It's Too Cold Outside for Angels to Fly

He came home that afternoon after a long practice tired and worn out, not knowing and not ready to deal with what would be greeting him when he arrived at his apartment. His sense, which were completely burnt out from fatigue, quickly jolted back to life as he heard screaming, crying, and objects being thrown inside the apartment across from his.

"Rissy? What's going on?" He exclaimed as he pushed his way through the door, being careful to make sure he didn't step on any of the broken pieces of glass and other miscellanous sharp objects that were scattered all over the floor. Istead of answering the man that had entered her apartment who very quickly became her best friend, Rissy hurled a huge plant that was in a ceramic pot at him. Ducking just in time before it crashed, Gabe looked at his friend in disbelief, having no idea what was going on through her head right now. Scanning quickly around the room, he saw an empty vodka bottle on the table near the upset girl. Now knowing that her actions were somewhat alcoho induced, Gabe started to move carefully and slowly towards her.

"Rissy, why are you doing this?" He cautiosuly asked as he slowly and gently wrapped his hands around her small wrists.

"How could you forget? How could you not know what today was for me?" She bawled as she slumped to the floor. Gabe sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her as she cried while he searched through his mind trying to think of what significance today would have that would make her act like this. Slowly starting to come out of her intoxicated state, filled in that blank spot of his brain,

"Today was the day that I would find out if I made it to the Olympic team or not." Gabe held in the gasp that was about to escape his lips as his eyes turned to the size of saucers.

"Chrissy, I'm so sorry." Was all he could mutter, assuming that by her previous actions that she did not make the team.

"My whole damn life. That's how much time and dedication I put into making this team and it was all for nothing. I didn't even make it past the first round." She bawled as she clung closer and tighter to Gabe. Stroking her blond hair, Gabe just sat there and tried his best to calm her down and comfort her.

"What do I do now? There is nothing else left to me, this was my whole life, my passion. And now it's been taking away from me."

"You can still ride for an elite team. It may not be the Olympics but there is no use quitting all together." Gabriel tried.

"No, those teams are for Olympic hopefuls and I do NOT want to be surrounded by them." Suddenly, something else hit her and she became twice as angry and upset as before. "My parents. They are going to kill me. They wanted this for me. The only time they ever payed attention to me was when I was riding and they were paying for everything so I could focus all my energy on riding. It was there way of taking care of me. Now all the money is going to be taken away..." As Carrissa rambled on about her parents not loving her and taking away all of the money they gave her, Gabe quickly realized that this wasn't her dream, it was her parents. They made this her life and she stayed with it to please them. She was not crying because she didn't make the team, she was crying because she was scared to be seen as a disappointment to her family. Gabe recalled to that one time when Rissy explained to him that her family were very rich and very proper and prim and the perfect image of what the Americans would considered stuck-up Southerners. With this realization, he just tightened his arm around her and provided the comfort that he felt she needed, not knowing that inside she was slowly starting to fade away, that this event, along with a handful of others that would follow, would cause her life to collapse into nothing but sheer pain and horror.