Tobelaide's Mockingjay

Breathe

* HER POV *
I breathed in and out at such a pace I thought time had gone into fast forward.

I could hear my heart beating like machinery within my chest, lights flashing; head throbbing.

I shut my eyes tightly, clenching my teeth and trying to stop the panic consuming me.
I couldn't kill him.
I couldn't kill anyone.

I can't remember how I got here, I don't know if I will get out again.
My thoughts fly about wildly in my mind, my eyes search desperately for memories which are falling at my feet.

I slowly start to ascend, the slim walls around me appearing to move down.
Three lights four or five Inches apart go up vertically along the cylinder walls.
My palms are lined with sweat and a storm of butterflies arouse in my stomach. I can't hear anything and for a moment it's as if time stops.
I look at myself from a different prospective.

My strange agile, skin tight, black suit clinging to my skin.
A small golden crown pinned on my chest, reflecting the lights in different directions.
Everything is so hazy, so crazy.
My hair is messily plaited to the side, hanging loosely down the left of my chest.

My skin is on fire, heart is perplexed, voices screaming inside my head telling me to survive.
And then suddenly everything stops.
My loose hairs suspended in mid air, my wild thoughts, crazy feelings, lost mind.

My emotional body shuts down and I feel nothing, just for a moment.

I shut my eyes and listen to my short breaths.
I am Adelaide Kane.
23rd tribute in the 95th Hunger Games.
My mother is Katniss Melark.
I did not Volunteer to die;
I volunteered to survive.

* HIS POV *

I screamed.

I threw my hands up in defeat as I was shot up in this cylindrical lift which would shoot me into a different terrain all together.

I yelled, bashed the moving walls with my clenched fists.
I couldn't do it.

My eyes were blood shot, my throat screamed raw and my heart a bloody pump existing for the sole purpose of pumping blood.
Not for feeling.
Not for emotion.

My eyes darted frantically from place to place, making me resemble something close to an insane monster.

I spun around with my hands raking through my golden hair, trying to make sense of a nonsensical world.
I was terrified.
My face, my heart beat, my pulse, my blood pressure showed it.
Horror flowing in my veins, masking my face.

Suddenly I surface into a new world..
Instead of being blinded by light, I'm plunged in to darkness.

Such darkness.. A darkness you can feel, as if you are breathing black painted air which corrupts your lungs.

It hurts to breathe, my mind panics. I can't see anything, can't hear anything other than my own frantic breaths.

A count down begins, the booming voice seizing my being.
30....29....28  
It continues and does not relent.

I glance around, listening to my mad heart beat, surprised it isn't audible to anyone else.

I know one thing.. And that is to run.
Run as fast as I can.
27.....26....25...
I tensed my body, getting myself ready to tear across the unknown terrain before me.
"You better run god dammit Toby." I yelled to myself, trying to overpower the voice blaring over hidden speakers.

* HER POV *
24....23....22...
I stare around completely confused. I can't even see my components.

I try to steady my breathing but to no avail, my pulse was as rapid as my thoughts whirling in my mind.

Sweat beads at my forehead and I just want to scream but I can't.
Silence grips me tightly, stabbing at my vocal chords, tying them into a knot in my throat.
I gasp for air.

21....20...19...

I can feel my body heat radiating back off my jacket and getting trapped, roasting me in my own clothing.

I don't know where he is, I can't see anything.
All I know is to run forward, to risk going to the cornucopia and grabbing whatever I can.

My mum taught me well with a bow and arrow, it is my strength and the weapon I am most acquainted with.
I picture the silver weapon in my mind, imagine it's shape and the way it feels in my hands.
I might not be able to see it, but I will find it.

It wasn't only silence between the tributes, it was the darkness.
No doubt half of us will randomly jab at the air with whatever we find for self defence. We all stood impatiently, enveloped in darkness which did not cease to blind fold us.

I don't even know what I am about to run on to.
I could be on the edge of a cliff for all I know.

Imagine it. Hearing nothing but a countdown to your possible death and your heartbeat racing.

Seeing nothing but darkness.

Feeling nothing but burning ambition and the sweat coating your hands.

Saying nothing out loud but screaming in your head.
18....17.....16..