Member-only story
Stand Tall (Micro-fiction)
Kristina has always been a runner, it has been her freedom and gift, and the accident wouldn’t change that. She had always been told by her beautiful Nonna to stand tall, no matter what life threw at her. These were wise words she had never understood until she lay in a hospital bed faced with a new reality and an impossible choice. Risk spreading the infection and therefore risk her life, or let them take her leg.
But would she be able to?
Despite so many things she didn’t understand, she knew one thing: she had to make an impossible choice.
Whenever your life tries to shrink you, stand tall.” Nonna had told her after her accident, when the reality had yet to hit her, she fought with everything she had to pick up the pieces, of her life.
From the time she was a child, Kristina had always run, loved the feeling it gave her, the joy. Now, she wondered if that had been taken away from her.
It could have been worse, she knew that, but this was hard to deal with. You had to be strong to fight your way back from something like this. Although it took courage to move past it, the scars would never fade.
It was her first time back on the track, she had been training for this. Her legs would now be made of titanium and steel, so she would run differently than she had before.
The smile spread across Kristina’s face as she stretched, listening to Nonna’s words.
”I want you to stand tall, Kristina. Stand tall.“
© Michelle R Kidwell
3/27/2021, Revised April.02.2024
