A Grim Truth (Open to Anyone)

[Axium]

Rowan woke in a state of terror.

That dream... it seemed so real... Rowan forced himself to take a few deep breaths. He remembered it with almost perfect clarity.

Running through the woods, Rowan came upon a small stream. Thirsty, he reached into his pack, pulled out a small jug, and began to fill it. Something caught his eye. He squinted down into the stream, barely making out a face.

Rowan wasn't one to be sccared of such things, but he gasped nevertheless. It was that girl, Nadene. The one he had crashed into a few weeks ago. And now she was going to die in the Games.

Although he only knew her for only a few seconds, Rowan still felt a pang of sadness. Never again would Nadene Albertine roam district 7. He would never see her again, no matter how brief. He suddenly felt a wave of nausea.

Then, Nadene pulled him in.

Rowan shuddered. With no mood for breakfast, he haastily dressed and ran for the woods, where he would at least have time alone.

[Give.Me.Hope]

--Evelyn Twill--
Life is inconvenient.

It was dreadfully normal morning for Evelyn. She had gotten up at the crack of dawn and had headed for the woods, as she always did. The trees, however, felt frightfully dull, and she was sure that they looked that way as well. She didn't know why they seemed that way, they just did. Evie exhaled heavily and plopped down beside a tree. She assumed that no one was around, for there was no sound except for a few birds here and there and the sound of her own breath. She felt no movement, she felt it safe that she relax and let her guard down. She always so tense around people, but once she got to the woods she could finally be herself. She smiled as the familiar sound of leaves rustling in the wind filled the open air.

She hummed a simple tune, one that she did not know; this seemed to happen a lot. She continued to hum absentmindedly, and soon her sealed mouth opened and she continued the unknown melody in a series of 'la's. Suddenly, she felt and heard footsteps, quick ones at that, and quickly scrambled to her feet. She could feel them approaching her and she picked up her stick, holding it closely to her chest. She pressed her back to the tree as if its long branches would wrap around her and protect her from whatever was coming; they didn't, of course, but it was nice to pretend.

"Who's there?" she called warily, closing her ears and focusing all of her attention to the feelings beneath her feet. Nothing."I said who's there?"

[Axium]

Rowan was never known for being paranoid, but the moment he stepped into the woods, he had a strange feeling that he wasn’t alone. Either that, or he was just awfully hungry. Rowan hoped it was the latter.

Not taking any chances, he sprinted over to the roots of a giant sycamore. Lately, he had found some rabbit bones in it. It seemed like some fox had made its den there. Rowan reached in and pulled out a bow. He needed a new hiding place soon.
The bow was handcrafted, carved with intricate patterns and designs. This was the third bow Rowan made, carved when he was 10. He had made fifteen altogether, and counting. He smiled when he thought of what other D7ers said about this strange hobby.

His mother: ”Why, dear, do you spend time creating tools of murder?”
His father had a completely different opinion: “I see you got my woodworking genes after all!”

His friends Sean and Byron: ”The heck?”

Rowan’s thoughts were interrupted by a burst of song. Intruder, he thought.

“Who’s there?” The voice asked nervously. It was a female.

Still an intruder, Rowan decided. Nevertheless, he loaded a blunt arrow instead and tiptoed to the spot where he heard the singing. Then he let the arrow fly.

It was too late when he saw the screaming face of a girl.

[Give.Me.Hope]

--Evelyn Twill--
Life is inconvenient.

There was no answer, but the footsteps had slowed, and eventually, come to a complete stop. The only thing Evelyn could hear, or feel, was her own heavy breathing, and her rapidly beating heart. Whoever was there did not like the idea of company either, she could tell. She waited and waited for a reply, but nothing. For a second, she thought they had gone and went back to humming her unknown tune. That was when she heard it.

The distinct sound of a released arrow. And although she couldn't feel it, she could hear it. It's sharp point cutting through the air as it flew towards her, and soon she could feel the movement blowing across her face. She let out a shriek and quickly moved to the side, her face being spared, but her hair not being so lucky. Up to her right ear her dark hair had been cut off, now dangling from the arrow that was deep in the trunk of the tree. "What the hell do you think this is, the Hunger Games?!" she called irritably, grabbing onto the wood of the arrow and pulling it out of the tree; it took her four tugs to finally get it the least bit loose, and eight tries later completely emerged from the tree. "You could've killed me." She concentrated on any movement and the footsteps finally continued, except slow, light, and cautious. She scowled at what could be empty air for all Evie knew, but it was really meant for whoever had shot that arrow at her. She felt her now short hair and her eyebrows furrowed deeper.

[Axium]

Rowan was horrified. Not because he almost voluntarily killed someone, or that he even thought about it, but because the person he almost killed was blind. He could see it in the girl’s eyes, for they were very stare-y.

Good thing he used a blunt arrow, and that the girl had dodged it. How, he had no idea.

Nice work, you heartless monster, he scolded himself. He never was a killer. In fact, he even thinks twice about killing a fly. The only reason he carved bows and had deadly accuracy was the threat of being reaped.

What’s wrong with him?

Rowan sighed. It was that gut feeling. He knew it. Paranoid minds make for heartless actions.

The girl scowled at him.

“ Hey… um… yeah, I’m… uh… sorry for scaring you. See? These aren’t even—” He stopped, realizing his mistake. The girl was blind. Rowan resisted the urge to slap himself. “So, um, I’m Rowan. Rowan Andersson.” Wow, was he bad at introductions or what?

[Give.Me.Hope]

--Evelyn Twill--
Life is inconvenient.

As the person spoke, male and about her age, she finally shifted her body to be facing right at him. Her expression softened slightly, but she still held her gaze. She rose an eyebrow as he talked, and noticed that he stopped when he came to saying 'see'. Had he figured out that she was blind? Clever boy. She pursed her lips, but finally she finally relaxed her eyebrows and she straightened up. This boy hardly seemed older than her and even though he had tried to kill her, he was sorry. Normally Evie would've been more skeptical, but he sounded sincere.

"Yeah, more than just scared. More like almost killed," she said with great scornfulness in her voice. She rolled her eyes. Evie listened to his attempt at introducing himself and fixed her hair awkwardly, bringing all of it to the front and draped it over her shoulders, then pushed it behind her ears. "Evelyn Twill," she said monotonously. "So why exactly are you going around trying to kill the disabled?"

[Axium]

Rowan wished he could curl up underneath a rock. Just his luck that the “intruder” was, not only female, but also disabled. His cheeks burned.

"So why exactly are you going around trying to kill the disabled?" The girl, Evelyn, asked.

Rowan looked down at his feet, twirling the amulet his grandfather had given him. Apparently it was centuries old, not that any of that mattered. He wished he could just open the carved stone, no, jade, and crawl inside, where none of the outside world mattered. Or just melt into a puddle and seep into the ground. Anything to get away from the embarrassment of the moment.

“Well, uh, you see, this… ” His voice trailed off. A sudden burst of anger coursed through him. He slammed his bow at the ground. Upon seeing Evelyn’s shocked face, his anger ebbed. How could he be angry at a poor blind girl? He sighed. “ Listen, I’m sorry I sc—almost killed you. Can we please just drop the topic? ” Rowan sat down, resigned and ashamed.