The Battle Of Determination

• Cara Zhong, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2022

The intense afternoon gale slapped my face with vigorous fury as I turned the corner of the rocky trail route.
“Just a bit more…” I persisted, as my breathing rapidly sped up again. I was ready to drop, to fall into the neverending abyss.
It was the annual summer marathon, the one that went on for 42.2 kilometres. The sun’s brightness complemented it’s heat as the rays blasted down and scorched my sweaty back. The winding path ahead of me twisted and tilted as I staggered with lightheadedness. Then I saw the sign, the one that proved the closeness of fulfilling my aspiration.
One kilometre left.
I started running again, but this time with a second wind. The sight of the sign had renewed my motivation, my determination to reach the journey’s end. My legs launched off the ground like a launching rocket as I edged closer and closer towards the finishing line.
However, this blissful moment wasn’t eternal. Just as I passed through the last clump of trees, a sudden, fiery feeling of hellish pain shot through my left leg. I gasped in agony as I stumbed onto the ground. What had been my ankle was now a swollen patch of red skin, bent at an unnatural angle. It was inflated, just like a balloon. My lower body racked with pain as I crumpled onto the ground. I lay still, waiting for my rescuers to arrive and release me from my torment.
But then I saw it. The checkered black and white flag that indicated the end of the marathon. I couldn’t surrender, not now. I stood up heavily, ignoring the hellfire that was forming in my ankle and commenced hobbling. My eyes stung with tears as the throbbing torture continued to spread throughout my body. I could now faintly see the finishing line after four hours of running through God’s tough creation.
Finally, following what felt like years of incessant agony, I reached my holy grail. I leapt off the ground like a wounded gazelle and passed the flag I had seen from far away. My ankle had officially reached it’s extent as I lost my balance and tumbled onto the rigid concrete. Both my mind and body then sank into darkness as I faintly heard yelling, screaming, and a siren wailing in the distance.
I felt just like the Greek soldier who ran to Athens in the Battle of Marathon. Except I could still feel my heart beating.