It was a beautiful winter's night, the snow danced silently in the air and the cold winter's breeze whistled quietly through the trees.

It would have been the most silent of nights if not for the quiet crunching of snow under the legs of Jade. The little girl shivered cold from the frosty air. She was exhausted from her body expending all its energy in an attempt to keep her warm.

She slowed almost to a halt as she fought to keep herself warm. She knelt down in the soft snow, closing her eyes from all the pain.

Just another night out on the cold streets.

She glanced towards a row of nearby houses, everybody was asleep. No person, nor critter stirred—not in this cold.

Jade caught a glimpse of a small alleyway between the row of houses and dragged herself down to one of the few places left in Adreus not completely overtaken by snow. The alleyway stank of rotten food.

The girl flipped open the lid of a bin and found a large newspaper. She wanted to lay out the sheets on the floor so she could lay herself down on them without getting too wet, she hoped.

As she pulled the paper from the bin she caught a glimpse of the article on the front page: "Aspiring athlete killed in action".  Underneath the headline was a picture of Jade's adoptive sister Clare. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, tears threatening to escape.

Through her struggles she almost forgot the passing of her adoptive sister a few days back seeing her photo again reminded her. Her mind was filled with questions but she simply asked 'Why?'. It was supposed to be Clare's big break—her first ever full choreographed performance alongside the Sprinters.

They'd been through the notions, they trained hard for this show for months... but nobody was prepared for what happened that day.

It was during there most advanced trick when Clare was supposed to jump from platform to platform which rose higher and higher, while doing flips and spins with the rest of the team following behind.

The highest platform would be in the middle, standing at 10 feet high and would reduce in height as she came to the end.

During the show, she paused hesitantly and wobbled a bit on the high platform but, no one had a chance to blink when the platform broke in half and she quickly fell, hitting the ground with a 'thud'!.

Medics rushed to her side, but the impact was too severe that she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Jade tried to blink away the tears from the memory but no avail. She shakily yawned and lied down on the newspaper and drifted to unconsciousness with tears still leaking from her eyes.

Jade felt a tap on her shoulder. She slowly looked up and saw...nothing? As she laid her head back down she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, Jade..." she bolted upright, that was Clare's voice and she knew it. She twisted her head around and gasped at the impossible. Clare was right in front of her this very moment.

"C-C-Clare?" Jade stuttered.

"Hey, Champ. Don't be sad. I know I'm gone, but, unfortunately, that's just the way life works sometimes; we're here one minute, and the next we're just a memory."

"But I'm useless without you. I still can't run very well—I'll never be a Sprinter." She hung her head low. Clare smiled softly and brought her hand underneath the girl's chin.

Her hand was cold, very cold.

"You have to make the most of who you are in this life, and don't let anybody tell you that you can't achieve your dreams."

"But I can't..." the teary-eyed girl choked on her words "...I can't do this without you!"

"I might not be here in person, but I'll always be beside you. I believe in you."

~~~

10 years later...

Jade lifted her head and looked into the mirror as she fastened the badge to her Sprinter jump suit. It had been many years since that dreadful day, and the dream she had that night had stuck with her ever since.

She was finally here.

Jade understood that she was about to step out with the Sprinters for the very first time, living the very same dream Clare set out to do all those years ago. A tear rolled down her face;

"I miss you."

She looked at herself through the mirror. "You always believed in me, even when I didn't always believe in myself. Thanks to you, I'm where I've always wanted to be. I hope you're watching..." 

Jade trotted out of her changing room. She could hear the sound of the crowd building up as she came closer to the entrance of the stadium. The crowd roared as she cantered out into view "...because this is for you, Clare!"