Page 94 of Chasing Gold, Catching Her

Gold.

“We have the quota! It’s ours!” Anfisa shouted, jumping to her feet along with the others, and the entire section erupted, people shouting, the realization hitting all at once, Alisa had done it.

She had secured the quota for women’s singles.

She had done it!

“Damn… I did it…” Alisa whispered, almost to herself.

“You did it, baby,” Anfisa said, pulling her into a tight embrace.

But Alisa wasn’t looking at her.

Her eyes were searching the stands again. Searching for Tora.

And then she saw it—

The seat was empty.

Where did she go?

* * *

At the award ceremony, Alisa stood there and smiled with all twenty-eight teeth, because those four wisdom teeth had never appeared, and sometimes she caught herself wondering, did that mean she wasn’t wise? She didn’t know, but she joked about it often, although the thought that they were still somewhere inside her jaw, scared her a little every time… but then again, some people didn’t have them at all, right? So what did that even mean—was she not stupid, or not wise, or something in between? And when does wisdom even come, anyway?

She kept smiling and waving to the crowd while the arena buzzed with applause, almost vibrating with energy, and somewhere inside that noise was the understanding that she had done it, she had taken the last quota for her country, for the athletes who would come after her, and wasn’t that almost a miracle? She had given someone else a chance to go to the 2026 Winter Olympics, and now all she could do was hope that she herself would be chosen for that place in the end… otherwise, what had all of this been for?

Her eyes kept moving across the stands, searching for Tora among the crowd, but she wasn’t there.

Nowhere.

Was she upset?

Did she leave because Alisa had won, because she had taken gold and the quota? But that didn’t make sense… they weren’t rivals like that, at least not anymore, they weren’t even competing in the same category, they stood on completely different sides of everything now, so why, where the hell did she go?

Alisa didn’t like that feeling at all, however the moment she felt her smile falter, she forced it back into place, straightening slightly just as the officials approached her to present the medal, placing the gold around her neck and shaking her hand. The medal itself felt warm against her skin, with its comforting weight, even though the hands that had placed it there were freezing cold, and she suddenly realized that the arena itself had grown colder too, or maybe it was just that she had stopped moving.

She stood there as the silver and bronze medals were awarded, watching other skaters, their smiles still genuine because despite everything they had also taken quotas for their countries, and that mattered, even if it wasn’t gold.

And for a moment Alisa allowed herself to relax and to feel the quiet taste of victory settling somewhere deep inside her heart… But another thought slipped into her mind immediately: It would be so nice to taste Tora today, too. Where the hell is she?

Even after the ceremony ended, after the photos, the handshakes, the slow dispersing of the crowd, Alisa still hadn’t found her.

In the locker room, she folded her things carefully, smoothing the fabric of her costume with her hands, because it meant everything to her, it had been sewn by Lev’s mother, every stitch was done with care and she could feel it in the material, she smiled softly before finally placing it into her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

“See you later… at the Olympics, girls?” she said lightly, glancing around.

They laughed. “See you, champion!”

The goodbyes were filled with quick hugs and shared smiles and then Alisa stepped out into the hallway—

Only to be immediately caught by Anfisa, who threw her arms around her again.

“We took the quota, we took the quota!” she repeated, almost singing it like a chant. “This is a victory! The victory is in our hands!”

Alisa laughed softly, letting herself be pulled along as they walked toward the exit, where Arkadiy and the others were already waiting in the large hall. They had also taken gold and had also secured what they needed, everything today had somehow aligned, and everyone seemed satisfied with the results.

And only now, standing there among them, Alisa realized something else—