Into the Tide // Chaos + Lightning {blitz}

[Arrows]

963 words

    Tick, tick, tick... A constant clicking clock drills through the temples of my skull. My fingernails furrow frighteningly into the wood of the waiting room. Just outside an ocean openly swells with sweet sea salt while spared children christen themselves in its wake. A droplet of water drips onto my hand followed by a storm of tears. Against the glass my forehead lays as its chills creep through my veins. Every curse and every horror haunts my thoughts as hatred harvests my heart for its home. A hatred not meant for any other target other than its true creator. A hatred meant only to be felt for myself. How could I have been so blind? How could I have let myself fall from the protective place of our palace in the clouds? I've condemned my own sister to be thrown like cattle into the slaughter. I should have known her sensations have no shackles nor logical sense. She swore to make me suffer for such stupidity, and suffering I am. 

    Inside my chest I can feel the heat of my heart beat hastily increasing as my tears dry and my hand hides their existence with a swift swipe. My sorrow surges into a surreal sensation of anger I can't comprehend. How could she do this to me? How could she have actually carried out such a promise? A promise which could condemn one of us to watch the other die. How could she selfishly leave the family to fend for themselves? Inside my own insight I am aware of my own abandonment but I felt, and still feel confident in my abilities. For her to leap forth like foam from the sea such as this is beyond my own sins. I am going to make her feel the wrath of my storm's lighting. 

    Forcefully I send the door to my waiting room open only to be confronted by two Peace Keepers. In an instant they demand I wait in my room until I am released to the train. My anger ascends even further as a ferociously spit out my shouts at them from my first cell. "Don't you even dare get in my way! My sister is in another room and as a family member I have every damn right to see her! Now get the hell out of my way before I kill you both." In response their batons are drawn and my eyes grow colder than the bed of the sea. "I wouldn't recommend killing one of Snow's favorites being a career and sibling to another tribute after all. Do you really think he would let you off the hook for hurting me?" 

     A baton slams into my head...

    Several minutes later I awake being pulled up from the floor of the room only to be forced with my newly gained bleeding bump on the back of my head towards the train. For minutes, hell an hour, I am unable to speak to Chaos. Instead I listen and interact with Leon and the others from our District all while secretly steaming at my sister. The moment we are finally let loose my fingers are boa constrictors around her arm as I pull her into another car entirely.

    Against a nearby window I slam her softly holding each of her shoulders with too much strength for a sibling. Behind her the world whips by but all I can see is her, all I can feel is the anger I have fueled by the internal hatred I have for myself. My speech starts soft only to crescendo into a full flying scream with enough force to shatter every window on the train. 

    "I get I was stupid, and I get you made a promise. But what the actual hell are you doing? Just because I take the chance to do something for our family, no matter how dangerous, does not mean you get to as well! It doesn't mean you have to baby every step I take! I am not a child damn it! I am a man, a man who can make his own decisions without his sister, the same sister our entire family looks for when in need! You left them with no one to follow! You think Tempest can handle them? She will be a mess! Blizzard will try but will be too broken by one or both of our deaths! And Ty, who the hell knows! I know I am part of this family but I have also trained the most intensely you know that! I have always been the one who if someone was ever going to volunteer it was going to be me! And now just because I have made this choice does not mean you get to abandon them for me! I am NOT better than them, I am worse than them! I left them for them, for you! Yet here you are trying to clean up a mess I don't want you involved in! You might be my sister but today you may have lost all my respect and become my worst enemy!" 

    My hands release from their deathly harsh grip on her arms and I storm off to the opposite side of the room watching from a table as the world goes by. A world where both Chaos and I can no longer live together. 

LIGHTNING  O'HANA

Sometimes our heads slip beneath the sea, and sometimes there's no way to breathe

[Cameo {RIP Charlie}]

{Word Count: 893}

A stinging, liquid substance drops into my eyes multiple times to relieve my display of any sorrowful evidence. Not even the members of my O’Hana are allowed to view the break of my optimistic features, though today they all have brought such in some manner. That damn reddening time of the month must be breaching upon my existence, as somber emotions usually scarcely plague across me. Threats towards my own survival provide purely a rattling demeanor, to potential excitement from adrenaline. Solely the terror of a Sibling’s fencing existence emerges a hostile response, or an overwhelming sob if I’m helpless over the matter… Oh wait, that explains things.

Anger, sorrow, confusion, and hope all play within my trembling fingertips in a nauseating combination, until lastly a numbness overrides it all. He has dared the inevitable, and now we’re both destined to pay the consequence. Already I’ve concluded that my return is futile, as his will be opposite upon my sole objective until my final breath. Certainly he’ll despise of my decision towards his lively outcome being favored, but his say over this has been deemed irrelevant after the last choice he reigned. A warning pleaded him to not do so, but he has, and I surely will to. My promise has only just begun though.

That alluring voice, I’m vowed to protect, sings against my ears in a vicious yell, muffled by the barriers detaining me. His words settle to a volume I can hardly clasp, and swiftly halt with a bang to follow. “Lightning!” I attempt to verbally reach for him, my forehead weighing against the door confining me in fear. “Please, tell me your not still being stupid.” Is a mere whisper, as I swallow back the tears desiring to rebound. My conclusion I can regretfully accept, while his will leave me in a turmoil into my afterlife.

Eventually departure from our rooms is permitted, and immediately I’m gazing upon my Brother’s condition. Already a wound marks his porcelain exterior, and I’m conflicted on how to react. Instincts have my muscles aching to aid him. My heart desperate to comfort him through this. While my brain wishes for me to scream at him until my vocals give. And all I actually perform is following behind him, until we’re released onto the train with everyone else.

Priority sets as my initial action is the retrieval of alcohol once within the train. Many others board, but my eyes continuously scan for Lightning’s. Not once does he budge in my direction though. Disgust is indisputably upon his expression, which establishes an identical perspective across my own. Does he truly believe he has the right to be enraged at me? It’s not until my attention is shifted entirely onto Victor Leon and the other Volunteers, and ease converses the room, that I’m hoisted into another car to discover the answers I’m hungry for.

Palms enforce me into a pin against the window, while my features refuse to budge in response. Steam nearly spews from his ears, and soon words do from his lips. Steadily I attempt to listen, as my emotions rollercoaster with his various points. One after another his explanations begin merging into each other, and I’m unsure if I understand them entirely or if I misheard it all. I’m an enemy now? Or is he just that furious at the moment?

He escapes to the opposite side of our chamber, leaving me beyond baffled. “Does that mean you’re going to target me in the Arena? Because that’s really going to make my goal difficult.” Sarcasm flutters from my tongue. Perhaps I’ve had a few too many drinks with the other district Fours. But still stubbornness controls me, as I mimic him in taking a seat with my back towards him. Who will be crumbling to the other first? Truly that’s obvious, as it always has been.

Abruptly I stand and retrieve from the room with no promise of a return. Further anger tempts at me, while the minor alcohol’s influence won’t allow for such. Once a first-aid kit is acquired, I’m back amongst his company- and refuting from this distance to continue. A chair is claimed behind him, as I begin cleaning his wound without permission.

“You have no right to be surprised by what I did.” Quakes from me in such minuscule volume. “You are no better, and certainly no worse, then any other O’Hana member. And you know I will protect each of you with my last dying breath. I don’t give a shit if you’re taller then me, stronger then me, and smarter then me. I vowed to always protect you since the day you were born, and that’s all my promise is fulfilling.” A gentle, cool breath derives through my lips to ease any discomfort the petite bubbles, decorating the irritation on the back of his head, may create. “If you want to do something for our family, I’m just here to make sure you achieve that.”

A bandage is ignored to allow the air to perform the rest of the cleaning, and to see to his badass appeal. A stance is once again captured by myself, as I make the short distance to the alcohol cart. “What kinda whiskey you want? They have the good shit here.” I offer her him, while obtaining a beer for myself.

CHAOS  O'HANA

Sometimes our heads slip beneath the sea, and sometimes there's no way to breathe

[Arrows]

451 words

    Beyond my reach I witness a wilted willow seared by the scars of a storm surge by with the rest of the world. I watch streams span through sacred stems of untouched grass. I watch while birds fly forever through an endless sky of the sweetest sea blue. In the distance a single spur of white wisps populate the blue canvas. The single cloud is a cavalier among a lonely expanse, drifting endlessly on an unknown breeze. I'm the cloud captured within the body of boy shackled to the sadistic sins of society. I am being pulled upon a piercing wind while it whips me for my voice above the masses. Whips me for having a sense to stand among a sea of stone cold faces and declare my proclamation for battle. Then I spot another cloud crawling over the crest of a mountain. 

    The invader is small but strong enough to survive the flight through sheer suffering gusts. It spills silently across the practically unstained sea and I feel my heart beat falter from a return of rage. The invader was Chaos creeping into a crevice she did not belong in. A crevice which could cruelly crush her at any given moment despite her clearly clean intentions. She is entering a sea of surging scarlet blood shed in which the rivers will immortally run red. And for what? To follow a foolish younger brother with too little sense to silence himself? Yet she was obviously the larger fool of us both despite her dynamic words in rebutle to my own. 

    A nearby knife sails through the silence following her words shattering several glasses near her hands. I don't move and my head stays trained on the textures of the tiled floor. Blood as hot as blistering boiled water begins to make steam speed through my veins. "Are you kidding me right now? Who the hell are you? Our parents? Shit goes down and you shove a glass into your hands hoping to quench some kind of sadistic thirst? The only type of drink I want is water and whatever is will actually keep me alive! If you think you can just come on here and drink yourself into a drunken dismal state...!" 

    Now I'm on my feet swiftly stomping towards her while my eyes glare with nothing less than the stare of the devil. I rip the whiskey from her hands and slam it against a nearby wall. Blood burbles from my hand but my eyes don't fall from her's for even a second while I finish speaking. "If that's what you think, then you're dead wrong!" 

LIGHTNING  O'HANA

Sometimes our heads slip beneath the sea, and sometimes there's no way to breathe

[Cameo {RIP Charlie}]

{Word Count: 415}

Glasses dance to the ground in razored, minuscule pieces, demolishing my breaths of intact relief along with it. Automatically my view snaps towards the Instigator of this destruction, prepared for the crusade that’ll surely follow. Souls have already been signed away to the clutches of evil, yet disapproval for such still reigns. He dares to accusingly question of me being identical to our inhumane Creators, and without acceptance rage conquers me in response. He seeks the thirst of survival, while no such fountain awaits for my gulp. Yet still I’m not allowed of a simple release from such a cruel fate that resides in my future.

Finally he breaches from the distances, though not in a positive manner. Another bottle collapses into shambles from his raft, and my left eye twitches in react. He dares to control my destiny, when absolutely none ensure me. The potential joyous occasions remaining deserves of my company; while he wishes to revenge the consequences I promised him. Fairness has been a lacking aspect upon our existences certainly, though this is far beyond that.

“I know you did not force me to volunteer.” Words mutter through my gritted teeth, as I attempt to refrain from high volume. “But my vow to always protect you, is now going to be the end of me!” Tears jostle in my stare upon him, refusing to budge from the corners of my eyes, while my jaw remain tight in overwhelming frustration. “Soon I won’t be there to drink with you. I won’t be able to tuck any of you into bed, after an amazing party. I won’t be around much longer to make sure no one lays a damn finger on any of you! You’ll have to do that alone now when you get back!” My promise from before sorrowfully plays through my vocals.

This time I wreck a porcelain containment against the cruel ground below. “So if I want to have a fracken drink, by Ripred damn it- you better let me.” A demand flutters from myself now, finished with absorbing his insistence on acting like the Eldest. Hastily I grab one of the liquor bottles not seeping in destruction, and don’t even bother with a glass.

“When it comes to entering the Arena, I’ll be ready. But I’m going to enjoy myself, while I still can.” A viewing seat of the window is taken, and I swallow a swig the golden liquid craving my taste- attempting to exhale the future awaiting.

CHAOS  O'HANA

Sometimes our heads slip beneath the sea, and sometimes there's no way to breathe

[Arrows]

474 words

    How do demons dwell within our world? How do they crawl from dark depths of the sins and shadows of society to shackle us to sorrow? How do we allow them to gain enough power to push our heads beneath the waves and steal our sacred souls? The answer is more simple than I originally thought. We invite them with our arms wide open. We beat our children, we abandon our families, we shove suffering like needles into the skin of everyone surrounding us. We welcome them as wings to fly upon over the shadowy sins we spew. We choose to let them bury themselves within us, we let them rip away every ounce of our spiritual selves. We let ourselves drown with no resistance. 

    The girl before me is a ghost of the girl I knew. Sure she has always enjoyed the poisonous predicament of a bottle's kiss, but that wasn't out of weakness. In the past it was parties and festivals which smoke spun from her lips and the clearest of liquids thrived within her blood. Now it is when the world is wretched and she has no hope in her returning home. She uses it as a step to reach sacred sanctuary, she uses it as a sin. The girl before me is not the one who I admire, she is drowning from demons she has welcomed in. She is already dead. 

    My body knows no barriers... I nearly smack her across the face but instead my hand slams against the bottle in her own. My wounds worsen and I pull a shard from the wreckage. I place it on her neck while my words are weak but filled with terrible truth. "Who the hell are you? Who the hell are you to just shove our family onto my shoulders! You are weak Chaos O'Hana! Or should I even call you that anymore? The Chaos I knew was not weak nor was she petty with her hands wrapped around a bottle like a baby! You don't get to choose my life for me! If I want to die the moment I rise into that arena I can step off my damn plate! You don't get to berate me with this hero crap and the 'I am doing this for you'! I promise you something, I will not be alive to see your death! So you better find someway to pull yourself off this ledge you like so much or else our family will have two coffins to bury! You killed me the moment you volunteered. You are not my sister."

    The single shard falls from my hand and like a flash of lightning within the heart of a storm I surge from the room leaving the stranger in the rain.  

LIGHTNING  O'HANA

Sometimes our heads slip beneath the sea, and sometimes there's no way to breathe