Act Two

XVIII

Fighting, shouting, and body shaming is present in this chapter. Read at your own risk.

"If that's how you feel and want to waste your life then go! I don't want to see you crawling back to me when you run out of money! Do you hear me?! Get on with it, (1) *гандон!" The young girl was shoved off the front porch steps into a heap of snow on the path. Soon after, her belongings were tossed from one of the second-story windows. Luggage bags opened before hitting the ground and spilled the contents, scattering over the front lawn. The wind was bitter, unforgiving in the early winter season. With it barely being December, it felt like the most central part of Antarctica already. "Hurry up! Get off my property, (2) *отвали!" The girl scrambled to get out of the packed snow and collect her things before they became drenched.

The frightening voice from inside the home began to throw rocks from a plant, nailing the younger in the back, thigh, shoulder, and base of her neck. She stumbled and seethed in the stinging pain, ducking and swatting as she grabbed whatever her hands could touch. More shouting, more rocks, it was not going to stop until she was gone. Neighbors heard but stayed indoors, not daring to get involved in whatever drama was happening at that household now. It was old news to hear screaming and fighting to come from the residents. No one ever dared to call authorities. They were scary people who were not to be messed with. They would figure their shit out eventually until it crumbled the next week. After that, it was a repeated cycle.

Her life was stuck on replay.

To this day, it is what pushes her past her limits. What she thought she could not do two years ago, she is surpassing at this moment. The fighting, the yelling, it was all fuel to make her journey to the stage. All to prove that yes, she can make it to the Bolshoi, and yes, she can bow before an audience at the end. Well, someday, maybe that dream will come true. It should have been Odette who finished the show. To come back out on the stage for her very last appearance and receive a standing ovation. Not Odette's replacement. The audience's last impression of her was a trip and crunch of her brittle bones. The swan could not stand back up, she had become jelly and fell back to the cold ground.

She would do anything for a second chance.

The thing is, she would have done anything for a second chance to redeem herself. Odette is too embarrassed to make her presence on the old stage once more. She would be the laughing stock of the Bolshoi and the entirety of Moscow, Russia. The laughter, the pointing, the cruel jokes, she could never face them again. Even if one person started laughing at her, she would freeze in place and forget everything. Where she is, what she is doing, and who she is. However, she does know that running away and hiding from your problems does not get you anywhere. In fact, it backtracks and makes the problem much worse. Now, she is sounding like a hypocrite. Instead of facing her family problems, she chooses to run and hide, pretending like they don't exist. Without realizing it, it is hurting her relationship with Yakov. How? By not being open. By not accepting the past for what it is and hiding the truth. If she can not talk about it, it will hurt her head and her heart in the long run.

The idea may scare her but the truth has to come to the light.

An athlete stared at the scoreboard in horror. One small mistake cost the young skater his placement in the European Figure Skating Championships of 1965. The skater did not make it to the podium and sulked in his defeat for many days after. All he wanted was one more chance. One more chance to redeem himself that he is not some flimsy kid strapped into a pair of skates. However, a last-second decision to change his second-half triple-axel, triple-toe was definitely a mistake he had to learn from. Following a coach's orders can be annoying for the younger generation, always wanting to try new things and test the waters. A determined skater is willing to see how far they can push themselves and the new heights they can reach because of it.