[Author's Note: One of the ideas that I learned to love in creative writing was to write without editing. It allows you to put words on a blank slate and freely write ideas. A day or two later, I go back and edit it. Most of what I originally wrote will be deleted or heavily modified, but it doesn't matter. That is how some of my best ideas are found. I am also not afraid to delete what I have working on. Not everything I write is meant to be seen, and if I don't throw out work that is going no where, I will never move forward. Writer's rant over! Enjoy this chapter.]
After being returned to the prison of the office, Payson stared out the observation window at her teammates on the bars. She had two hours till lunch, and she couldn't stand being cooped up in the office. Her coaches said she could not train, but that didn't mean she couldn't stretch out. Her muscles were stiff, and she would go crazy if she did not do something. Payson plopped down on the floor and got into a figure four stretch. She extended her hand past her foot and grabbed onto the bottom of her heel. It felt amazing to let her muscles loosen up. She held it for about a minute before switching legs. Payson continued through a gentle stretching routine until the door to the office opened. Payson released her pike stretch and looked up. "Didn't Sasha want you resting?" Coach Mac asked as he entered the room. "Yes, and I did that from after I passed out until I went to the bathroom. I can only stay in bed for so long. I needed to do something, and stretching is non strenuous." Payson defended as she used the edge of Sasha's desk to pull herself up into a standing position. Coach MacIntyre dug through a filing cabinet and just glared at Payson. "I am not going to tell you to stop, but I cannot make any promises about Belov." Mac noted as he pulled out a file and headed for the door. Payson sighed and shook her head. She walked over to the observation window and pulled up the blinds. Sasha was working tumbling with the junior elites, and Mac was with her teammates on bars. Payson watched carefully as Jordan ran through her bars routine. It made her think back to her accident that ruined her as a power gymnast.
Kelly Parker had lied to the press about being drug free, and Payson Keeler was anything but a liar. If she was going to beat Kelly Parker, she was going to beat her honestly without drugs. Yes, it would be a struggle to get through her routine with her disc flaring up. She had to push through the pain. She had to win. With a new determination, Payson Keeler left the locker room. She marched back to the arena where thousands would be watching. She had just done a beautiful vault through the pain, bars could not be any worse to get through. Could it? Payson approached the chalk bowl; spritzing her hand with water and dusting them with chalk. This was her moment to take the title from Kelly Parker. No one was going to stop her. With her new found confidence and the green light to begin, Payson mounted the bars. She did a hand stand and then went for her release. Letting go of the low bar, she felt like she was flying. The way it felt before the pressure to win came into her gymnastics. She loved that feeling. Payson's hand gripped the high bar and held for a second. She could feel the pain surging through her body. She did not have the strength to keep holding the bar in a dead hang let alone the strength to propel her body around the bars and continue to release to do moves that required her to turn in the air. As her body swung backward, she let go. She tried to land on her feet, but she couldn't. She was too weak, she was in too much pain. She was incapable of what she thought. She was convinced she had failed, but at least she was not a lying winner. She failed because she stayed clean. That justified losing her shot at the title. Payson hit the mat head first and everything went black.
"Payson?" Her own name snapped her out of her daydream. "Yes. No. What?" Payson stuttered as she turned around to see who was calling her name. Sasha was staring at her. "What were you thinking about?" he asked. It was obvious that it was not his original question. "Nothing, why?" Payson asked defensively. "Because you were so deep in thought that you never noticed me come in or hear me call your name ten times before you finally snapped back to reality." Sasha answer. "Now, what were you thinking about?" he repeated with little more force. "The accident. The day I thought I lost my life dream." Payson finally gave up. Sasha did not know how to respond. Payson never discussed what happened at the 2009 Nationals. She just bottled up her emotions and acted as if she forgot. No one had been able to pry information out of her since it happened. "Can I train now?" Payson asked despite knowing the answer would be no. Sasha knew that Payson was stubborn, and he was going to get her to talk while she was being open. "I was scared too." he said. Payson looked at Sasha with a confused look. That was not the answer she was expecting. "The accident. I was scared when I ran up, and you were not moving. I felt the same way this morning when you were suddenly motionless on the floor." Sasha added to clear the confusion. "Can I train now?" Payson directed the conversation back to what it started as. "I want to know what you were thinking about on the day of the accident." Sasha answered.
[Author's Note: I left it short because I am still working on fine tuning what Payson's answer will be. Stay tuned.]