Just Breath (oneshot)

[Stare]

Okay, so, using (for the very first time) a character that I did not make on this site, I will now do another Hunger Games oneshot! Please comment!


Just Breath

Running.
I've always liked running. Running against the winds, the fresh air filling my lungs as I go as fast as I can, farther and farther. That amazing feeling that erases my mind of everything except my steady breathing.
Right now, however, is not one of those times.
The Arena, this year, was a giant underground tunnel. It was huge, both very tall and wide. On the sides were little tunnels that branched out, some connecting to others, and some that have dead ends. It's cold, and dark, the only light coming from glowing silky threads that hang from the ceiling, though.
It turns out, those threads carry a terrible poison. It only took three tributes to make the mistake before the rest of us realized it.
I took care to stay in the dark from then on.
My plan was simple. Hide as long as I could, and then fight using my knife skills and speed. I wasn't planning on my knife disappearing. I wasn't planning on my food source running out.
And I definately wasn't planning on a tribute finding me while I was sleeping.
But no, I aren't running from that tribute now, am I? That tribute is long gone. However, the glowing strings she dropped on my arms and in my mouth is not.
Now, running, I realize just how crazy the stuff is making me. I can't run it off. I can't run away from it like I can run away from everything else so easily. No, I know what's coming, and there's no stopping it.
There was never any stopping it.
I wonder if the other tributes ran, or if I'm just running because it's what I've always done. Through feilds, forests, houses, lives. I ran. I ran fast, too. I won races. I got trophies.
No trophie can save me now, though.
Huh. I've never found something I couldn't run away from. Never thought it was possible until that day I was Reaped. I couldn't run away from the Reaping. I couldn't run away from the Games.
Maybe this is a good thing, though. I won't be held responsible for another person's death. Maybe I should feel grateful.
Yeah. Right.
Finally, I feel my legs collapse under me.
So this is it? I think. I'll never see my family again? Or anyone else?
But thinking these negative thoughts becomes to painful. So instead, I concentrate on my breathing, like I do when I run.
In, out.
I can't move my legs. They've lost feeling. Fear grips my heart, but I bite my bottom lip and fight it off.
In, out.
The numbness had reached my arms long ago, but now it seems unbearable. I have no control any longer.
In, out.
Flashes of fond memories go before my eyes. Laughing with my friends, climbing trees in the fall, sitting by the fire on a cold night.
In, out.
So this is it? I think again, but this time, I'm smiling slightly. This isn't... so bad.
In, out.
I can't talk, but that doesn't matter. I can't move, but it's okay. I'll leave doing what I love to do.
In, out.
I let my mind fly free, I let the world just vanish. I let myself run, one last time.
In, out. In, out. In, out.
I love to run.
In... out.