<U'll> BE the {rhyTHM} and I'll be the BEAT <nofo>

Edana Lightwood was a peculiar girl. Not many girls would run away from District One regardless of the stakes. Those girls may not have been pregnant and targeted by the father’s dad, but they wouldn’t run. It was her grief that forced her into running away. The loss of her boyfriend, York, in the Games was hard. Then, on top of that, the girl was pregnant. She felt like she had no choice but to run away for at least a tiny while. Now, she found herself in a clearing in the Capitol woods. There was a large train track in the clearing. One of the Capitol train tracks, she recognized. The Iron rails were rusted but functional, and the beams looked capable of withholding countless cargo trains. Normally, the girl would have ran from the sight of this, but this girl was not in her right mind.

The girl carried on her walk, twirling as she did. It was a beautiful day to break the law. She loved it out there where the green trees grew to the sky. As she spun around and around, she felt her feet lose contact with the ground. She was very dizzy as she sat in the grass. Taking a break from walking, she took a look around her surroundings. The grass in the clearing was tall from growing naturally untouched. She did notice something lying in the grass, and it was shiny. Shiny was pretty for Edana. Her want to examine it felt more like a need in the pit of her stomach.

Her hand stretched down to pick up the gleaming object. Before her fingers brushed the tiny crystal, she knew exactly that it was a diamond. Her memories flood back to the day she first met York. She remembered the assignment, her tears, York calling her mental, and the diamonds. For some reason, the diamonds stood out to her in her mind about that day. They reminded her of York. She pushed the memories back as her hand stroked the dirt from the diamond earring. At that moment, she didn’t realize that it was her own earring, but she didn’t quite consider the possibility of it belonging to someone else. She held onto the rock as she set to walking again.

Her thoughts were flooded with questions about her baby. Edana wondered if the child inside her would like her. She hoped that she could take care of it, love it, and give it whatever it needs. She thought about how she would explain York to the child. She started to hum, hoping that the baby could tell that she was thinking of it. She questioned its sex. She hoped that it would be a boy, so she could somehow have a part of York still with her. She thought about how it would be to raise a bouncing boy the all the charisma that York used on Edana. She smiled as she hummed her child a simple lullaby her mother taught her as a child.

The inner child within Edana started to appear as her thoughts began to make her uncomfortable. Her mind turned to silly things like clouds shaped as rabbits, colorful butterflies, and being a circus performer. She climbed onto the railroad beam and began to pretend she was a tightrope walker. She laughed and hummed louder than before as her feet danced along the iron beam. It felt nice to relax for once. For once she didn’t worry about her prosthetic leg, York, Aris, or her baby. It felt great. Her mind didn’t grasp the possibility that someone could have been watching and listening to her at the moment. All she wanted to do was have fun while she could.

Edana wasn’t sure where she was going, but she was about to find out. Lost in her own fantasy, she never heard the twig break. She never saw the animals in the clearing run away. Edana never heard the batons extend as the peacekeepers readied themselves to grab her. She does realize that she isn’t alone, and she smiles. She politely says hello right before a hand grabs her by the arm. It is then that she realizes that this is no friendly stranger. This is a man wanting to take her away, watching her as she’s punished for crimes that shouldn’t be illegal. She let out a nervous scream as several other peacekeepers circle around her.

She was read her charges as the men took her to prepare for the Detention Center. She slept for the entire trip to the Detention Center, but she could feel the suffering in her dreams. The trip was uncomfortable, and she could have sworn she vomited several times on a peacekeepers shoes. It doesn’t change as she arrives at the Detention Center. The men scream in her face, grab her by the arms, and pull her into the scary building. As they take her to her cell she drifts into a childish state, along with childish tears.

For several moments she sits just barely inside the cell, stroking the diamond clutched between her fingers. She sniffled as she raised her head to study the small gray cell. She heard footsteps nearby along with heavy breathing, so she could safely assume it was closest to the stairway. The cell itself was barely small enough for her, though a boy was on the shelf nearby. She wondered if the metal shelf along with the matching one opposite it were meant to be beds. The metal bowl sitting next to the sink led her to assume the answer was yes. She sighed and wiped her tears from her eyes. She took a seat at the edge of her ‘bed’ and began to watch her cellmate.

It was a boy, around her age. He seemed to be confused as she was. The boy was pretty pale but with his hands covering his face, she couldn’t really judge his looks. She cocked her head like a dog and smiled, waiting for him to notice her.