It never surprises me when Nicole, @nicolewolverton wins. She’s an excellent writer and I’m thrilled she found 5MinuteFiction. So did you vote for her this week? Most of you did. She took a resounding lead early on and held on to it. Congratulations, Nicole!

Thanks again to our guest judge,  Kait Nolan, @KaitNolan, who took on the difficulty task of selecting only five finalists from such a talented bunch. We’ll see you all next week! In the meantime, enjoy Nicole’s winning entry:

The yoga instructor maneuvered his body into this thing he called Dancer’s Pose — the sinewy lines of his long leg extended behind him and over his head, stretching and pulling.

“Now you,” he invited the rest of the class.

I stared at Kitty. “Ouch. He really expects my leg to do that?”

She shrugged, her brows drawing down into an exaggerated v shape. “I don’t know, man.” She cocked her head to the side and chewed her lip. “I may never be able to sit again if I try.”

The others around us balanced on a single leg, unsteady and wobbling. One brave soul grasped her ankle and shifted forward only to fall flat on her face, blood pooling on the floor below her mouth. The instructor fluttered around her with a towel, gesturing in the mirror and staring at me. “Continue!” he instructed.

Kitty heaved a long sigh. “Oh, shit.”

The yoga guy still eyeballed me, so I bent my knee and contorted until the bony protuberance of my ankle slid into my hand. The foot I’d “planted” on the spongy mat wiggled, trying to keep my equilibrium. I slowly pulled my leg back, the burn shivering up my thigh. Extend. Extend. Raise the other arm and stare at a point near the mirror. Stare. Extend. Stare. Ext–

“ARGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!” I screamed, releasing my ankle and flailing while I listed to the right. My knee buckled, the pain replacing the burn, my body falling like a giant tree while I grabbed for something . . . anything. Kitty swore, her voice too close to my face, and I landed on something both hard and soft.

“Ouch.”

“Ouch!? You bitch. Get off me — I think you broke my ribs!” Kitty shouted, shoving with her arms and legs.

The yoga instructor’s hands hovered offer me as I untangled myself. “Breathe through the pain,” he instructed.

I punched him square in the gut and curled over him, gasping on the floor. “You breathe through the pain, dipshit.”