Discovery
Feeling the sharp pain suddenly ripping down the back of her right thigh stopped Jenna in her tracks, she knew straight away that this wasn't good. She had been pushing herself too hard and now she had paid the price. This was the outcome of the build up of emotions that she had been dealing with since her break-up had happened a few months back.
"Aaahgg..." Jenna winced in agony as she tried to climb down from her perch atop the exercise bike she had been riding - and perhaps riding at a pace faster than her body was accustomed to after being away from it for so long.
What also annoyed her was the fact that she knew better, she had skipped her usual warm-up stretches and just went for it, riding for the first time in months and this is where it had left her.
Standing now on one foot while holding herself up with the aid of the bike, Jenna felt it all coming to a head. Wracked with pain and feeling that this had to be the last straw to break her, she could feel the tears bubbling up from within and she no longer had the strength to hold it all back. She let go and began to sob, regardless of the fact that she was standing in the middle of her local gym.
While lost in her tears of pain and confusion, Jenna hardly heard the woman's voice coming from somewhere behind her...
"Are you okay young lady? Have you hurt yourself?" Jenna heard the voice ask in a deep, almost authoritative tone. Then without the time to reply, Jenna felt the presence of this mystery voice stepping up and looming over her from behind.
"Here, let me help..." the still unseen voice continued as Jenna felt herself being helplessly enveloped by this stranger who had come to her rescue.
"I was watching you riding that thing like mad, it's no wonder you've injured yourself silly girl, but still anyway... Let me help you back to the locker-room..."
"Oh... owww, oh thank you..." Jenna winced and still quite dazed, she felt she had no other choice but to let herself become wrapped into the arms and aid of this woman who she had yet the chance to see.
With the woman's aid, Jenna was able to sling her right arm over her shoulder which allowed the woman to virtually swoop her up in her arms and effectively carry the injured Jenna back through the gym area and into the locker room.
Quite surprised with this, Jenna soon realized that this woman who had come out of nowhere to take control and help her was indeed much bigger and stronger than her own small frame. This was also the first time she was able to gather any idea of what this woman, her saviour, actually looked like...
At a not-too-old 33yrs of age and standing only 5'2" - Jenna hadn't gained much in height since she was a teenager, however, over the years and through the want of staying in shape by remaining active and attending her local gym whenever she had the time, Jenna in her younger years had always been able to keep her 'fat-demons' at bay. That is until she started seeing her last boyfriend - Curtis, where through his manipulation she had started to let herself go in far more ways than she had wished.
With her shorter legs and a fuller body width that mostly centered on her hips, Jenna had always thought of herself as being stout, or dumpy, and with her not too large, or too small 36-B bra sized breasts, broader shoulders and dark brown hair, which she kept short in the back, the bangs longer with cute sweet in front, helping to frame her face, bringing out her deep-brown eyes.
To most she had always been seen as being small and stocky in a boyish kind of way and so use the description of her as being 'elfish' or 'pixie-like' would not be all that far off.
However still womanly in shape and in form, Jenna had always carried the wrong belief that she wasn't one of the 'pretty girls' and it was this mindset that formed who she was on the inside, and as well as how she had portrayed herself on the outside. Seeing herself as such had always guaranteed her to be someone who was more apt to follow, rather than to lead.
***
Once inside the locker room and with Jenna placed on one of the benches facing her mystery saviour, she was finally able to let her eyes travel up and see just who she was - see who this strong woman was who had helped her.
"I'm Janice Golding... What is your name young lady?" Jenna heard the woman ask as she let her eyes drift upward from her seated position.
Feeling slightly unsure with the woman's repeated tone of annoyance, and along with the pain of her injury throbbing throughout her right thigh, Jenna didn't let her looks linger as she took in this woman who she stood looming before her, and from what she could see, she was able to tell that this woman was quite bigger, a real force, in every sense of the word.
"Jenna... My, my name is Jenna... and thank you... Thank you for helping me Miss..." The stricken girl said in a voice filled with a mix of pain, gratitude and fear.
"Well Jenna, it would seem that you were going at it a bit hard on that bike for someone I haven't seen here in quite some time... In fact when you came in I don't think you even gave yourself so much as a stretch before you just hopped up of the exercise bike and began riding like the wind..."
Standing at nearly 6ft tall in while in stocking feet, Janice... Janice Golding was undeniably a force to be reckoned with and someone whom Jenna thought she ought to be respectful of, if not somewhat fearful - and this is exactly how this woman was making Jenna feel at this very moment - causing her thinking to herself...
"Why..? Why was this woman talking to her like this?" she questioned in her head. Why was she berating her for not doing her warm-up routine before she 'began to ride like the wind' as the woman had said...Also, how did she know? How did this woman know that Jenna hadn't been to the gym in nearly five months? How could she know..?
