The Hockey Star and the Ice Princess (Complete)

Ch. 4 - Failure

***** Three Years Ago *****

"Welcome back to our coverage of the Winter Olympics here in Moscow, Russia. I'm David Winters and I'm here with Melissa Young at the Goggin Ice Center where American Figure Skater Rachel Beckett is about to take the ice. This is a remarkable young lady. She's nineteen and we've been watching over the years as she's matured into a very well rounded and talented skater. She has the most powerful, consistent jumps we've ever seen from an American female figure Skater but she also skates with such beauty and elegance that you feel like you're watching a ballerina on the ice." 

"That's right David. Rachel Beckett is the U.S.' only real hope for a Gold Medal in this competition," the female commentator said. 

Rachel stood at the entrance of the skating rink wearing a short sparkling gold leotard with her hair up in a tight bun. She looked out at the crowded arena completely full of screaming fans who were waving the American flag for her. Hanging from the ceiling above them were the huge gold Olympic rings and her heart skipped a beat. This was what she had been training for since she was five. Her entire life had been leading up to this one moment. All the money and time her parents had spent to get her to this point. All of the hours Rick had spent coaching her throughout her life. All the hours she had spent at the rink practicing her jumps and routines over and over until they were perfect instead of being with her friends having fun like a normal teenager. 

 All of that led up to this one moment in time. The next four minutes would decide whether her entire life's work had been a waste of time. All of a sudden she felt so much pressure, like the weight of the world was on her shoulders and she was struck with panic and pictured herself falling on the ice in front of everyone. Her heart started racing and she was the most nervous she had ever been in her life. Her breath was shallow and she felt nauseous and light headed. Her palms were sweating. 

"It's time. Go out there and show them what you've got kid," her Coach Rick said with a huge smile opening the gate to the ice rink. She looked at him and nodded before stepping out onto the rink, wringing her hands and hearing the scrape of her blade against the ice. She had heard that sound a million times but this was Olympic ice. She looked around at the faces of the crowd cheering for her and the sounds of their cheers were dulled out. It was like everything was in slow motion as she looked around and felt the blood rush from her face. 

She felt like she was having a heart attack and then she lost her footing and the ice was rushing towards her and the next thing she knew everything went dark. She could hear the shocked gasps from the crowd and then the voices of the paramedics as she felt herself being lifted onto a stretcher and carried away. 

"We've just received a statement from the mother of Rachel Beckett," the commentator Melissa Young announced. "She said that the stress of the competition has weighed on her daughter heavily and she has a possible concussion from her head hitting the ice when she fainted. She thinks she needs some time to get well before she'll be ready to perform again so she will be forfeiting the competition at this time and she wishes all the other competitors the best. Wow. That really is such a shame David. She was my favorite," Melissa said. 

"Yeah that really is a shame. Such a talented young woman and we wish her a quick and speedy recovery. These types of competitions do put a lot of pressure on young athletes. There's no doubt," he said shaking his head. 

***** Present Day *****

"I think you're really being too hard on yourself," Cain said, reaching across the table and putting his hand on hers. 

"Too hard on myself? Do you have any idea what I did?" she asked, scrunching her eyebrows. "I was at the Olympics with the entire world's eyes watching me and I passed out before the routine even started. I let an entire country down that was depending on me. People created memes and gifs of me with the word choke on them and the video of me fainting and cracking my head on the ice went viral. I went from being the golden child to the laughing stock of the world," she said painfully, feeling a tear roll down her cheek. "When I got back home, people in town could hardly even look at me," she sniffled. "I couldn't stand their stares and whispers. I needed a fresh start, to be where people had no idea who I was, so I moved to Texas, dyed my hair back to my natural brown and started going by my middle name, Lynn."