In the center of the hall, dozens of contestants stood behind carefully arranged tables. I looked at the Rubik’s Cube in my hand one last time. My heart was pounding as if it was about to leap out of my chest. This was the competition I had been preparing for over months. I was at the same table with the fastest cubers from all over Turkey. Everyone’s eyes were on the clock. The referee made the final announcement through the microphone: “Get ready… 3, 2, 1… Go!” My fingers sprang into action. While my brain ran through the solving algorithms, my hands moved like an automated machine. With every move, another color clicked into place.
But… when I reached the final layer, I realized I had made a mistake. The whole cube was scrambled again. Time was ticking. I glanced at the timer: 15 seconds left. A voice inside me shouted, “Don’t give up!” but panic was starting to take over. My hands were shaking.
“I was racing against the seconds, wishing for a miracle to happen,” when suddenly, my fingers began to move on their own. In that instant, a spark lit up in my mind. All the algorithms came together, and I saw the path to fix my mistake. Even my eyes could barely keep up with my movements. The final turn… and click! The cube was solved!
The referee shouted, “48.32 seconds!” The hall erupted in applause. I couldn’t believe it. A miracle had happened. In that moment, I hadn’t just won a competition—I had gained confidence in myself through this race.