Come Away To The Water {{ Henry F L E E T

The breath slips past my lips in a deep hiss, my body crumpling uselessly to the ground while spots form before my eyes. The creature's fur- soft, softer than goose down echoes faintly against my skin. A patch of red floats before my vision as I fall with no control over my actions. I sink, face-first into the dirt, the dust rising in a small cloud over my useless body.


Colors burst, stars fluttering, flickering before my vision until white dots surround and fill my form. The prison bars causing the inaction of my body release, and tendrils of strength flow through my arms until I push myself to my feet. I recognize the white-washed room, bleached beyond all recognition. With a lazy, starry sky overhead, the pale walls and matching furniture hits me like a train; the justice building where my father cried, where Joey came to say goodbye.

My own clothes feel very different. A white button-up graces my shoulders, while tan pants hang loosely from my hips. Khaki. I've never heard the word before, but it sticks in my mind.

A glance at my long, spindly fingers reveal they are clean- nails that had once been bitten bloody to the beds now reflect clean, unscarred. My cracked lip repaired itself, and the dull ache from when Mizar stabbed my thigh seems to have vanished alltogether. Curiosity flutters through my body while I glance around, my hands lowering to rest along the top of the soft, cusiony couch.

A low sigh causes me to leap out of my skin, a hand rising to cover my heart. I inhale sharly, and stare rudely at the male sitting directly across from me. He guestures to the couch, and I slip into the comfort of the cusions without much resistance. He looks similar to me- blue eyes, black hair, a scar running under his right eye. His hair is tosuled, like he just finished flying, and his clothes mirror mine- only in black.

His lips part, and a wicked smile crosses his face.

The world around me transforms, a wave of darkness filtering everywhere around me, spare for a single star of white light emminating from my form.

"Do you know who I am?" he questions me in a voice, my voice, harsher, crueler.

I exhale, my hands clutching sweatily at the pants I wear. Let silence be my answer.

He smiles, ivory, broken teeth glinting in the darkness.

I fall.

And fall,

and fall.

The first face I see is Mizar's. Her terrifyingly brown eyes stare at me with hatred, the sky a deep, ruby red. She spits at me, her flail barely flickering over my left shoulder. I dip out of her grasp, away from the fight. "WHY" she screams at me, as blood begins to pour from her eyes.

My stomach twists and contracts in my gut as I lift the axe, horizontal to the ground. Her flail catches in the handle. A blade sinks itself into my shoulder blade, and I roughly spin around to find a blonde woman behind me, shrieking in agony. Her eyes are gone, and a crimson liquid drips from her gaze.

Mary-Ellen.

My heart aches in my chest, and yet another form collides against mine. Black hair, dark skin, a snarl contracted in pain. Thistel. And the final form to attack me is another male, dark, long hair, slightly narrowed brows. Keanu.

They throw away their weapons as I stand, screaming, crowing out for help as they claw at my body with extended hands, ripping me apart bit by bit. Every hit I feel- every lash, every nail. I beg, I plead for them to stop, curling up into the tightest form I can until the unrelenting forces finally halt. Sobs rack my body until I feel them- icy cold hands lifting me to my feet.

"Pitiful."

The axe falls heavy in my hands, an identical weapon resting in the grasp of my assailant. He swings, and I dip out of the way. "FIGHT!"

I don't want to fight him. His weapon slashes down again through the air, and I lift my axe to catch the blade of his against the handle. "NO!"

He smirks, turning around, spinning behind me. I twist, but there is not a soul behind me. I am alone, trapped in the inky blackness surrounding me. A hand claws at my spine, and I lift my head to the left, spotting one of the other tributes, their eyes still gone. I scream, dropping the blade at my feet while my hands lift to my skull.

None of this is real. None of it can be real. I can't move. My feet refuse to move. I want to sprint away, I want to find a place to hide but I cannont turn away from Mizar nor Mary-Ellen as they attack me. Why. Why do they hate me so?

I ignore their attacks, their screeches and shrieks of pain as I focus, and concentrate on the pale white room. Ash disintigrates around me, fluttering away in the wind.

Only he and I remain, no weapons, no scratches, no words. The cylinder we seem trapped in stretches for as long as I can see, white, orderly on the half I occupy, black, chaos on the side he stands. His arms cross, and he smirks at me.

Suddenly I understand- one of us must vanish.

My body trembles as I step forward, our gaze meeting. His only echo curiosity, while I feel mine radiating with hatred. My hands fly to his head, seizing his jaw and the top of his head. I cannot break him, I cannot kill him, but I refuse to leave.

He laughs at me, pulling my hands away from his face with a smirk, leaning in to whisper into my ear.

"I killed them. All of them."

The humans attacking me, the tributes with no eyes.

"YOU DID THIS!"

I flail for a moment, my hands ripping away from his grasp. Balled fists colide with his face, pounding and pounding, each hit causing more and more white to invade the inky blackness.

The man before me vanishes in a thin trail of grey dust, rising from between my fingers. I am alone, cylinder of white, of purity, of light rising, growing more and more intense around me until-



Cool grass rests below my feet, and a single, oak tree stands behind my hips. Two grassy mountains stretch high into the inky black sky, pricked with dots of light wiile a small stream trickles somewhere in the distance.

The very act of defying myself brought me here, and all the guilt, the resentment boiling in the pit of my stomach evaporated from my shoulders into the night. I've had dreams about this place, and slowly, my feet carry me into the middle of the valley, my hands outstretched.

I

Am

Free






~~~~~

If you've read everything, thank you! It means the world to me that you would take the time out of your life to read something that means quite a bit to me. You're the first one I wanna thank. And if you skimmed it but got the gist, thanks to you as well!

So first and formost, I have a huge gynormous amount of people I want to thank. Firstly, I need to thank

Tagg
Darling, thank you for putting up with me during this time. I'm sorry I was so snappy and vicious towards you, and have been for the past few weeks or so. Thank you for getting me Allie dog, and for being just the rizzle for the sizzle in general. I would be nothing without you, I would be nowhere without you by my side. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

Anna
If you hadn't invited me to the alliance, Henry would have died first in the Bloodbath. Thank you so much for helping me get to day three. Our friendship comes before all else, and I hope you still think of me as a friend.

Ems
I am really, truly sorry about Mizar. I regret it, and I wish I hadn't done it. You are incredible and an amazing human and I wish to god I knew you in real life. You are such an uplifting person and I can't wait to start our plots together <33

Kiah
Thank you for being my mentor. If you hadn't been there for me, I ust... I just... Augh. xD

Anzie
You are so fabulous. Just keep being fabulous yo.

South&Ro
You guys are both fantastic humans. Thank you for making me feel accepted site-wide.

Others!
I have so many others to thank. If you're not on this list, you belong here. I know I forgot someone somewhere. Thank you for reading. <3