Skating To A New Dawn

From Dusk Till Dawn

The first day of school. He had hoped that this day would never come.

Eiji didn't really look forward to going back to school. It wasn't school he didn't like, however, but the questions and the pitiful looks on the student's faces when they'd see him after a while.

He had been a successful pole-vaulter and had won some significant competitions for his school, so most students knew him. Or his face, at least since the school had used a photo of him and his teammates to promote its successful athletics team and had advertised their achievements to get students to enroll at this school.

Eiji had never liked the attention he had received. Before the matches had started, people had always been hyped, had always come to him, cheered him on, had put a hand on his shoulders to wish him good luck and had unintentionally put him under a lot of pressure by doing so.

He hadn't done pole vaulting for fame and glory but because it had been fun. The feeling when you lifted off the ground and flew weightlessly through the air for no more than two seconds before touching the ground again felt like pure freedom. He'd never forget this incredible, electrifying and addictive feeling when you soared into the sky for a moment. Fluttering in the air for a moment with invisible wings, he had felt invincible. Like all the weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and he had escaped to a world that only he knew. It was over in a fraction of a second, but the sensation had always taken his breath away when he had landed again.

In the end, he had excelled at it to such an extent that he could have gotten a scholarship with it for college at a later point. He had hoped that he could get a scholarship because his dad had died a year ago, so money was tight, and college fees for him and his sister would put his family in financial trouble.

After his father had died, he had dropped out of school for a while to help his mom and sister out and had decided at a later point to repeat the year, so, much to Reki's delight, he and Reki were now in the same class. He was a year older than Reki but looked five years younger with his huge eyes and honest face. It was something that drove him mad if people only mentioned it because none of his new classmates had believed that he was a year older than them, pointing out that he looked like a grade-schooler.

The coach was thrilled, though, because, for him, it meant that Eiji, his pole vaulting star, stayed one year longer at this school and in his athletics team.

However, shortly before the last school year had ended, he had had a severe pole-vaulting accident. After his jump, he had landed on the mat with his foot at a wrong angle, so he had twisted his right foot in the end. He had shattered his ankle in the process and had learned that his professional pole-vaulting career was over. With this injury, he would never be able to compete on a professional level again. That reality had hurt much more than the tremendous amount of pain that had followed his shattered ankle.

It had felt that together with his ankle, his life had shattered, too, everything he had valued or enjoyed had been smashed to pieces, and he was standing in front of the ruins. It felt as if his life was over, or his world had ended.

Eiji didn't like to admit that, but he had suffered from severe depression after that. It had taken him some time to realize that and get some professional help.

After his accident, he had shut everyone out and had buried himself in his room. He had refused to talk to anyone and had just been drowning in self-pity. Eiji had just been overwhelmed by sadness and frustration, getting irritated and intolerant of other people's feelings who had just worried and wanted to help him. He had lost all hope for a future and felt powerless, often tearing up without reason.

Most people stayed away when they had seen that he didn't even take notice of them, was always in a bad mood, and often got angry for no reason. He felt like a robot or an empty shell, without a soul, feelings or a reason to live. He hadn't even cared that he had scared everyone away.