Floating serenely on her back in a six-foot deep pool, Christie reminisced about the water polo game that had happened only fifteen minutes prior. She knew something had altered within her during the last eight minutes of the game. Her school team shared an equal number of goals by the fourth period; if she could just score one more before the eight minutes were up, she could wrap up and call it a day. Both her mind and spirit were not synonymous to the rest of her teammates’. Though physically capable, Christie lagged behind the others. The day had been a long one for her, and it showed.
As slow of a start as it was early on in the game, the last few minutes were the only ones that replayed over and over in Christie’s head.
Four minutes left on the clock and the ball in her hand, Christie barely dodged incoming opponents attempting to play illegal moves against her underwater. She swam towards the yellow 5 meters line, evading her blue-capped foes without much gusto. Christie continued her way to the red 2 meters line so that she could finish the game with a successful goal throw.
“Christie, watch out!” her teammate Marcella warned. Turning around in the nick of time, Christie noticed the large, angry-faced female swimming towards her as a hungry killer whale would. Christie moved eastwards to avoid the stout young woman, but failed to advance towards the goal.
She’s just trying to intimidate you and block your path, Christie reminded herself as she treaded. You have dealt with situations like this before. You got this.
Christie moved ahead, disregarding her corpulent foe that had been stalking her every move. Christie surpassed her opponent, but did not realize that the other girl had closed the gap between them by moving in correspondence with Christie’s advancements. The hefty female came in from Christie’s southwest side and struck Christie’s side from underneath the water. Shock – along with another unusual force – enveloped Christie. Her pupils dilated.
As if on instinct, Christie reacted to the blow by shoving the teenage girl away with greater force. She had done this act with her free arm that had been concealed by the partially clear blue water. The referees refrained from calling fouls, even when the large female nearly flew back three feet due to an unseen force. Christie assumed that they were simply oblivious to underwater attacks, as they always were in her previous games.
The once lagging Christie was shot with vibrancy upon being struck by the other female. Something within her had altered dramatically. Very rarely did Christie ever feel the need to attack others, even when threatened. But an odd ferocity burned within her immediately after the occurrence.
A minute and forty-four seconds were left on the clock. The opposing team had created a defense wall surrounding the dazed Christie. She would not waste anymore time that she had. With a breath of the fire ignited in her, Christie raised her arm higher to attempt a free throw. The muscles in her upper body contracted then relaxed, then contracted once more. She felt as though her strength had been extremely enhanced in a far greater scale than ever before. Her fingers dug into the ball to secure it in her palm, and with the vigor of a mighty bear, threw the ball past her opponents’ arms and towards the goal.
The seconds were long before the ball made contact with anything. People both in the water and out could only remain still, anticipating the moment the ball touched either the hand of the goal keeper or the net behind her. Nearer and nearer it flew until –
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Instinct
Teen Fiction"It's a jungle out there." If by "out there" you mean "high school", then the age old saying rings true for seven teenage girls trying to survive the last two years of their high school career. Unfortunately for them (and just about the rest of the...
