The New Queen

Anna cleaned herself up and went back to her room. Maria, Vika and Pavel were all waiting for her.
“Hey!” Vika hugged Anna. “You’ve been gone for a while”
“Taking a shower and I got something to eat. Did you know they have cookies in the café?” she asked. “They’re great” she put her stuff down. She made sure the sleeves of her hoodie covered her cuts. She could feel them stinging.
“Are you ok?” Maria asked.
“Im fine” Pavel looked around the room. He knew some things were missing. Things were not ok. But what could he say?
…
The gymnasts training at Lake Krugloe consisted of many future greats, they got one night off that week since Euros, and for the first time the coaches were letting them go off the training center to see family or hang out with friends outside the center.
The girls and the guys decided to go to a club that night. The girls were especially excited.
They spent hours in Aliya's room getting ready. Aliya did Anna's make up and hair and made sure she looked absolutely gorgeous. They put their medals from Euros around their necks to attract guys. Saying they were champions.
The guys picked them up at 9, they drove to the club in a van they rented and planned on spending the whole night dancing and having fun.
When they got there, the guys went right to the bar and the girls went right to dancing. After a half hour, Anna decided to sit down.
Viktoria always wondered about Anna. She scared Viktoria sometimes. She had mood swings. Sometimes she was a very calm, quiet and respectable gymnast, other times she was very hyper and smiley and happy and other times she was just frustrated and angry and depressed.
The real Anna had always been hyper and happy. But since she became a senior gymnast she had so much pressure on her shoulders and she became more quiet and depressed and it was sad to watch. it was sad to watch Anna turn into how she was in London.
Viktoria remembered all the crying in the gym, at home, in her dorm room and even at competitions. She put so much pressure on herself and then the world put pressure on her as well and she couldn't help but break every once and a while.
At the last American Cup in 2015 back in March, Anna had been at an all time low. She was so quiet, calm and to herself. When she won the all around gold she didn't celebrate as much as Viktoria did. She kept complaining about the demons. the demons, Viktoria thought. The demons were chasing her, Anna kept saying. It was scary.
Viktoria tried to ignore Anna for a while. Anna had a way of becoming depressed for certain ammounts of time then snapping out of it a few weeks later. The olympics were around the corner in a year, she had time
After an hour of intense dancing the girls decided to sit down and rest. The table had been abandoned by Anna. She left her phone and her jacket and her medals at the table.
"Where's Anna?" Maria asked.
Viktoria went over to the bar and tapped onPavel’s shoulder. Ever since Euros, things kind of started to fade between Pavel and Anna. She was avoiding him.
"Have you seen Anna?" he shook his head. "When was the last time?"
"When we arrived" he said. "Where'd she go?"
"That's what we're trying to find out"
"Maybe the bathroom" David Belyavskiy said. "Girls love the bathroom" Viktoria rolled her eyes. He went into the bathroom. There were a few girls who were with the men's team looking into the mirrors.
"Hey Viktoria" David's girlfriend said. "Isn't this club awesome?" Viktoria nodded. "All these great drinks--and the music is awesome!"
"Is Denis single?" the blond friend asked. Viktoria shook her head. "shame"
"I think he's still with Ksenia Semenova, but i could be wrong" she said.
"He's so beautiful" David's girlfriend said. "such a shame. See you later!" the two girls left the bathroom. Once the door closed she heard a few sniffles from behind a stall. She didn't even know someone was in there.
"Hello?" she called. the sniffling stopped. She peered under the stall and saw Anna's shoes. She was sitting on the floor by the looks of it.
It was hard but Viktoria reached over the stall to unlock it. Anna's cries got louder. Viktoria opened the stall and saw Anna on the ground, blood gushing from her wrists, and a glass bottle broken against the wall.
"Anna!" Viktoria cried. She pulled Anna into her arms. "Anna please!" she cried. Anna cried harder. Viktoria called Aliya. Within seconds Aliya and the other girls came into the bathroom, they were just as shocked.
Eventually the guys came into the bathroom too, the girls had gotten Anna cleaned up but she lost alot of blood so she wasn't really standing on her own.
Pavel picked her up and carried her bridal style outside. "Let's take her to the hospital" David said.
"They'll know she was drinking!" Aliya exclaimed.
"She dies if she doesn't go" they bickered.
Viktoria just held Anna in her arms. She didn't want to let her go. She wanted to tell Anna everything was going to be okay. But it wouldn't be, that was the problem.
…
Viktoria looked to Anna. Anna was looking at her phone, waiting for the time to change. Aliya and Maria were in the room, too, they were quiet
The coaches had been talking i an conference room for what felt like hours. They were in big trouble, but at the same times some things were brought to their attention. Things left untreated for so long.
Viktoria knew how Anna felt.
Aliya looked up to Viktoria. "I can't sit in silence any longer" she admitted. "i want to know what happened Anna" she said. "Please talk to us" Aliya started to tear up. "You're scaring me to pieces, and you are so young!"
A tear rolled down Anna's face. "I don't think i can do it anymore" she muttered. Viktoria quickly hugged her.
"Don't give in" Viktoria told her. "Don't give in" she repeated. Aliya, Maria and Anastasia joined in the hug.
"Don't lt the demons get the best of you, they just want to watch you fail"