Thea Queen // D4 // done

Small ripples slipped through the calm water. My eyes followed as the outer ring- the largest of all- slowly melted away until the surface of the liquid was smooth once again. Water has always interested me- the way it moved, the way it danced back and forth however it wanted, whenever it wanted. You knew when the ocean was angry, you knew when it was calm. It was like an open book on top, but an undiscovered mystery beneath the frothy surface, one that I wanted to discover. Sighing I pull away from the water’s edge and lie back down in the cocoon of wood that held me afloat of the magical surface. My dark hair fanned out around my face, almost like a pillow and my thin pale lips pull back in a small smile as my eye observer the clear blue sky above me. The world was so beautiful. The land, the fauna, the flora… all of it was stunning, here, in my home of district 4. I knew that in other districts the land was different- was it just as beautiful? As mesmerising as my home?

My thin legs wind around each other, my pale skin almost glowing in the morning light. I watch the way the light bounces off my skin, the way the slight breeze makes small bumps of my legs form, before I turned my cool blue gaze back to the sky above me. A small water bird floats across my views, its wings spread wide as it soared through the salty air. I knew this place, my little get away, like the back of my hand. It was a small bay, one tucked away from the view of my home, one untouched by the devastation of the hands of human beings. It was pristine, a place where I could discover my own adventures, solve my own mysteries. Suddenly I am sitting up, my hair dark falling over my shoulders and flowing down my back, my eyes following the sandy shore line, lights dancing within my eyes hiding the darkness that lurks.

My family was not a small family- there was seven of us all together, three brothers and two sisters and my father. Technically there was eight of us as my mother was still alive and breathing- but to me… to me she was dead. Me and my mother were not close, not like we used to be. Not like I would have liked us to be. When I was younger we did everything together- she was more of a best friend than a mother… But then she did something, something so horrible something that severed the relationship that existed between the two of us.

I loved her, I truly did… but when you witness what I did, then you question whether or not that that person is truly trustworthy, reliable. You begin to wander if anything that falls from their lips is the truth- or if it is all just lies. I watch as my father- a man who adores the woman, a man who would do anything for his wife, his wife who was slowly losing grip on herself, slowly dying away… And my heart breaks for him- if only he knew. If only he knew the demons that swam in her vacant gaze. She had broken his trust- she had broken my trust. But I could not speak out, I could not tell him, tell my father that the woman he adores, the woman he loves, is not as loyal as he believed her to be.

Would he hate her? would he hate me? I didn’t know- and I didn’t want to find out. My family had started to realise, ask me questions to where I go when I leave the house and don’t return for hours- Yuri, my Twin, seems to think that a man is involved and was almost proud of, what he thought to be, my secrets fun time with my boy. But how wrong was he. I escaped me mothers, her presence when I was here, in my own little place. I felt safe here, I felt like I was my own person, my mother’s mistakes not weighing down of me like a heavy sack o sand. They didn’t know, none of them knew, knew the real reason to why I had become so distance… and I had to keep it that way, not for my own sake but for there’s. I could take her away from them, they still loved and cared for her… And I couldn’t, couldn’t take that away from them.

Taking in a deep breath I let my mind float free, my mother sliding away as with the wind as the breath slips from my lips. The sky has darkened slightly, the sun slowly beginning to climb down behind the trees. How long had I been sitting here? My mind floating somewhere around on the water’s still surface? I didn’t know, but I knew it had been hours. Moving to sit on the edge of the boat I slip my feet into the clear blue liquid. The water is cool to touch, my smile growing ever so slightly as I allow the cool water to seep into the pores of my skin. After a moment I slip into the water so that my whole body was concealed by the clear liquid. I open my eyes into slits to see small fish weaving in and out and around my legs and body. My right hand follows a rather small fish as it slipped across my view, my smile growing that bit bigger. It was beautiful. I loved it, loved it all.

It was like a whole new world, a whole new adventure, one that was undiscovered by the beings that walked the earth. Finally my head breaks the surface, my heart pounding, my lungs sucking in the oxygen that surrounded me. I think of the city centre, of all the times I had spent wielding a weapon, preparing myself for the worst. And then I think of the world I had just seen and I am stunned by the contrast. Here on the dry land we fight, we take lives, we do what we have to do to survive. But here, in the world that is surrounded by water it seems to peaceful, where the animals underneath seem to get along, they seem to work together in order to survive- they don’t kill for no reason, if they do it is for a reason, a reason that is justified… It makes me wonder, wander if we, human beings were the civilised ones, or were we the savage ones?

Shaking my head, my hands grab hold of the rope that was connected to the small wooded canoe, my legs beginning to pump as my body is propelled forwards- towards the shore. It was late- too late. I had to be home, I had to return to the place where my peace would be disturbed to where my family awaits, questions of where I have been painted onto the ends of their tongues. I didn’t want to leave my haven, I wanted to stay, stay forever… But I knew I wouldn’t be able to- they would come looking for me and when they found me my little safe place would no longer be my own.