Take the Plunge {Open to Anyone!}

Paprika woke up to complete darkness and silence, a very unsettling feeling, especially after the dream she just had. Outside the sun had yet to rise, the side effects of winter, giving the day an illusion of night time. Paprika stared at the ceiling for awhile, thinking of last night’s dream. It was more of a horrifying memory than an actual reverie. A memory that she had spent years trying to block from her thoughts.

All she could see was the blood. The bright red blood of her brother spread across the arena ground. The once green bushes were now splashed with red, and a spear was lodged nicely into his heart. Standing on top of him was a boy with a smug look on his face an expression screaming, I just killed you and I am extremely happy about your death. That face was what haunted her last night. She was forced to watch her brothers die in the games three years ago. She had no choice but to squeamishly sit and hope for the best. The entire time during the games there was not one moment where Paprika’s heart wasn’t racing, but not the type of heart racing Paprika enjoyed and searched for. No, this wasn’t the same feeling she got when she was out and doing something idiotic or fun. This was from fear, a sensation Rika had never actually experience before her brother was reaped.

Luckily that feeling of anguish didn’t last too long, only five days. It only took five days for Rika’s brother to completely leave her and get killed in the games. To think, they were just starting to become closer. She’d spent countless months trying to erase the memory from her head, she wouldn’t talk about or think about that day. So she distracted herself with sports and friends and other things to keep her mind away from those thoughts. In fact, Rika hadn’t thought about Vorth in a really long time, nearly months, so why the sudden change?

Rika tilted her head towards the alarm clock, the only source of light in the room, noticing it was only six thirty in the morning on a Saturday. Throwing her blanket on the floor, she reluctantly made her way out of her bed. Sluggishly walking towards her small window, she looked out to see the sky slightly lightening just in time to see a small layer of snow falling down coating District four. It was still fairly dark so it was hard to tell for sure but it seemed as if today was going to be another cloudy and grungy looking day.

Paprika has been spending her days locked up inside the house doing nothing, restricted from the weather. Seemed as if most of her friends were either busy or just didn't enjoy the snow. Apparently the shop had enough fish in stock because her father told her she didn't need to go out to sea, so she spent her days cleaning fish and in her room doing nothing, which was complete torture. Rika was never one to sit around and do nothing.

Perhaps that was the reasoning behind her nightmare. She hadn't done anything fun lately. Throwing on some random clothes she decided to go do something. That something was unknown, she was just going to wing it and hope for something exciting to cross her path.

Silently, she left the house and began to walk to snow covered streets. Rika had mixed feelings about winter, she was never a huge fan of cold but she absolutely loved snow ball fights. Guess you have to live with it.

Walking on the beach, Paprika was still feeling upset, she couldn't get Vorth's picture out of his mind. Both boredom and depression weren't a very good mix and was a mask Paprika seldom wore. She needed to somehow let go.

Rika walked past her favorite place to hang out during the summer. I was a little rocky cliff just above the water that she loved jumping off. She hadn't gone diving since the crappy weather decided to grace the district with its presence. Maybe that was just what she needed. She walked up the miniature cliff and stared out at the water. She was already cold and didn’t even want to imagine how freezing the water was. Only Rika would find risking the chance of hypothermia intriguing. She didn’t know why she felt the need to jump into freezing water, but she did. She needed to something that wasn’t boring.

"Oh Rika, you really are an idiot. " She said to herself laughing before jumping.