Fragments Gallery
The Race
The air was cool against her skin. The crisp scent of freshly mowed grass and recent rain filled her nose as Alyssa relaxes into her crouch. She closes her eyes and then reopens them, focusing on the white line drawn on the track in front of her. The track beneath her was cold, its rubbery surface felt slick in the damp morning air. There is silence as the stadium holds its breath, waiting for the gun to sound, waiting for the race to start. Alyssa struggles to keep her heart rate down as anticipation grows; this waiting was always the hardest part of the race. Without warning the guns sounds and Alyssa explodes forwards out of her crouch.
Around her other sprinters were also up and moving towards the finish line, a short two hundred meters ahead. Her feet pounded against the ground as she ran the corner, struggling to beat the other runners in her vision. Her arms moved mechanically, swinging in time with each step, driving her forwards. One thing filled her mind; don't stop, keep going. Immediately she felt the strain of the exertion. It grew harder to breath. An old knee injury began to twinge almost causing her to miss a step. Her legs and lungs began to burn. She wanted to stop and rest. But with a grimace she kept going, ignoring the pain. There was time enough for pain later.
In her vision there were three other sprinters, she had to beat them. The finish line was growing close; it was maybe thirty meters away. Pushing herself for a final burst she again increased her speed, passing one sprinter, and then passing a second sprinter before she was over the line. She was second. She grinned as she stopped and looked around, her parents were there and they were coming over to congratulate her.
As they got closer her mother opened her mouth and said in one of her friend’s voices, "It's time to get up Alyssa."
Alyssa woke warm in bed, her vision filled with Paula's, her best friend's, grinning face staring down at her from beside the bed. Something looked odd though, and after a moment it came to her. Why was Paula so tall and grinning? A moment later realization hit her. She wasn't in bed, she was lying beside it. Sometime in the night she must have rolled off. As she stood her friend burst out laughing.
"What were you doing down there?" Paula asked her voice gleeful.
"You think I know?" She responded, feeling annoyed, "Why'd you wake me up?"
"Oh, your mum asked me to, it's breakfast time," Her grin warned Alyssa that there was something else on her mind, "Alyssa were you dreaming about something?"
"Yes," the memory of the dream was still clear to her, the race still vivid, "What makes you ask?"
"You were sleep talking before I woke you," Paula said, "You were saying 'go faster, go faster,' what were you dreaming about?"
A smile touched her lips as she remembered the end of the dream, and then she responded simply, "I was dreaming about life."
With a yawn Alyssa leaves the room, and Paula, wearing a confused expression, follows.