08-02-2023, 12:52 AM
It had taken Delphine her entire life to get to this point, all building up to this one moment. She’d listened to hundreds of speeches and had been forced to sit through hours of motivational speakers plagiarizing the same handful of self-help books — all in anticipation of this single moment where she’d lean and tip herself over. All these speeches and buzzwords told her how to work hard, never give up, and keep pushing herself. While combing through the mental rolodex of unsolicited advice she’s received over the years, not a single one was helpful in the matter of how to get her legs to stop quivering. It must have been the damn shots and the pills, maybe even that bottle of carbonated sucrose water she was forced to chug for a brand deal.
None of that mattered now, and she only had her unstable knee to blame. In less than a minute, however, the buzzer would go off and she hoped she’d be able to control the shaking by then.
Moments after the buzzer went off, she felt the cheers of the spectators at the starting line become a distant echo. She moved through the snow with all the grace of an avalanche, though she knew those watching on a screen from a distance could never tell.
Delphine soon reached the clearing in the trees and brought herself to a stop. In these kinds of events, the winner was determined by a margin of seconds. Meaning that in that moment, all she could rely on were the expressions of her team. She could’ve sworn she was the first one back, but she saw her manager and trainer arguing with some guy wearing a stopwatch.
“It wasn’t an early start, you dimwit!” she heard her manager explain with his finger wagging so hard it could fall right off. “We were all there, she didn’t start early!”
Before the timid man with the stopwatch could respond, her trainer chimed in. “It must have been a leg spasm, it’s very common for athletes with mild heart conditions like Delphine to experience those as a result of her medication.”
“You hear that? Spasm! Now fix whatever you did to the scoreboard before I jam that watch of yours so far down your throat you’ll…”
“You’ll have to excuse Delphine’s manager, he’s a little highly strung when it comes to such matters. Delphine will have a blood test and examination done today that will confirm what I told you about her abnormally high muscle tone resulting in involuntary spasms. As long as you will commit to reversing her 2-minute penalty once that happens.” Louis had mastered the good cop-bad cop routine, it’s part of what made him such a master manipulator.
“If that happens,” the guy with the stopwatch responded.
“I’m glad we have an agreement.”
None of that mattered now, and she only had her unstable knee to blame. In less than a minute, however, the buzzer would go off and she hoped she’d be able to control the shaking by then.
Moments after the buzzer went off, she felt the cheers of the spectators at the starting line become a distant echo. She moved through the snow with all the grace of an avalanche, though she knew those watching on a screen from a distance could never tell.
Delphine soon reached the clearing in the trees and brought herself to a stop. In these kinds of events, the winner was determined by a margin of seconds. Meaning that in that moment, all she could rely on were the expressions of her team. She could’ve sworn she was the first one back, but she saw her manager and trainer arguing with some guy wearing a stopwatch.
“It wasn’t an early start, you dimwit!” she heard her manager explain with his finger wagging so hard it could fall right off. “We were all there, she didn’t start early!”
Before the timid man with the stopwatch could respond, her trainer chimed in. “It must have been a leg spasm, it’s very common for athletes with mild heart conditions like Delphine to experience those as a result of her medication.”
“You hear that? Spasm! Now fix whatever you did to the scoreboard before I jam that watch of yours so far down your throat you’ll…”
“You’ll have to excuse Delphine’s manager, he’s a little highly strung when it comes to such matters. Delphine will have a blood test and examination done today that will confirm what I told you about her abnormally high muscle tone resulting in involuntary spasms. As long as you will commit to reversing her 2-minute penalty once that happens.” Louis had mastered the good cop-bad cop routine, it’s part of what made him such a master manipulator.
“If that happens,” the guy with the stopwatch responded.
“I’m glad we have an agreement.”