The Third Annual Writer's Game: Roots

Familia Supra Omnia | QF | Females

District Three - Paige Chromadell

I thrashed in the water as I felt the hands of death shoved me back under. The water was cool on my body and seeped through my clothes and backpack making everything seem a thousand times heavier as it was saturated.

I broke above the surface my lungs struggled for air as my actions slowly grew weaker. I barely had time to take half a breath before I was shoved back under in the current. My knees painfully dug into the mud and stone on the riverbed and it was the only pain that allowed me to stay conscious. The final burst of adrenaline to survive was making each of my moves desperate as I pulled at the mysterious hands. I pushed the body but it only felt like I was pushing away a tree that had been rooted for years. I could feel my body begin to shut down and I gave a final heave before I could go no longer. I gave up and stopped my efforts. The hands on my shoulders released the pressure slightly and I felt the hands slipped under my arms and heave me up.

I opened my eyes into the bright light with the beautiful green backdrop that looked so calm and peaceful compared to the wrath I was facing. My eyes finally focused onto the person who was drowning me. Her wavy long blonde hair was almost golden in the sunlight and her flawless skin was glowing like she was some sort of angel. I blinked my eyes until I figured out who she was – or maybe I just didn't want to believe who it was because she was dead.

I opened my mouth but no words came out and she only laughed at my shock.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" she laughed harmoniously as her voice floated through the clearing by the river and appeared to echo through the forest, "Don't worry, you won't need to talk when you're dead." She snarled as her faced morphed into that of a snake and I could only return back under the water to escape her venomous bite.

"You deserve to die!" her screams bubbled through the water around my body and echoed though the water in no way humanely possible. As I came up for another breath, the familiar hands held my body just below the surface and as I opened my eyes the blurry image could not be mistaken.

It was Red with the ugly snake beside him – their grins the most visible thing despite the curtain of aqua that tainted my vision. All I could do was scream.

~O~O~

As quickly as I could, I sat bolt upright with my chest heaving. I could feel cold water seeping through my boots and gave a high-pitched scream as I shuffled backwards until the rough bark of a tree stopped my path. It was flowing so calmly and so innocently, meandering through the forest with no end. But all I could remember was the two people who were holding me under.

"It wasn't real," I tell myself in a shaky voice that even a child could tell was fake.

I could feel the Careers icy azure eyes staring at me from the crystal blueness of the water and I could imagine the familiar red hair beside them. Immediately I knew I had to get away from the river.

I packed my back and refilled my small water bottle carefully from the river's banks before taking off to somewhere without water – without the haunting eyes.

But no matter how hard I willed myself I could not take off the thin chainmail armour that coated my body like a sheet of ice. It was my protection even though I knew it was stolen: a gift from District One that had never reached the receiver. The guilt of taking it still gnawed at my body like some sort of insatiable black hole that fed from my emotions. Perhaps this was the true feeling that the Games enhanced in our bodies.

But I could hardly think of that now. I just wanted to get away from the water. The forestry that surrounded me was inseparable as I passed over old debris with a squelching boots and turned through the maze of trees that towered above me like Gods. I wondered how many deaths they had witnessed.