Empty Handed

Holy Ground (Chapter Twenty-Seven)

Songs of the Chapter:

Do or Die - Thirty Seconds to Mars
Conquistador - Thirty Seconds to Mars

MATT
It was the morning of the Olympics. I barely slept through the night; maybe for an hour or two. I got up and went for a shower. I walked to the living room of the apartment Lea lodged us all in.

"Morning Matty. I just ordered breakfast. Do you want anything specific?"

"I'd rather eat nothing."

"Nervous? Come sit." She patted the spot next to her. I sat there and immediately, she held me; I leaned into her warmth. I shook a little as the weight of everything fell all at once on me. My breathing became erratic and ragged. It felt like I was losing air.

"Shh... It's okay. Everything will be fine. Just show up on the ice and skate your heart out. Skate like nobody's there." She whispered and stroked my hair.

"Go take a shower now. You don't want to be nervous and late." She kissed the top of my hair.

☆☆☆

At 7am, the air felt crisp, the atmosphere felt eerie and auspicious and scary and very intimidating as Lea and Scott dropped me off with my teammates and I caught up with them as they were just coming down from the bus.

"Everyone alright?" Coach Seth asked.

There were mumbles of yeah and ugh and uh-huhs.

"Well boys, today is the day you've prepared your whole lives for. It's the Olympics! I want every one of you to get up on that ice and shine. Now let's get through qualifications first."

I went with my teammates and our coaches to get our names confirmed for qualifications. The process was simple; it just took a while to get to our turn. When we were done, we immediately went to warm up and practice a bit. Qualifications were to start at 10am sharp so the tension was on!

Ten o' clock came by really fast and the short programs began. I went and got changed to my costume which was a very simple commoner costume. My hands were very cold at this point as minute after minute brought us closer to my turn for the short program. I sat waiting and thinking of nothing.

Before I knew it, someone tapped my shoulder.

"You're up, commoner!" Seth joked. I deadpanned.

He put his two hands on my shoulders and reassured me that everything would be okay and that was all I needed to stride towards the ice.

"The next skater is Matt Fox from the United States of America." People clapped; politely.

"Skate like nobody's there." I told myself.

The music started and I dived right into my program.

☆☆☆

It felt super amazing as I landed my quadruple axel and the crowd literally went wild. My world literally slowed down and all I saw were rainbows. With that, I ended my short program. It felt surreal but very fulfilling. I ran over to Seth whose face was red, eyes wet with his arms wide open. I hugged him like my life depended on it.

"Told you that you could do it. I'm proud of you. Now let's go see your score." We walked over to the kiss and cry to sit.

"The scores are in. Matt Fox has earned One hundred and fifteen point three, zero! He's currently in first place."

I screamed because this meant that I officially had the top score and beat the Chinese and Russian guys in the short program! My voice was lost in the cheer of the crowd as I thanked Seth profoundly in between sobs. I smiled, laughed and cried when I saw Scott whistling and Lea screaming with megaphone voice.

The best day of my entire life. That's what this was.

Matt's Short Program: https://youtu.be/Xl-J44YnRtw