The Reaper | F. Odair

Eleven

-—-
Aaron
-—-

It's all black.

"Aaron, wake up!"

My skin burns.

"Wake up!"

My eyes burn.

"He's coming, please!"

My lungs burn.

"AARON!"

My heart burns.

"She's not breathing! Aaron, please!"

Who's talking to me?

"PLEASE WAKE UP!"

Why... Why do I know this voice? Where am I?

"NO! NO, NO I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL FRICKEN KILL YOU, YOU PSYCHO!"

Kill..? Kill who--

"WAKE UP, AARON!"

I can't breathe -- my lungs are full, my throat is full. Why can't I move? Who's holding me down? Get off of me! I CAN'T BREATHE.

"AARON!"

I can't see. A scream pours out of my throat barely and I'm forced back into a burning liquid. The liquid pours down my throat and I can't breathe again, the burning sensation makes me feel like I'm going to vomit. It hurt so badly, yet for some reason I could feel my throat opening up. I'm jerked out again, I scream out and spit out the liquid and I'm pushed back in -- there are two sets of hands on me, one one either side. My eyes snap open, the liquid is clear and I can see two distorted faces on the other side.

They're trying to kill you. I reach for the set of hands pushing my head down, my fingers digging into their wrists immediately. I can barely kick my legs around, the second my nails dig in though I'm pulled back up. I barely hunch forward, shoving my captors off of me and barely crawl to the dirt, my insides immediately forcing their ways out as I vomit on the shore.

There's a faint voice, still more stinging on my body, it still burns. The hands grab at me again and I'm forced back inside the liquid which I'm now realizing is water. I can feel tears trying to form in my eyes, I can feel my shirt being pulled up. Someone starts to push my lower body into the water and another scream rips out of my throat, but this time I can actually hear it.

"Aaron!" Finnick's voice cries, "Aaron, it's okay!"

"The water helps the burns, Aaron!" Katniss's voice chimes in next.

They let go and I fall back into the water, shooting up and coughing. "The FUCK!" I scream, my body shaking. "What happened?!"

"You almost died is what!" Finnick shouts back, "you stopped breathing!"

I blink and rub the water off my eyes, "what happened? Like, literally, what the fuck happened, I don't remember?"

Finnick goes silent, Katniss looks at him with a frown. She sighs, "You and Peeta got the worst of the fog. You quit breathing a few seconds ago right after we helped Peeta..."

I blink. "What about Mags?" They're silent. "Where's Mags?" I can see tears in Finnicks eyes as he slowly falls back and sits in the shallow water. "No--"