Silvia tugged on the edge of her swimsuit, snapping back at her thigh as she walked into the university pool in the middle of the night. It was around 11 pm, and she was sure that no one else was going to be here. She took a big sigh, composing herself, telling herself it was all fine. Stepping inside the swimming hall, she was smacked in the face with the familiar smell of chlorine, the slight splashing of the water against the walls.
She opened her eyes, and in front of her, a man jumped out of the pool, sitting on the edge as he took off his swim cap. The tips of his black hair were dripping with water down his well-built body. The swimming trunks gripped tightly onto him as the muscles along his ribs flexed with every breath he took, slowly rising and falling. His arm muscles contracted as he ran his hand through his hair, not noticing Silvia's presence behind him, staring, not saying a single word. The sight was intoxicating, Silvia could not help but be drawn to his features, the well-built muscles that seemed to have been meticulously built through hard work and training and the beautifully chiselled face that seemed to even make girls feel envious.
Looking at him, she was certain, this is the man she wanted. Slowly, she walked towards him, who was still sitting down, unaware of her silent pace towards him. Bending over so that her face was right behind him. "Excuse me, can you please be my muse?" Silvia's hair, which was up in a ponytail, dropped down as it slightly brushed against his shoulder, causing him to jerk as he turned around. The action made him unstable on the edge as he started to tip towards the pool. Unconsciously, Silvia grabbed onto him and tried to stop the fall, but in the end, they both fell into the pool. Thankfully, the pool was 3m deep, so they did not crash into the floor of it.
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Silvia Elowen is the ex-champion of the Women's Swimming Individual Medley (IM) from Ravessa. The news said it was all an accident, and the person who caused her injury was only given a disqualification for the current competition. Silvia was left with a Shoulder labrum tear. This caused her to be out of commission, requiring surgery and recovery. The opponent in warmups had difficulty pushing her onto Silvia, causing her to get knocked into the lane rope, which ended up twisting and harming her. Requiring one year of recovery and possibly unknown months of rehab, too, suddenly, all the eyes and support that were around her vanished.
Now, Silvia Elowen, the nationalist, is on her way to the IM for the Olympics at the age of 16. The rising star, nicknamed the 'Silvermist', was now nothing. The coach who cheered her on for years and the sponsors who helped her so she could compete were all now leaving her. They had given up all hope on her and instead started to support another girl. The same age as her, who entered the field the same year she got injured, slowly, the girl had taken away all her support, a girl named Carley Johnson.
Living a life where abandonment was normal for her, she could do nothing but laugh at her own situation. At the age of 10, her father decided to leave the family, abandoning them for his mistress. A few years later, when Silvia became 12, her older sister, who was now 18, left the family, cutting all ties, and married a rich man. With a weak heart, Silvia's mother, Mary, held on as much as she could to look after her and her little brother James, who was just 5 years old. Luckily enough, at the age of 13, Silvia was discovered for her talent and was quickly supported by sponsors to train and may have a splendid time every month. Silvia had assumed her life had turned for the better. At the innocent age of 13, she thought working hard and winning these competitions would bring her father and sister back.
Silvia worked hard, winning again and again. By 14, she competed in the junior national and moved on to international meets. At 15, she was looking towards the World Aquatics so that she could start competing in senior levels as soon as she hit the age of 16. This allowed her family to have more stability. The National Swimming Federation of Ravessa supported Silvea generously. Her family of three was living more comfortably now. Her mother, who used to be a painter and had given up on it after marrying her father, was happier now and painting more. The house seemed more lively with the paint all around, and Silvia and James also joined in as their mother taught them. Since her mother had graduated from the top arts university, the University of Mills in Ravessa, she was finally able to get a job in a local art vocational school as a teacher. With the federation basically taking care of Silvia all the time and only really having to look after James most of the time, it was now a viable option for her mother to pursue this job.
In the bliss of everyday life, they were living now; they had not expected that at the age of 16, their mother, Mary, would suddenly be killed. A car crash, a simple DUI, nothing extravagant and only a few years' jail for the driver. Silvia was in a slump, and it was worse when, at the funeral of her mother, there sat a 16-year-old Silvia with her 8-year-old brother crying, just the two of them alone. She realised her older sister was not coming back, nor was her father. Everything she was doing, working hard with swimming, meant nothing. They were never coming back.
Silvia was on the verge of giving up, with her mother now dead and a father and sister who had abandoned them as minors, Silvia was about to be split up from the only family she had left. It was then that her coach decided to give Silvia a lifeline, keep competing and keep working hard to keep winning. She will adopt both her and her brother. The coach, Tina Halls, convinced her that she should keep competing since she had talent and that this way she could support her brother too, while not having to live apart.
Accepting the only option left, Silvia agreed to this as she kept on competing, but the situation she was in ended up fazing her composure a little bit. However, she still won 2nd place, making her a silver medalist at such a young age. Being awarded with national sports funding, private sponsorship, and future scholarship offers to the university, Silvia was pulling through. She saw that one of the universities that had offered her a scholarship was the University of Mills, the one her mother went to, so she decided to set it as one of her goals.
Life went on as Silvia worked hard with her studies, swimming and painting with her brother in her little free time. Working hard nonstop day and night, trying to keep up with school and work, and trying not to neglect her brother as well, she was worn out. Still, for the future of her family, she kept pushing on and on until the fateful day of the warmups, when the incident happened. A girl she had never met, who seemed to be in the same team group as Clara Johnson, had sabotaged her dive, shoving into her, claiming it was all an accident. With the girl accepting 'guilt' and expulsion from this competition, it was hard for anyone to believe that she did it on purpose. With no other evidence to back herself up, Silvia was left with nothing now.
Half a year after her surgery, she was still not going through her rehab properly. Being in a position where she was still depressed due to her mother's death and then the trauma of the 'accident', the outbursts, and the days spent crying were long. With her mother's anniversary coming near, she was burnt out from all the hard work she had done. In the end, she was only pushed back a year, but even longer due to her reluctance to continue her rehab on schedule.
And just as this was happening, Clara was making her shine. With Silvia out of the picture, she was now the upcoming star of the IMs, while she had only placed 4th before. Now, with Silvia gone, taking 3rd place in the competition, sponsors were now all flocking towards her. While she was not as good as Silvia, with the state Silvia was in, Clara had become the new rising star.
In the end, the only people left were her brother and her coach. "Silvia... you cannot keep on going like this. I understand that what you have been through has been terrible, but if you do not get yourself together, then it will all be for nothing. I will get you some help, but if you do not do something, I cannot do anything for you either."
A silent nod as Silvia was pushed into therapy and a constant attempt at rehab. She started to spend more time with her brother, painting as she slowly began to continue her rehab. But in the end, it just took too long; her coach had also left her to start coaching Clara instead. Since she had adopted Silvia, she still let her stay in her house, but stated that once she turned 18, she would have to leave with her brother.
Silvia laughed at this, realising that even her coach, whom she had trusted so much, was just using her. The help she offered when adopting her was to fuel her career more, and in the end, she was thrown away again. Slowly, she worked by herself; all she really needed was a little more time, but no one was willing to wait for her. With only her brother by her side, cheering her up in any way he could, Silvia decided to make a change. One of her biggest dreams was to get into the same university as her mother.
University of Mills was a university that specialized in arts of all kinds, but mainly specialised in sports and traditional arts, given her track record in swimming, and reading that she did not want to go through with it. Even though her rehab was going well and she was told she would be back at her peak soon, this was not the path she wanted to take. Swimming was just a means to earn money for her family when she was little. In the end, her happiness came from art. Silvia had become quite skilled in painting with her mother and brother consistently in the past and present. Even she could see that her skills were quite good.
In the end, working hard with her studies, getting good grades, and improving her arts, she ended up applying and getting a spot in the University of Mills. Luckily enough, she had managed to even get an art scholarship, which shocked her but initially removed the problem of funding. Getting a job as an assistant at the vocational school her mom taught in, she was now certain that she was going to be able to look after her brother while going to university.
As soon as she turned 18, she cut ties with her coach, removing herself and her brother from Tina and moving into a small studio house. Thankfully, her scholarship also funded her housing and offered a monthly stipend. Working 2-3 times a week in the vocational school, she had enough money and time to take care of her brother and work hard on her art.
But being months away from the pool, something had become certain to Silvia: the water was not a place she could escape from.