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𝐿𝑎𝑦 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑, 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠, 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑒𝑠
𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒, 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑
The water welcomed this intrusion with an icy bite, so cold that my skin felt like it was splitting into multiple pieces. The surface was moving away from me in a cloud of foam. A few reddish bubbles rose to the surface, and it took me a few seconds before I realized that it was blood. I understood that it was from me when a few strands of blond hair followed those bubbles.
I raised my arms in front of me in breaststroke to project myself forward, towards the foam that was above me. My head threw me painfully, a rapid and deep tingling at the top of my head. I bent my arms in front of my torso before extending them again in front of me to repeat the movement and continue my ascent when suddenly I felt something grab my ankle.
Marius was as tenacious as a leech. He grabbed my ankle with probably all the strength he had left and pulled me down despite my efforts to reach the surface of the water. What was the ultimate bad luck for the two tribes of District 4 to get into a water fight? The organizers of the Games must have been thrilled, it was rare to witness such a scene in the water, let alone between two tribes in the fishing district.
I was kicking blindly, which Marius probably avoided since his catch was always held on my ankle. A second catch arrived at my shin and I kicked again. This time I did not miss my target. I had felt a fairly large and muscular area under my foot, probably the shoulder or the base of the arm.
Since the previous tactic had more or less borne fruit, I decided to trust him a second time and leave the force to Marius. I let myself slide into the depths of the water, enough so that my abductors were at the level of my opponent's shoulders and only covered his senses. If Marius corresponded well to the image of a leech, I transformed myself faithfully into a boa constrictor. My legs wrapped around my opponent's neck and I squeezed as much as I could.
The only question I was asking myself at that moment was: which of us would hold our breath the longest? Marius had started to choke me before we were thrown in the water and I hadn't really had a chance to take in much oxygen while his hands were no longer around my neck. For now, the pattern was reversed: I was the one choking him, but he had much more strength than me and his blows on my legs threatened to make me lose my grip.
After a few moments that seemed like an eternity, the incessant pounding of Marius's fists stopped abruptly. Too suddenly for this to be normal, I could feel him wiggling between my legs and a mass of air bubbles rose up.
