The starting gun fired. I gritted my teeth and managed a few staggering steps before my foot slipped out from under me. I hit the ground hard, the impact jarring through every bone.
Cold sweat poured down my face. I tried to push myself up, but my arms wouldn't obey.
Laughter erupted all around me.
I braced my arms against the ground and lifted my head. "Hayden, help me up. I can't stand."
No one answered.
I looked up. Pamela had already taken Hayden by the hand and walked away without so much as a backward glance.
"Gloria?"
A white-haired old man stood before me, his grandson at his side.
My vision blurred instantly. "Dr. Edwin Hartwell Hartwell... you're here too..."
He let out a cold scoff. "Making a spectacle of yourself in public. I don't have a student like you. You've disgraced every doctor who ever held a scalpel."
Tears pooled in my eyes. My lips parted, but nothing came out.
He turned and walked away. Something clamped down hard around my chest, squeezing until I couldn't breathe.
The race ended. The crowd thinned to nothing.
I dragged myself up from the ground, bruised and filthy, just in time to see Leon helping Pamela and Hayden into the car in the distance.