then she sank into the blobs of gray, once again. And she heard that terrible *clank* of pink plastic ricocheting off of red metal. Just another jump and yet another fall.

It's ok though. She simply swings her legs off the mat just like she did the time before and how she will the time after. So she begins to stand.

It's then that the anguish erupts through her shin. Like the fury of the past thuderstorm has broken loose and devastating winds tear at the ligaments and muscles below her knee. She hasn't known such pain in over six months. The storm rages within her thin leg as she pushes through eleven steps back to her mark.

She sits, waits, stretches, concentrates, and spiting the world: she stands up and does it again.

She'll master that height or break something trying.


*They say you can run through the pain...
but for how long?