Alex, a female gymnast

Well, that was a weird dream.

Everything faded to black and then you wake up.

You are still wearing your shiny, long sleeved red leotard under your zipped up track jacket and leggings. There are still a little bit of chalk powder remains smeared on your hands and feet from the balance beam event.

You were taking a quick nap on a mattress in a small unused room in a gymnastics stadium. There is a local gymnastics meet happening here and you took part in it as a member of your university’s gymnastic team.

You remember that last night you just fell into bed and slept with your leotard on after you finished light training, still hot and sweating profusely. At the morning you woke up, ate your breakfast and supplements, and since you were already wearing your competition leotard you just put on your track jacket and leggings over it and went straight to the stadium, without stepping a foot in your bathroom to do your usual morning routines.

You lift your arms to stretch. You were drenched in sweat after you finished your last event and now you can still feel your body and clothes being wet, sticky, and smelling ripe, the result of all the unwashed exertions since yesterday. At least you weren’t alone in this as all your teammates attended the same training yesterday, wearing the same competition leotard that kept sticking to their athletic body during the meet as they also slept in it. You definitely could smell the sweet, musky scent in the air, especially when you were sitting together or hugging each other after someone’s turn ended. Add that to the fact that there are no working showers in the stadium as they were under maintenance.

Of course, you still feel familiar stirring pain and gurgling in your tummy. You have been skipping your usual business on the porcelain throne since yesterday. All those high fiber diets and protein shakes eventually must exit, and fortunately for you, the urge didn’t get too distracting when you were in the middle of competition, with all those jumping and tumbling. The pain annoys you, but you’re not really **** to go.

Just after you finished your turn a short while ago, you and a few others decided to go to the restroom, but stops midway because you saw a long line of people in front of it. You decided to go to an unused storeroom near the locker room to rest, play with your phone and eventually doze off.

You remember that weird dream again. You don’t know why and can’t point out what, but somehow you have the feeling that there is something…. different about this world and about you. Maybe you should find your teammates or your coach. Or maybe you should check your body first?