Katsumi's Point Of View
Time after time I try the same jump, which was once easy to me but now I find it hard to land. While my arms connect with the ice and my body slides across the rink, like one of the stuffed animals thrown at me after a performance. It's funny to think how I was thought of as prodigy on the ice, while here I am, can't even land a triple axel. I glance down at the artificial limb which I took for granted. Since I didn't know of the consequences that followed, those decisions that would shape and destroy my career. 'Why was I so stupid?' I thought just then. I never listened to any of the warnings my mother gave me, instead, I would act on my own whim. After that incident my mother wouldn't let me out of her sight, because I was her broken little bird. And that's why I had to leave Wales, to move to Japan with my father. Although here I've accomplished nothing, everything I had was left behind. My mother, friends, coach, and home was now just a distant memory, leaving me alone in this rink.
The sounding of footsteps interrupted my thoughts, when a girl near my age appeared across from me. Yuuko was my friend, one of my only friends, besides Yuuri. The girl skipped playfully to the edge of the rink, "you hanging in there Kat?" She questioned, a smile graced her face. I tossed out all the negative thoughts and pulled myself off the ground, I smiled back, "of course I am Yu-san." Yuuko walks over to the music player that sits close to her, while I took my position in the middle of the rink. The somber tones of the piano rang throughout the rink and I reached towards the sky, grasping for hopes and dreams I once held. The voice swayed me around the ice, while I stretched my arms out into the empty dark. Intertwining my feet and trailing backwards, every once in awhile scuffing across the ice. The music embodied my emotional suppression, while I outstretched my remaining leg into a lay spin and pulled it into a scorpion. The spin ended at the entrance of the chorus, her voice reached into me and brought my arms to hold my broken heart. Yuuko's eyes didn't leave my figure and that's what I wanted, for her to experience my despair through my performance.
After I lost my leg I couldn't imagine anything, before my accident I had high hopes for my future and one included becoming a professional figure skater. My dreams were unattainable but I was too naïve to care because eventually I would skate with the legends, changing directions I started my approach for a triple axel. A great reflection of how my dreams shattered because I would have to relearn how to skate once again, when my foot touched the ground and then slipped. My body tumbled to the ground and my face hit the ice. 'Why?' I pounded the ice in frustration, as blood flowed from my nose and onto the solid ice. People no longer saw me as a normal girl. The prosthetic now defined me, as a women who needed extra help and attention. People babied me and behind my back they pitied me, this angered me and I could feel the tears slide down my cheek. The world will never see me as a professional figure skater, not even as a regular skater and instead will view me as pitiful. As much as I tried to escape reality it affected me each day, even while I would skate with Yuuko and Yuuri. We would watch videos of the famous figure skater, Viktor Nikiforov, and then we would attempt to mimic him. Yuuri and Yuuko were amazing on the ice but I just couldn't keep up, almost every routine contained axel's, toe loops, or Lutze'. My balance now shifted made it nearly impossible to land a jump. I was lucky enough to be standing up straight.
Today I attempted a triple axel, which I almost landed but my prosthetic locked up and I slid across the ice. Yuuri would skate over and help me up, "are you alright Kat?" He asked, checking my arms for any bruises. Ever since Yuuko introduced me to Yuuri, he's been my protector. Helping me practice my skating and tending to my bruises and cuts. I smile at the anxious boy, he was three years older than me but tended to act less mature. "Of course I am Yuuri, just a couple of bruises," I brushed him off, that didn't avert his attention from me. "Maybe we can take practice slower," Yuuri mentioned, before realizing that Katsumi's anger would flare up. 'Yuuri I thought you knew better?' I forced a smile, "I think I can manage these routines fine Yuuri." I growled, exiting the rink. The sound of another pair of footsteps woke me from my flashback, Yuuko and I both searched the empty room for the source of the steps.