The red-coat girl

Born to die

The air in the rink is different, suffocating even. It's cold and unwelcoming, the same rink that felt ever so welcoming during the team event, is now cold and shut off, well at least to Yulia. Everyone else is continuing on, they don't feel the change, the shift in the air. They don't see the way Eteri shoots glares Yulia's way, reminding her that she had a shitty performance and that she won't win, no matter how hard she tries. She is not perfect. She never will be. Eteri was right, fat girls don't win the Olympics. Maybe, just maybe if she had skipped breakfast that morning, she wouldn't have fallen in her short program, and she would still have a chance at winning. But then again, it's not like Eteri is even letting her eat, she is on a strict protein shakes only diet. Now Eteri won't even look at Yulia, or even talk to her, unless of course it's to yell at her for falling on her jumps, or if her spins aren't perfect enough for Eteri. At the end of the day Yulia will never be enough for Eteri unless she is winning, and as of lately, she hasn't been winning, she has barely been landing her jumps in training, it's not enough for Eteri, it's not even enough for Yulia herself.

The yells of Eteri Tutberidze are something that everyone can recognise, she has a signature yell, that anyone training on the ice at the same time as Yulia can tell you, it's scary, terrifying even. It's said that almost everyone that competes against Yulia, is terrified of Eteri. She's known for yelling at her students over the smallest mistakes, her voice is loud and travels for miles, every time she yells it's like the room shakes, sending everyone quiet. "I think you've rested enough." Screams Eteri at Yulia, after Yulia fell on a jump, "Go do it again, from the start." Eteri's voice echoes throughout the rink. "Go faster! Let's go, the medals are waiting." Her voice screams, at Yulia leaving the rink quiet. Yulia pulls herself up from the ice and continues to skate, despite the overwhelming ache in her body that's making itself known to Yulia, but Yulia can't stop, she won't stop, she may have fallen in her short program, but it doesn't mean she can't get third place, if she skates well enough, she might just get third place.

There is pain shotting all through Yulia's body, it's incredibly painful, but she can't stop training, she has no choice, she has to keep skating, even though the pain is shooting through her body, but staying specifically in her knee, it's messing her jumps up, and there is nothing she can do, if she stops skating, she won't hear the end of it from Eteri, but if she keeps skating the pain will get worse. She has no options, either option is a bad option. Yulia ends up putting up with the pain and training anyways, which was a stupid decision because now she is in a shit ton of pain, and there is nothing she can do about it, he should of listened to her body, she should of stopped skating when her knee started hurting, when her whole body started hurting. Because now she can hardly walk without a limp, she has to rest her knee for the night, and hope that the pain isn't too bad in the morning so she can skate, because the free skate is in two days.

Yulia returns to her room, she practically falls in bed, she's so tired, and in so much pain, she barely has enough energy to pull herself out of bed to shower. She gets herself up and showers quickly, washing all the sweat off her body with her violet scented bodywash. The body wash absorbing itself into her white and delicate skin. The smell clogs up the bathroom, it's calming, the smell of Violets, mixed with her lavender shampoo, they are both calming smells, it makes Yulia feel okay, less stress, helps her forget about the shooting pain that is in her knee. The shower helped; the pain is still there but it's a little less now. Yulia gets out of the shower and dries off before changing into her sleep wear, and going to bed, it's been a long day for her and all she wants to do is go to sleep. She lays in bed, pulling the covers over herself before slowly falling into a peaceful slumber, she lets the sleep wash over her, hoping to forget all about today.

She wakes in the morning more tired than ever; the pain is still there but it isn't to bad, she can train, but she'll have to be careful, just because the pain isn't to bad doesn't mean it won't get worse. Yulia pulls herself out of bed and begins to get ready for her day, she has a quick shower before changing into her training gear and heading down to the rink to train. Despite the pain not being too bad, it's definitely still there. Yulia enters the rink and heads to the gym in the rink, once in there she begins to warm up her body, starting with rolling her joints, getting them all warmed up. After she warmed up her joints, she goes onto warming up the rest of her body, using the jump rope, as well as the elastic bands. After finishing warming up all her muscles, she moves onto warming up her jumps. After she finishes warming up her jumps, she warms up her spins with a spinner. Once she has warmed her body up to a good enough standard, she heads down to the rink and puts her skates on and begins to warm up on ice. After Yulia warms her body up on ice she begins to truly train all her jumps and spins.

Yulia glides across the ice in such an angelic manner, to anyone watching her, but in Yulia's eyes and Eteri's she isn't, she is sloppy, and uncoordinated. Yulia is feeling hopeless, like nothing is going her way. The goal of being the Olympic champion in the individual event is gone. Yes, she is the Olympic champion in the team event, but the individual event is different. Being the Olympic champion in the individual event is a different type of honour. It's a better honour. That dream has been ripped out of Yulia's hands all because she fell on one of her jumps, now she is in fifth place and if she skates well enough without any falls, she can make it into third place. But with the way she has been skating in trainings, she will be lucky to make it into the top five.

Yulia trains until her body literally can't train anymore, the pain in her knee is getting worse, and she knows she need to get off the ice and rest her knee, but she won't, she needs to continue skating, to train until she is perfect.  Yulia is finding it really hard to train with the pain in her knee, it's getting worse, not better, she needs to get off the ice and rest it, but Eteri won't let her, she won't let herself. Yulia continues skating through the pain as the pain continues to make itself known in her knee, and the hunger is starting to get to her now, she hasn't been eating, she has only been having protein shakes, that's all Eteri will allow her to have. Yulia continues skating for a couple more hours, until Eteri has said that she can get off the ice, the moment she gets off the ice, she throws her skates off, and leaves the rink, she returns to her room and lays on her bed resting her knee, she really needs the pain to stop before the free skate in two days.