The violin music took an abrupt turn. The melancholy, lingering notes of the beginning transformed into a violent staccato—a frenetic rhythm that demanded absolute physical surrender. It was time for the step sequence, the segment of the short program where a singles skater demonstrates not only absolute control over the edges of their blades, but their ability to convey a story on the ice.
And Jake's story, in that precise morning second, was a story of pure desperation.
