Splash Away Your Worries {Nautr Shek | Oneshot}

I needed to relax. The reaping was edging closer and closer, and there was nothing I could do about it. Yeah, so my name wasn't in there much, but it was still extremely nerve-wracking for me. My favorite way to relax, which I found to be the most effective of anything, was to go swimming. I decided to relax on the beach for a little while before sliding into the cool, ocean water. Swimming around for a while, I began to get deep into the thoughts in my head.

A few days ago, I told my friend Marina that should she be picked for the Games, I would volunteer for her. She told me, however, very sternly, that I'm not to do that. Marina says that even if I feel that I want to do it to protect her, I'm not allowed to. She's someone who actually wants to go in the Games, so perhaps that's why she doesn't want me to. Then again, I also think it's because we're close friends, and she doesn't want me to be killed in the Games, as I'd most likely die rather early.

The water moved as I pushed it away while I swam. It felt good on my skin, and it calmed me down. I thought about what I would do if Marina were chosen. Would I listen to her and stay back, not volunteering? Would I do what my heart told me to do, and take her place? I wasn't sure, but I hoped that I never had to face that situation. It would be a very difficult thing to deal with, and I wasn't sure how I would handle it. I kept swimming, trying to forget about it.

What would Marina do if I were the one picked for the Games, though? She always said she cared about me, and she's also told me that she would want to fight in the Games. Does that mean she would want to take my place? Just like she wouldn't want me to take her place, I wouldn't want her taking mine. There was no way I was going to let my closest friend fight to the death just so I didn't have to.

When I finally decided to get out of the water, I got back on the beach and returned to where my towel was lying in the sand. I lied back down on it, deciding I'd let the warmth of the sun dry me off from the water I had just been in. I closed my eyes as I lied there, trying to forget about my current troubles. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to forget about anything. If anything at all, my mind just began racing more than it had been before. I was thinking about the reaping, and fear was definitely something rather prominent in my mind when I did. I was only twelve years old, and I knew that if I went in the Games, there was no way I was going to be able to protect myself.

Had a twelve year old ever won the Games? After all, the Games have been going on for over seventy years at this point. There has to have been someone my age that's won, right? Then again, I don't even know that I would want to win. After all, in order to win, you have to kill your fellow tributes, and I don't know if I could ever bring myself to do that. I would have a hard enough time harming them in the first place if I were trying to defend myself.

Eventually, I opened my eyes and tried to shake the thoughts away. I stood up, picked up my things that I had brought with me, including the towel I had been lying on, and started to walk up the beach, back to the main land of the District. When I got to a sidewalk, I began to head home. I wasn't wearing any shoes, meaning that the sidewalk was hot on my bare feet. Regardless, I tried my best to ignore the pain it cause. Pain like this was surely a lot more tame than the pain I would experience if I went into the Games.

When I finally got home, I went up to my room and changed back into regular clothes. It was only about noon, but I flopped down on my bed and closed my eyes. I needed to rest. This was too much to be thinking about, the reaping and everything. It was edging closer, and all I wanted to do was forget about it all. The Games, the reaping and everything; I just wanted to push them out of my mind forever, and never have to deal with them again. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible. They'd always be there. I couldn't change that.