Broken Down {Drevilsin}

[kap]

♒ Sabrina Elle ♒

I was supposed to have an excellent day today. That's exactly what I told myself when I woke up- that my day was going to be excellent, and better than usual. Unfortunately, that's not quite how it worked out. I left the house around nine o'clock that morning, which was my first mistake. Not being far from the training center meant that I was bound to run into some careers that had just finished their morning training that ended at nine o'clock that morning. I didn't think about this until I actually did run into one, though. Usually, however, I didn't have problems with careers, as long as it wasn't one in particular.

Of course, the person I saw was exactly the one I had been hoping to avoid. It was Charm Jinx, a member of the hardcore career Jinx family. Most of them would fight you if you looked at them wrong, and Charm was no exception. I tried my best to avoid her gaze as she walked by, but she intentionally shoved me when she noticed me. The shove was hard enough that I ended up on the ground, having landed flat on my butt. When I stood up, she hadn't gone away, and was standing there, looking at me with a smirk on her face.

"So," she started, "Sabrina, did you finally decide not to be a wimp and start training?"

I glared at her with frustration.

"Ah, I figured as much. You hate careers too much to do that, don't you? Anyway, perfect timing. Listen, I made a bet with my brother, Spear. Whomever can break someone's leg first, wins. Now, since I couldn't do so in training this morning, and you're right here, I might as well make you that target. What do you think?" the cruel girl explained her plans.

I was about to turn and run when she delivered a hard punch to my ribcage. Doubling over in pain, I didn't know what to do. What had I done to possibly deserve being her punching bag? What kind of sick bet did the Jinx kids make that you had to break someone's leg to win.

The air escaped my lungs quickly, and I gasped for more to reenter. Unfortunately, I couldn't even yell for help at that point, as she swiped out my legs with her foot, causing me to crash to the pavement of the sidewalk once more. I was in so much pain, that I didn't want to move. The girl, even though she was younger than me, had a lot of force behind her due to all of her years of training.

Due to all of the force that she was able to deliver, a few stomps of her foot on my right leg caused me to let out a yell, and I could feel the bones cracking. Charm had definitely won her bet.

Lying there, I was whimpering in pain. I could hear laughter from Charm, and heard her call her brother, Spear, over to her.

"Pay up." I heard her chuckle to him. He sighed, and then the two walked off. From what I could tell, I had been left alone at the point, but I certainly wouldn't be able to return to my feet any time soon. I was in too much pain, and there wasn't a chance I could stand back up with how messed up my leg was at that point. I shifted how I was lying on the pavement to try to get any weight off of my leg, but that was when I felt an excruciatingly sharp pain in my chest. There was no doubt she had broken a rib or two of mine.

I lie on the pavement, tears running down my face. Looking weak was not something that I was concerned about in that moment. If anything, looking weak would be the only thing that would get me help in that moment.

651

[drevilsin]

Clouse woke up later than he’d wanted to. He’d planned on going out for an early morning swim, coming back with plenty of time to change and head out to his daily fishing practice. Instead, his body had decided to trade that opportunity in for two extra hours of shuteye so that now, he had only twenty minutes before he had to get out the door.

Realizing this, Clouse sprang out of bed, put on clothes, tried perfecting his hair, which of course he didn’t succeed in, and ran out the door with his fishing supplies in one hand and a barely eaten apple, the only breakfast he could spare time for, in the other. “I won’t be late! I can’t be late!” He thought to himself as he ran towards his favorite fishing spot, “I need to get there before all of the fish are gone!”

Although he was quite the protégé, Clouse had plenty of stiff competition, and if he didn’t hurry soon, there would be no way he’d be able to train until the next time the sun rose over the ocean the marked the edge of his district’s borders. Worse yet, the other would see it as a sign that he was slipping, and that would spur them to amplify their own efforts. Clouse couldn’t have that, and to avoid such a scenario, he increased his speed until he was almost at a full sprint.

Along his run, however, he encountered a sight which he seldom saw. There was a girl on the ground, and another above her throwing punches and kicks at her. The surprising sight was enough to bring Clouse to a jog, then a slow walk, and ultimately, to a pause. “I need to help!” he thought, as the thought of being late for fishing was replaced with the worry for the girl on the ground. As he watched her take a furious beating, he considered breaking up the fight, but his cowardice won out, and he kept his distance, out of sight of the two girls. Finally, when he heard the girl on the ground give out one final yell as the other girl stomped on her leg multiple times, he knew it was over. He waited until the sound of retreating footsteps was no longer audible, and then he started to approach the injured girl on the ground. Her attacker was gone, and all that was left was a broken child, whimpering in pain. Clouse bent down near her, placing a hand, the one with all of its fingers, on her arm.

“Need a hand?” he offered, still ashamed at his cowardice, yet genuinely worried for the girl he’d failed to protect. As far he could tell, her leg was surely broken, and judging by her labored breathing, she had more injuries he hadn’t already deduced. Hopefully, they weren’t as bad as Clouse feared, or his delay in action might have proved to be the difference between life and death.

[kap]

♒ Sabrina Elle ♒

I lie on the ground, crumpled, bruised and broken. There was absolutely no possible way I would be able to move on my own. My face was plastered with tear, and I didn't think there was anyone around that would help me. I began to lose hope until I heard a voice. This voice was kind. This voice was nothing like that of Charm Jinx, the violent girl that hurt me for fun. It was the voice of a boy, likely a bit younger than me, offering to help.

He asked if I needed a hand, which was likely one of the best things I had heard all morning, as all of Charm's words had been cruel. I looked up at him the best I could without moving too much. Unfortunately, I shifted a bit too far, causing additional pain to surface in my ribs, and I knew they were definitely broken. I winced and let out a sound of pain. I tried to keep it in, but the damage was too much not to notice. It was impossible to hide at that point.

"Yes, please." I managed to say through the pain. The words struggled to get out, but they still succeeded in surfacing. It was a miracle to actually have someone to help me. Had I lied there too long, who knew what could have happened? Would it have been long enough that the pain would have killed me if it weren't taken care of? I had no way of knowing, and was glad that I didn't have to find out the terrible things that could have happened had the circumstances been different than they were in that moment.

I attempted to push my body the slightest bit off of the ground so that if the boy tried to help me up, he wouldn't have to do all of the work. I managed to get myself up at a slight angle, my back off of the ground, however, it put a lot of pressure on my ribcage to do this. With at least some of my ribs undoubtedly broken, I hoped that he would help me up quickly enough that I could get the pressure off of them. I didn't want to lie back down, as I was afraid of making him do too much for me.

Yes, I was practically helpless in that moment, but there was enough kindness left in my heart that I didn't want the person assisting me to do all of the work. I'm not saying I'm the absolute nicest person in Panem, but I likely had more kindness in my heart than Charm Jinx had in her entire body.

443

[drevilsin]

“Yes, please.” Clouse heard the girl say through labored breaths. “At least she’s alive,” Clouse thought. But he still didn’t know just how injured the girl was. Only when she tried to get up did he understand. She could hardly move, but it was obvious to him she was trying to spare him of trying to fully pick her off the ground. She still lay there, but was pushing herself up just enough for him to be able to pick her up off the ground. But he didn’t know what to do with her. Would he run from her to get help, possibly leaving her vulnerable for her to become someone else’s victim, possibly making her situation worse, or would he stay by her, and try to carry her to a nearby hospital where she can get treated for her broken leg and possibly broken ribs? Clouse was conflicted, but he knew he had to act fast. This girl was dying, and he had to save her, so he decided to just ask one question to decide what he would do.

“Are you able to stand?”

[kap]

♒ Sabrina Elle ♒

"Are you able to stand?" the boy asked me. He was being as kind as anyone could be in that situation. He clearly didn't want to hurt me any worse, but he clearly wanted to help me, too. I looked at him with sincere gratefulness. I nodded slowly in response.

"I think I can." was my response to him. I tried to push myself off of the ground, struggling greatly. Eventually, however, I managed to get to my feet. I experienced excruciating pain standing on my broken, mangled leg, however. When I started to fall, I quickly grabbed onto the shoulder of the boy who was helping me to steady myself. Had I not done so, I probably would've crashed to the ground and injured myself further.

What had I ever done to Charm in my entire life to deserve to be her target practice? I'd never hurt her or anyone she cared about. She'd done both of those things to me. My breathing was heavy at this point as I tried to stay standing.

"Do you think you can get me to someone that like, knows how to take care of broken bones?" I asked, struggling to get the words out. It hurt to breathe with my ribs as broken as I knew they were at that point.

I looked at the boy who was assisting me and hoped that he knew what to do, or at least who he could bring me to. My broken bones pained me more than anything in that moment. Was I dying? Was this what death felt like? In that moment, I didn't doubt it. Maybe Charm would be the cause of my death. I certainly hoped not, and I wanted to push through the pain. I couldn't let the rotten girl think she'd gotten the better of me, and I certainly didn't want her to take pride in it if this killed me in the end.

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