the third lap, she's caught right up and is running almost next to the lead runner... our Italian. She's not compensating so much for her ankle anymore, it's probably numb. My dad lets out a loud groan together with the other Italian supporters in the crowd as this blond beauty officially takes over the Italian.

By this time, the last 100m has just begun. She's quite far ahead of everyone. A fall is the only thing stopping her from losing. A slight zoom on her face shows the discomfort etched across her face as she starts to sprint. There's about 10m between her and a few of the other runners. She's clearly won.

With the race finished, she won and the Italians amongst us sobbed, except me. I was proud of her, stupid to run on an injury but she did win the medal. I'm not super versed on the sports world, but it's clear to see that this accolade was important. A camera focused on her dad in the background, looking almost happy. There's something missing from that smile. Something eerie.

-

Surprisingly my dad has let 21-year-old me out in London to explore. He's seeing a doctor in Northern London while I'm hoping to run into that blonde. It'll hopefully be quite easy.

And it was easy. She was on the training track with her dad shouting continuously at her. She was struggling. He dad was ruthless, a man who belittled everything about his daughter; something I understand all too well. I sat pretty far back in the stands as I watched her travel around the circular track. Bringing my phone out, I take a picture of her as she finally comes to a stop at the finish/start line. She looks anxious as her dad walks towards her; he pats her shoulder harshly as you can see her recoil. That's going to leave a bruise!

Silence fills the desolate space around us, tension accompanies the quietness as the blonde beauty places herself in the blocks. I can just about see her fingers start to pale as she waits her dad's call. Her training shirt has slid slightly down her back showing her very prominent spine, I wonder if she eats as much as she should.

With the bark of her dad's monotone voice, she starts to pursue her whole purpose of being here. As she gets faster, it's clear that she's ignoring that ankle. The grimace on her face is still prominent as the only sign of injury.

As I look on I feel my phone vibrate five times, a random setting a chose for my brother. Opening the message, I can't help but smile.

Andrea: How is papa? Are there any women there that you like?

Me: He has gone for a meeting so I went for a walk. There's a blonde runner in front of me training. She's beautiful.

Andrea: How long have been watching her train?

Me: Probably for half an hour. She's beautiful and so hard working. Her dad seems like a bad man though

Andrea: You stalker! You know, normally people see a person they find attractive and maybe stare at them for a minute and not half an hour! Anyway, it is bed time for me. Good night

Me: Good night

It's been a while since I've had any sort of conversation with my brother, considering the fact he's on the other side of the world. Looking over to Maya I could see that her eyes were focused down, possibly on the white line barrier between the track lanes.

I so desperately want to run down onto the tracks and stop her from running. If there were no repercussions, I would. Seeing the intense and uncomfortable relationship between her and her trainer, I want to take that away. But I can't. I want to step in but I don't think a random Italian stranger would hold any power.

Her steps are heavy and her breathing uncontrollable as she reaches the finish line for the 100th time this evening. Falling to the floor and clutching her heart and throat, I can see her trying to consciously take control of her body and it's reactions to the exertions of running. Her eyes gaze in the direction of her dad, his body language looks positive and the blonde beauty seems to imprint the same emotions.

"We're done. Get your stuff. Remember you have a meeting tomorrow on live TV. Get your rest." He demands and reminds her of the next days' plans. He walks away not sparing a second to look back at his daughter. Deafening silence spreads across the stadium as the tension that was once present leaves with Maya's dad. Almost instantaneously, she crawls over to her full bottle of water and chugs it. I hadn't seen her touch it while I've been here.

As she slips an oversized jumper over her body and grabs various items that belong to her, I take it as my chance to leave before she either notices me or they lock the stadium with me still inside.