With one arm elegantly flared behind her and another trailing from her chin down to her torso and then resting on her hip, she glided across the ice in a dance of passion and love.
She wove a tale of a stuttered beginning, lithely muscled legs tiptoeing on the cold ice as her arms curled into her chest; shy but willing as she wordlessly narrated her story.
"The first jump in the sequence is a lutz! Let's see if she can nail it!"
She calmed her breathing, the silence of the crowd became a dull thud in her ears, and her heart beat a thousands miles per minute as she delicately twisted her torso and angled her feet so she could flawlessly continue to skate backwards.
Her warm brown eyes slowly closed, just like they always did when she jumped, and her arms whipped out before tightly tucking into her chest.
A smile ghosted on her lips, legs tingling in anticipation, and then she flew.
She missed the feeling of breathing. Of living, loving; of being so heartbreakingly human.
Because now, as she sat on the white hospital bed instead of the white ice covered rink; she was but a shell or her former self.
"Did you hear what happened?"
"Yeah. It's a shame, really."
"I know. And to think it happened to someone so young."
"She had such a brilliant future ahead of her."
She heard them all. The comments and whispers that had slithered around her throat and suffocated her.
"Excuse me, please," she mumbled, looking up and up and up at the women in front of her.
"O-Oh!" One of them had gasped, before stumbling to get out her way, dragging her spluttering friend with her. "I'm so sorry!" They blurted out.
Her hands clenched around the thin, rubber covered wheels in her grasp and she forced herself to take a relaxing breath. "No need to apologise," she smiled, and hey, if it came across a bit forced; they didn't comment on it.
She continued forward, jaw tightening in shame(such a shamshameshamesoyoung) when she heard their hushed whispers lick at her ears.
"She was so beautiful."
And days later, if anyone wondered where the passionate skater had disappeared to, they could always flick to the news that religiously aired everyday.
Her death was always on re-runs, anyways.