Kirstin's Dream

• Emilyw Saul, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2018

Once there was a girl who was in a wheelchair. Her name was Kirstin. When Kirstin went to school she got teased. Just because she couldn’t walk didn’t mean that she couldn’t play like other kids. Kirstin had a dream. She wanted to go to the Paralympics for wheelchair races. She didn’t even think about mentioning this at her school, for fear of getting tease about her desire to win a race.

10 years later Kirstin turned 19. The Paralympics was coming up. Kirstin secretly signed up. She trained for months, pretending to be at the library but secretly she had gone to the training centre. She forced herself to keep going and made it to the Olympic Village.

When she arrived she rested for a while. She considered she had come a long way. She lay in her bed as the last daylight hours passed and she fell into a soft, dreamy sleep. When she woke up it was the day her entire life had been leading up to… the day of her race. As she approached the race track she felt a feeling, a feeling of pride. She would race for her country, for her family, for herself. As the gun sounded for ‘go’ she set off as fast as she had ever gone in her whole life. She started to lag behind but said to herself “You can do it, come on!” As she crossed the finish line she knew she had accomplished something great. A cheer erupted from the crowd. Kirstin was the best wheelchair racer in the world!