There was this bridge(sin)

Fall has never been the season for me, everything that was in bloom is slowly losing that radiant beauty that once flourished the earth. What a pity that once lived such a courageous life is brought down by the changing of seasons. The flowers fight for power and the trees try to grow, but the snow takes over. That white, pure stuff that falls from the sky just comes cradling down to the earth. And it buries anything alive. Cleansing the ground one moment at a time. The animals will run and hide, and the people will try to find warmth once again. Thankfully the world hasn't arrived at such an unpleasant sight though. Rabbits are gaining weight just to sleep through the inevitable winter, and the bears are busy with game, so they don't mess with me too much. I get to watch the changing seasons by myself. I wish Forrest were here to enjoy these days with me. He would comment on how I cling to the old life still, wishing for everything to still be easy.

This is the right season to be here though, the changing of tides had started right where I am heading. The day I left District One. No one thought a girl like me would leave all the glamor and fame she was sure to gain. I don't need the sympathies anymore. I can smile on my own. Today will be special though. I get to see the small plum trees I'm been growing on the riverside finally shed their petals. It's pretty, the way those small blossoms burst into leaf-like things and flutter through the wind before landing in the water. Being carried off. To who knows where? Who needs to know where?

On my own
No poison in my bones
On my own
This is where I build my home

But I need to watch out for the Peacekeepers now. I know that there will be someone looking for me here, trying to drag me back here to whatever severe punishment they can think of. The wilderness is dangerous! No shit, but that doesn't mean fear it. But it is more to keep the people pinned in like animals. I've noticed it on my journey, seeing all the districts and how everyone is caged in like animals. What happens if someone wishes for freedom? Then death will be swift! I giggle at myself thinking of it as a joke. I've already gone ahead and found my own freedom, so why haven't these people? I know none of the District One people could really love it here, could they? Children have to grow up with that unholy fear of death, and grow to only make things for the people who take their lives. No man should ever wish the fate on their own kin. Demons they are!

I'm nearing the entrance to District One. A deep inhale of the fresh air before I'm near all those city folk. Can't get enough of this fresh air, actually, that I'm reconsidering even entering the district in the first place. What happens if I get caught? We already went over that, remember Passion? This is where I have to be though, I can feel it in my bones. And what the heck, I love a good adventure into the bowl of the beast. Nothing makes me smile more than knowing there's danger just a few steps down the road. Who needs the boring life of luxury when you can explore the fantastical outside, the wilderness that man forsake so long ago. Beowulf, Arthur, all legends speaking of the great beyond being something man should never venture. I find the new frontier to be something incredible.

On my own
No poison in my bones
On my own
This is where I build my home

I reach the bridge to the district, look at how the gate stands wide open and shake my head repeatedly. Haven't they learned a dolled up girl will just walk out without any regrets. Makes me sick thinking that nobody probably cared about my departure. But, then again, I smile thinking about how much freedom this grants people. They will be able to leave just like me, see the great beyond and never have to look back on Panem. I look over a few yards at the tree I'd planted, looking at it in full bloom. It will soon be with the wind like me, and the two of us will dance the strange dance of life. Oh how I love to wander with the world.

But as I walk up the bridge, a strange thing has occurred for me. A boy, no where near my age, is walking across the bridge as well. Has another wanted to escaped, or was this something else? He has stopped and looked at me. How peculiar, to see a boy from the district coming out this way Most of the men were content in staying near town, drinking together or pretending they were going into the Hunger Games. My eyes have to be deceiving me. So I rub my eyes, thinking that this is just a bitter illusion. No one else would leave District One, right? You have it nice there, with the luxury and plush and I bet the lad could get a nice woman if he tried hard enough. But after trying to correct my vision I see that I am mistaken and that the boy is still indeed before me. Standing on the bridge in some defensive stance.

My home,
My home

So I turn to him. Trying to keep a straight face at how silly he looks. So silly that I burst out into hysterical laughter and have to lean on the side of the bridge. What kind of foolhardy, brash, ignorant fool thinks everything is a fight? I can't even stop laughing now. I'm in tears as my face leans over the railing. You probably look like some deranged psychopath Passion, snap out of it! So I let off a few more laughs before composing myself, leaning on the wall. I wipe away a fresh tear and take in a deep breath. I can hardly get back to a normal state of affairs after something like that. Shouldn't he be more profound and shout, something like Who goes there! And a few more giggles later, I'm back to looking at him, trying to be very serious.

“Look here kid!” That's right, try to sound all serious so you can scare the little guy off. The wilderness is only for the brave! “I'm gonna only say this once, and only once. Where the hell do you get off looking like that without asking for names around here?”

This will always be my home
This will always be my home

Good, the boy's had his fill of laughter alongside me, though I don't get the impression that he's quite comfortable with me. And who in their honest mind would be from here? A girl who hasn't combed her hair in days must seem like a train wreck to walk through the city streets. I'm sure if I were still young that the city girls would pick on me about my appearance. But I'm thirty years old now. No longer a girl but a woman in society, and I don't have to worry about all the upkeep. I just need to be doing what gets everyone else along. Buy some things, work on the factory lines, be married to a strapping young lad. Instead I'm out in the forest, eating berries and making friends with the things that pass me. If only Forrest could see me.

He turns toward the water now. Guess I really should have done my hair, the boy can't even look at me. Maybe I'm just too self absorbed in things though. Most of the time I'm just out in the woods reading some book I had gotten years ago, trying to understand the things going on. There are so many things that the world could not teach me which were in those books. All the Capitol wanted to do was raise me like the cattle we all were. Fodder for the cannon. We feed the machine, and in the end, the machine feeds us. So silly really, that only those that haven't greased the gears are the ones to benefit. plump little bastards all just thinking what color should my skin be tomorrow?

“Well then you want me to ask you for your name..... hmmm a little self centered are we. You came from the area that leads to the end of the district. Last I checked no one was really allowed out that far. I honestly think there is something wrong about you. But I am not going to be judgemental. I am William. Who might you be.”

He seems a bit smarter than I let on, but only a little wiser. He knew I most likely came from outside the border of the district, and most certainly was aware that is could have been anyone. His fault was to believe the people of the district. Nothing beyond this barrier is too much for the ordinary man to take on. No one needs a Hercules to protect them from the world beyond these walls. It is almost as though the Captiol does not want the men and women of these districts to know the truth, huh?. The thought makes me laugh, but I've no need to illuminate the youth right now. I came here for a task, and that task alone. One day, though, they may all learn what needs to be known.

“My name's Passion,” I let it roll off my tongue, my voice soft as I turn to the tree at the edge of the river. I want to watch it while I talk. Don't want to miss it now, or else it will take another year for this. “And you're quite keen on all of these things. But only to fool you once again, I am from here.”

So I take out a small, round coin from my pocket, something I do almost every time I'm on a bridge now. I saw it in some book, a little girl standing near the edge of a body of water with, what was it called, a penny?Well she would flip it up in the air, let it twirl toward the water and close her eyes. And while the thing moved in the air, it was said she would make a wish before the coin hit the water, and once the coin hit the water, her wish would come true at some moment. And what do I wish for every time I'm here or there? I give off a weak smile and flip the coin toward the water.

Forrest.

Shady days are better than anything the district could ever offer. Who needed the solid structure of the city when people and nature couldn't be one. There is no hope for the community who abandons their mother. She who really breathed life into the land and man, not this faulty little religious stuff that people are so fond of. Go out, breathe fresh air. Forrest always said the land spoke novels while man spoke in broken sentences. But here I am, so close to civilization because I want to remember what I left, and why I left. Too soon did I know the answer would come again, though from a source I'd never expected.

“So if you are from here why did you leave. The district has everything. Hell I would hate to leave this district. It is a lot safer then out there. I want to know why you left, if you are up to telling me. I know I am young but I can comprehend a lot more then people give me credit for.”

So he was just a pup raised for the litter eh? The grand sale of the capitol for their riches and high fashion statements. I could almost wish to punch the president in his smug face, watch it twist and contort in my knuckles. I'm sure so many people in Panem would be cheering for me. You always do think too big Passion. I look back at the boy, smile at him as I think of the right way to explain it all. If he thinks it's better here, safer here, then he surely does not know the definitions of those words. Better. Safer. The wilderness isn't purposefully out to murder you like man has been out for his brethren. Nature wants to build you to be a better person. A stronger person.

My home
This will always be my home
My home
This will always be my home

“I was a pretty girl here,” I smile weakling, bending forward and backward on my right leg as I leaned on the side of the bridge. “The boys would always speak volumes about me. Silly, right, to think so poorly of the compliments thrown out like that. Wouldn't you say that's rather silly of a girl? She should be happy that a boy thinks she's more radiant than the ever-burning sun.”

I look at the tree more intently now. A gust of wind has blown by and the petals and barely able to hold to their maker. I want them to hold now, though, because I have some company. If they flew off too early, I feel like I might be tempted to walk from the boy. He was an interesting sort though. Walking away would be like leaving a project unfinished. He may even have similar thoughts about the world. Maybe what was said of the district was just said in a joking manner. No one really loved it here, right? They would rather be pulled away by the wind. Through the greater unknown.

“So I didn't want to just be the pretty face anymore. How will I be able to support myself if I just depend on beauty alone? The world is not kind in age, I'm sure you're aware of this,” I look down at the coin in the water. Forrest... do you make wishes like me? Then I look up at the boy, at William. “So I left to find myself.”

What was he even going to do? He seemed so mad now, but at what? Was the dog full of rabies, or did he see something that was not of interest? Dogs tend to get over protective for no apparent reason, and this boy was surely a hound at best. I watch the frustration build and built till I think the top will burst. It must have been what I had said to him. The tea's ready, so why won't he move the kettle?

“Find yourself.... What are you dumb as hell. The only thing you can find out there is death. If you wanted people to start treating you like a person and not some object why not put a few clothes on and then come out. Leaving the district is not a good choice. Hell what if I left the district because I was tired of girls looking at me and wanted to be my own person. Sounds stupid right.... That is because it is. We don't leave because we want to. There are rules. We will all die without rules. Honestly I think your plain stupid and should be dead by now being out there. But seeing as you are a live you are doing something right. But that still doesn't mean you should be here. Tell me one good god damn reason I should not get the nearest Peacekeeper and get your butt thrown in jail.”

I burst into hysterical laughter as he speaks, grabbing onto the hand rail for support as I can't even control my thoughts. The boy really thought he had me with that tiny little temper of his. He'd be a handful till he grew up like me. I know if he talked to some from the district, someone as wise as myself, the boy would see things my way. Too bad he couldn't meet the kids from twelve. They'd put the poor pup in his place. But I can't just laugh at the bitter fool, he doesn't quite understand his place yet. Neither did I. I thought I know who I was, a girl who could be something more. But I did realize I was just another pretty face that could fend for her rights.

I push myself off the railing as I see him fall, and smile his way. He's so adorable, the way his fits burst so dramatically. And if that were the way all his bouts ended, then I'm sure some would take pity on him. Maybe not those immature. They would find him detestable because they are like him. Only from the outside can we hope to really understand one another. We can't all look with the same eyes.

“Well at least I can keep on my own two feet without falling, that's for sure,” I say walking toward him. “I don't really need to worry about losing my temper is another. Finding myself did both of those for me, but here you are still tripping over your emotions. Did I not do something better than that?”

I stop in front of him and offer my hand, a smile plaster on my face. Not a condescending smile, nor one with harmful intent. I show genuine concern.

“We humans are delicate creatures, no?” my voice is wavering. “That's why I'm sure you will not tell the Peacekeepers about the women you saw from the forest.”