Myles Thomas

"Monet, talk to me." I lifted her up from the bathroom floor and walked her over to the couch to lay down. "Monet." I checked her pulse and from her movements I could tell that she was still very conscious. "Can I get some help in here?!" I yelled out again, I began to head for the door to go and get someone but she grabbed my hand instead. I patted my pockets for my phone but realized I had left it with my bag upstairs.

"Don't leave me." She let out in a low tone, she held onto my hand and began to slowly open her eyes. crouching down beside her and pressing my head against her forehead.

"I gotta get you help."

"I'm okay Myles." She slurred, "I just want to run."

"Monet, you can't worry about that right now." Just in time, the door opened and Kingsley walked in holding a pack of ice. The moment he noticed what was going on he dropped the ice and ran over to our side. "Call 911."

"Don't!" Monet exclaimed. "I am fine. I promise you that I am fine," she let out a slow, staggered exhale then began to prop herself up.

"You literally just past our and you're bleeding while pregnant, that's not fine."

"It's just the shock hit me and it's probably just spotting. I'm good."

"Spotting or not, you need to get checked out." I placed my head on her forehead, "You look pale and you're warm... on top of that you're shivering."

"It's just cold in here." She coughed, then sat up completely, placing both of her feet on the ground. "I'm good."

"Monet, I really think we should call your doctor." Kingsley said, holding his phone up.

"Doctor? I said, call 911. This is an emergency."

"Don't," she shook her head then placed both of her hands on the side of her face, breathing in and out.

"You're not okay Monet."

"I can wait until the last race if anything." She nodded then finally looked up at me, "I know I can."

"I know you can, but you won't." he extended my hand to Kingsley, "bro, pass me the phone." He handed it to me and I began to dial the numbers. Monet tried her best to grab it but I stood to my feet and walked away. "Hello, can I please get an ambulance at-"

"For the love of God Myles. Hang the God damn phone up!" I turned around to see her now, standing upright. "Please do not ruin this for me, I have worked so hard." She took a step, "for this moment right here and I plan to complete it by any means necessary. I have lived my life for so long, trying to please everyone, standing on the sidelines and watching everyone else be great, I've been through hell and back and I think I deserve this moment right here, I deserve to be a winner and I won't stop until I am just that. So, if you loved me the way you say you do, you'd hang up that phone right now and just let me run." Tears streamed down her face and she took another weak step towards me, followed by another, she outstretched her hand and tried to take the phone from me but I backed up.

I turned my back and continued giving the operator the location, when I was done I hung up and tossed the phone back to Kingsley. "Of course, like everyone else... you don't care about my dreams. It's always fuck Monet."

"Nah, unlike everyone else... I care too much for you."

"Oh please," she shook her head and walked back over to the couch.

"Kingsley, go get her dad and Zahra for me please."

"I got it." He gave me a nod then basically sprinted out.

Monet sat on the couch, trying her best to disguise the pain she was going through, she placed her hand beneath her stomach and let out a low groan. "See what I'm saying, you're in pain and you don't want to admit it."

"Myles, just shut the hell up. You have no clue of what you're talking about. I'm fine, whether you believe it or not. I don't understand why don't you want to see me prosper. Do you know how everyone is going to look at me if I don't run that race? Think about my supporters, think about the ones that doubted me from the jump, Veronica, all the blogs that said a pregnant woman winning in the Olympics wasn't possible. I would just be giving them a chance to say 'I told you so.' Myles, I will never be able to live that down."

"Who cares?!" I exclaimed, "that's your problem you always cared about what irrelevant people had to say and why? They aren't feeding you, they aren't putting a roof over your head, they aren't supplying your needs. You need to stop giving nobodies an opportunity to have such an impact on your life."

"If my doctor would've caught the second baby in my ultrasounds, I wouldn't have even brought myself to this level. I told her I was getting too big too fast and she told me not to worry about it. I should've known from the jump that someway, somehow this wouldn't go the way I wanted it, because of course; nothing good can ever come to me." She shook her head, "I'm running that last race. I don't care."

"Good did come! You got the gold for a race that your body wasn't fit to run in, Monet. I get it, you want to be like your mom or even beat her and get a triple gold. I get that those have and will always be your dreams and the good thing about it is that those dreams don't have to stop here. You'll be back, you left your mark, they know now that you're a force not to be reckoned with. Doctors do make accidents sometimes and despite all of that, you still did it, Monet! You won." I looked at the door, trying to figure out what was taking so long.

"It wasn't enough." She shook her head and wiped her tears. "I'm going to let her down again." She said, "All I wanted to do was to find a way to make her proud, she wasn't able to be with her condition but now that she's watching over me, I wanted to give her something to be proud of. I wanted to make sure her name lived on. I want-."

"You wanted closure, you wanted to use this as an outlet of forgiveness since you weren't there all those years. You thought maybe just maybe, this right here would be it. That it would bring you comfort, that if you won as her daughter, made her name live on, you would be able to forgive yourself." I crouched down in front of her and took her hand into mine, I closed my eyes as I pressed a kiss on the back of it. I sighed, then looked up to see her eyes connect with mine. "Monet, you need to start living for you. You came, you saw and you conquered. But you still aren't pleased because this doesn't please you, you have only been doing it to please her." I ran my hand on her stomach. "I'm going to give it to you as honest as I possibly can because I can't bare to watch someone, I love deteriorate just to prove themselves. Right now, as much as this moment is about you, that pregnancy is all that matters. A gold medal is replaceable, you will get this opportunity again with the amount of skill and passion you got within you. Life, that blessing," I pointed towards her stomach, "shouldn't even be jeopardized for something like this. Something that you aren't even doing for your own self."

"I just don't want to be a disappointment, I just wanted her to love me." She sobbed and I placed a kiss on her forehead, then sat next to her and wrapped my arms around her.

"Sometimes we search for that love in the wrong places, in the wrong people and doing the wrong thing. Love is within you, even if someone doesn't want to love you, you still gotta be able to love yourself. Start your own journey, live for yourself, she has already lived her life." I kissed the top of her head again, "Today was the first day I have ever felt so proud. You're amazing, a little hard headed but you're honestly one in a million Mo. You're good at this but it's time for you to start living for you." She looked up at me and I placed my hand against her cheek.

"I love you." she cried, "I really do."

"I love you more." As I leaned in to kiss her, she immediately began to scream and clutch her stomach. "Mo."

"Make it stop!" she gripped onto my thigh and leaned over, seeming as if she was struggling to breathe.

The door busted open and finally the paramedics alongside Mr. DaSilva, Zahra, Kingsley and her doctor came in behind them. I stood to the side and allowed them to get her strapped onto a gurney as she passed right out again.

Zahra handed me my bag and I gave her a slight nod, not being able to talk. Monet laid there, going pale, they did compressions. The paramedics spoke to each other in their language and luckily the doctor was able to explain it. "Something is stopping her from getting the Oxygen she needs."

I watched as a bunch of the other runners stood by the door watching as they put an oxygen mask over her face and wheel her right out of the room. Everyone rushed out behind her, the guards surrounding her so no one could get close.

I don't know what it was but something stopped me from doing the same. I stood there in the room and turned around, I ran my hand along the side of my face and sighed. "I've done all I could, I've given up all I could. You've taken from me and you've blessed me many times before. I know your intentions have and will always be good for me. So, I come to you with pure and complete confidence and I know that you know I have been through far too much... I have lost so much people and I don't want to lose another, especially not her. If this is some kind of punishment for the things I've done in the past, please, please take me instead because I can't bare anymore pain. I'm trusting in you. FINALLY! SO PLEASE, DON'T LET ME LOSE HER! PLEASE?" tears welled up in my eyes and I couldn't help but break down. I really didn't know how much more I could take.

"Amen," someone said behind me. I didn't even bother wiping my face before turning around to see Veronica standing in the door frame alongside the rest of the girls from team USA. "She's strong and that prayer was the seal. Now get your ass out here and go be by her side, everything is going to be alright, we'll be praying for her. I nodded and wiped away my tears, then walked out the room and down the hall, running after the rest of the group.

Monet DaSilva

"I can't believe I won." I smiled, jumping into my father's car after the city finals that was held at my high school, for the first time ever. Which meant my dad was finally able to come and see me run, although he missed it, the fact that he tried was all that matter.

"You did amazing sweetie." He said, jumping into the driver's side.

"If only you were able to see it."

"I know, I had to handle some things before I could get out. At least, I was able to catch the medal ceremony."

"You're right." I smiled. "I can't wait to show mom this when I get home."

"Speaking of that," he sighed and placed his hands on the steering wheel. "Your moms been a little more out of it than normal today, so, just be aware and know that if she says anything out of pocket; it isn't her."

"As usual," I rolled my eyes then smirked.

"Monet, you already know what this is."

"Yup." I answered popping my P and buckling up my seatbelt. My father didn't say another word, he just cut on the engine and drove out of my schools parking lot. He turned up the radio but I soon turned it back down. "You know... I've been thinking lately and I just wanted to run it by you." I placed my hand on my cheek as I looked through the windshield before me. "I love track of course, I love winning more than anything. However, I'm getting really tired." I sighed, "I know that I'm great at it and all but I really don't know if it's my dream... I want to travel the world, be a journalist, learn about different cultures, try new foods, meet new people, find love... tracks so demanding that I can barely make any friends. I'm there in the morning, there after school, come home and train, gotta eat as clean as possible, can't even drink like most kids my age, can't go to parties because I know I have training the next day, the list goes on and on and on. I feel like for years, I've been stuck in this box. Even during my pregnancy, I was running then after the baby passed, I didn't heal. I was right back on the track. As much as I do love this, I don't think that I can do it forever."

"I understand what you're saying, a hundred and ten percent baby girl. However, I honestly feel like this is the only way that you and your mother can bond, you're very distant and when she comes to; the only thing she wants to do is talk about track and field with you."

"And we can still do that."

"How?"

"Current issues?"

"She doesn't care about current issues, she cares about you coming out on top like she did. By any means necessary."

"So, you're telling me that I should conform my dreams to please her."

"For lack of a better explanation, yes. It's nice to see you have something to bond with her over. It's nice to see you finally trying."

"I've been trying dad, she has Alzheimer's for Christ sake! One moment she's in then the next she's out. It gets tiring especially knowing that the moment she's out of it she's going to turn into someone that I don't like to see."

"And it isn't her fault."

"I'm not saying it is."

"Well your blaming the lack of relationship on something she can't control. You and your mom were the best of friends before she got sick, you know this. Just as she was there for you over the years when you got sick, I expect you to do the same for her. Despite that bad side that comes out, she deserves it. she's going through a hell that none of us will understand, our only option as our family is help her and support her, to keep her happy."

"By any means necessary?"

"By any means necessary." He nodded. "One day, you'll grow to love it. Understand that those things you listed will always be there. You can travel when you're successful, meet people when you're successful, drink and party when you're successful. Until now, I need you to get your head in the game and focus on the goal. Study something that'll bring in money for yourself, something in the medical or even revolving around the law. You know with having to give up shifts to take care of your mom and letting my old lifestyle go; I don't have much to pay for you to go to University much less community college. Track is your ticket not only to go to school but your ticket to win your mother over. That name you got on your back every time you hit that track is your birth right, you owe it to her. Like I said before; her seeing you on top is all she ever wanted, the only thing that I feel will make her happy, she's been talking about this since you were a baby, since you were in her stomach keeping her up at night with your kicks, doctors said you were always moving too fast in every ultrasound. You were born for this and nothing else. Please Mo, don't let your moment of confusion lead you to disappointment. Okay?" I allowed his words to settle deep within me, internalizing his worries as well as his conclusion. "I'll be in your corner no matter what you do, but she really deserves to be happy about something. When you're gone and she comes to, the only thing she talks about is you running, following in her footsteps, becoming exactly what she wanted you to be. As she always says you're going to be great, your name is going to be written amo-."

"Amongst the stars." I finished.

"Exactly, so with that being said, I need you to focus and continue running. If not for yourself and the opportunities it's opening, do it for her."

I nodded and let out a long sigh as I reached over and turned the radio up so he knew the conversation was over.

After a silent long ride, we got to the house and I hopped out, grabbing my gym bag from the trunk. "Look, Monet. I know I may have sounded harsh but I have the family's best interest at heart. I just want everyone to be the best that they can be and I'm very passionate about keeping the bond between you guys."

"Let's just drop the subject. Please."

"Alright but please don't take what I said out of context."

"Nah, I won't."

"Alright, I'll be in in just a second. I gotta make some phone calls. Go ice your legs and remember you got training in the morning."

I shook my head and slammed the trunk of the car closed before running up to the door. I entered the code that we hand on the door so that my mother wouldn't find a way out and instead of walking to my mother's study which was normally the only room that was opened for her other than her bedroom, I went up to my room.

The door wasn't closed the way I had left it, causing my brows to furrow. I slowly opened it and saw my mom sitting on my bed, holding some of my ribbons in her hand. "Mom? What are you doing in here?" I asked. My mother looked up at me and immediately a smile came upon her face.

"Mo, these are all from you?"

"...Yes."

"Oh my, goodness. This is amazing."

"...I guess." I placed my bag down onto the floor and walked over to her, taking a seat. "I won today as well."

"You did?!" both of her brows raised as she said it. "Why wasn't I invited?"

"Uh, it was more of a last-minute race." I lied, to keep her from freaking out like she usually did.

"Oh, okay." She nodded. "Did your dad get to see you at least?"

"No, he didn't."

"What a shame," she patted my thigh. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

My mother looked back down at the ribbons then up at me. "You don't seem happy about winning."

"I am."

"No, you aren't." she smirked. "You aren't smiling or dancing around this place like I used to."

"Because I'm used to it. Nothing new, I train to win then I win and train again. The cycle goes on. You know this."

"I do know this, but I also know the feeling I felt when I came in first place, I know the feeling I felt every time I heard my name announced, I know the feeling I felt when the medal was put around my neck. That feeling and the smile that came with it was one that you could spot from a mile away." She placed her hand on my cheek. "You aren't happy princess."

"I'm just tired... that's all."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Alright then." She kissed my cheek then placed the ribbons unto my bed. I watched her stand up and adjust her house coat. "You know your name is going to be written in the stars, right?" she smiled, looking back at me.

"Yes mom. I know."

"No matter what you do or where you go in life, you're going to be great. You were meant to be great. The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were different, one of a kind, one in a million."

"No matter what I do?"

"No matter what you do."

"And what if I told you that I didn't want to run anymore?"

She smirked, then turned completely to face me. "I'd say that I already knew that from the start. I'd also let you know that my dream doesn't have to be yours, I did it because it was the only thing I knew. I ran when things were good, when things were bad, when I was happy and when I was down. All I knew how to do was run, I was good in school but I was better at track. My mother didn't love me, daddy wasn't there but track was. I