Short Story: And the Winner Is....

By: Niharika Palep

​Lyra felt her heart leap in joy as she made it past the finish line, leaving everyone else behind in the dust. This was the moment she had been waiting for her whole life, every small race ,every hour she had spent training, every night she couldn’t sleep, it had all been leading up to this very moment. An Olympic Gold Medal. What could be better than that? 

Ever since she was a little girl, this had been her dream. A wave of nostalgia hit her as she recalled the moments she spent running around in her backyard, pretending she was running past the ribbon. While most of her friends stood in front of their mirrors practicing receiving Oscar awards or winning beauty pageants, little Lyra Matthews barely spent 2 seconds in front of her mirror before putting on her sports shoes and running off into the wind. 

Lyra felt like she was on top of the world as she was surrounded by the photographers and reporters, waiting to get an exclusive on the new world champion. But there’s one problem with being on top of the world, you never know when it's all going to come crashing down.

Amidst all the excitement and media frenzy, Lyra failed to hear all the hushed whispers that were going around the stadium. All eyes were on her, but not for the reasons she thought. Suddenly, a loud announcement brought her back to reality, crushing all her hopes and dreams. She couldn’t believe what was happening. “Lyra Mathews has been disqualified under suspicion of drug and steroid usage. Further investigation pending.” 

As soon as the news broke through, the reporters started hounding Lyra with questions, like a pack of lions attacking their prey. “Ms Mathews, what do you have to say about these allegations?” “Is it true that you’ve struggled with drug abuse in the past?” “How long did you spend in rehab?” Lyra could feel the world spinning around her as she tried to dodge the  stinging questions. It was too much to take in all at once. With the whole world looking at her, she collapsed to the ground in shock, leaving behind a commotion and uproar amongst the audience.

For a few days after the race, Lyra stayed in her hotel room, cooped up inside, refusing to talk to anyone. Her family and friends tried to reason with her, but alas it made no difference. She wouldn’t even let them in the room. The only sign that she was alive was the constant room service that was being sent up to the room. Fries, chocolate cake, cheeseburgers, every unhealthy item on the menu had been consumed by her. What would have been a sin for her a few days ago had now become her coping mechanism. What was the point of starving herself and eating vegetables and drinking disgusting kale smoothies? Her career was over, and so was her life. 

Two days later, the sports authorities paid a visit to her hotel room, in hopes to ask questions about the investigation. They asked her a hundred questions about her past, why she’d failed to mention her arrest 8 years ago on her record, when was the last time she’d taken drugs or steroids, why was a well-known steroid found in her locker at the stadium. With each question getting increasingly accusing, Lyra started to lose hope in the investigation and herself. She answered their questions in a last attempt to save herself. But everything was already ruined. 
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The entire world was against her, they’d already labelled her a cheater and junkie. Her social media was full of trolls and nasty comments. Every news channel, tabloid and newspaper featured her as their headline. Everyone was dying to know ‘The truth about Liar-a Mathews’.What did she have to live for? She had become a shell of the person she once was, with no one to turn to for support.

On July 13th, exactly two weeks after the race, Lyra Mathews was found dead in the bathtub of her hotel room. The housekeeping service stumbled upon her dead body floating in a pool of her own blood, an half an hour before the Olympics authority released a statement proving her innocence. 

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