By: Emily Hyun

Fear is something

I’ve unwillingly instilled in gymnasts at a young age.

I watch from a distance

as the girls greet the other apparatuses

with smiles as big as the moon.

But as they approach me,

their eyes open wide in fear

and their smiles vanish like a child whose ice cream had fallen on the floor.

However, there is one girl who comes to me with her heart full of courage.

As I breathe in the acrid smell of the chalk in the air,

I hear the pit pats of her feet as she prances over to me.

She rests her rough hands on me

as she prepares to do her skills.

When she fearlessly flips in the air,

her friends watch in awe,

reminded of the fact that I’m not so scary after all.