Among the Wildflowers {Nellie & D'Arcy}

[D'Arcy Mason d6b [Tyler]]

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D'ARCY MASON
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D'Arcy stood for a while outside the door to her house with her eyes closed, letting the warmth of the sun soak through her skin and try to reach the cold fear that grew inside of her with each passing day. It hadn't always been there; she first felt the coldness on the day she turned twelve years old. At first she could ignore it's icy touch, distracting herself with the wonders of learning and the cheerful moments with her sisters and her friends. As time went on, however, it's grasp on her soul seemed to grow stronger and stronger until now she felt as if she was being strangled by it, looking for anything she could find to help loosen the grip.

But it was becoming impossible to push the upcoming reaping from her mind as the date drew nearer and nearer. D'Arcy had never paid it too much thought before. It had always simply been routine; A day to gather with family, hold hands with her sisters as they watched two unfortunate tributes walk up onstage and out of District 6. This year, however, was different. For the first time, D'Arcy was faced with the possibility that the unfortunate tribute could be her. The mere thought of it was enough to make D'Arcy wish she could melt in the sun's warmth as she stood there, that she'd simply fall apart and turn into a thousand of the little blue butterflies she loved so much. She envied them; they fluttered so effortlessly around the flowers they loved so much, able take to the skies at the first sign of danger. They were free. D'Arcy was not.

"D'Arcy?"

The sound of her name tore her away from thoughts of butterflies as she opened her eyes. Cecily was standing in the front door of their house, looking at D'Arcy with confusion etched into the features of her face. "What are you doing?"

D'Arcy realized she must have looked pretty ridiculous, just standing there with her eyes closed. "Nothing, just enjoying the sunlight." She tore herself away from the comforting sunlight and followed Cecily into the house. As much as the fear loomed over her, she didn't want to speak about it with her family. Cecily and Evvie were still so young they didn't care about the Reaping, and she didn't want to cause any unnecessary worry for her parents. It was because of this that she put on as cheery of a face as she could as she walked into her home. It was evidently cheery enough to keep Cecily from noticing as she continued poking fun at her older sister.

"Well, you looked weird just standing there!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yeah you did, you looked like a weirdo out there! I was gonna tell mom and dad a weirdo was out in our yard and to call the Peacekeepers to take you away."

"Cecily that's so mean, I'm your sister!"

"Yeah, my weird sister."

Cecily's words were mean, but they were doing a good job at helping D'Arcy distract herself. Cecily had a reckless confidence about her; if she got reaped she would probably just strut onstage and talk about what she was going to do after she won the Hunger Games. It wasn't often that D'Arcy envied her sister, but right now she wished she could borrow some of that confidence.

As the pair entered their living space, they ran into Evvie huddled in a corner crying softly. D'Arcy didn't think too much of it at first; her youngest sister was quick to cry over little things. "What are you crying about now, Evvie? Cecily barked rather tactlessly.

Evvie looked over at them with watery eyes. Her words were too waterlogged to be understood, but she pointed at something on the ground. They moved in closer to see what it was.

Lying lifelessly on the faded wooden floorboards was one of the tiny blue butterflies that D'Arcy always saw fluttering between wildflowers. The tiny creature had evidently gotten trapped in their house, unable to get any food. Now it lay with its legs to the sky, an image of innocence lost.

As Cecily launched into a rant about how Evvie was being too sensitive, D'Arcy felt the icy dread course through her once again, stronger than ever. The butterflies were supposed to be free, soft and safe from the bad and radiating the good in the world. And yet this butterfly still managed to get trapped. D'Arcy imagined the poor creature fluttering around, desperately looking for a way out. Looking for a way to survive. All the while slowly falling into he hands of death.

D'Arcy's heart was beating fast and the world seemed to spin. Suddenly the room felt impossible small. Without stopping to think, she ran out of the room, ignoring the cries of "D'Arcy, where are you going?" from Cecily as she ran. She needed to get out of the house.

The world passed in a blur, and next thing she knew she was sitting alone in the field of wildflowers, tears streaming down her cheeks. She could feel all of the emotion she had been trying hard to hide pouring out of her, and she couldn't stop it. Every fear she had about the games came out in each sob. She felt like she was faced with her own trap, like the Hunger Games was about to lock in all around her and drain her of everything that made her who she was before letting her die. She was the poor butterfly, stuck in a building without an escape, desperately trying to return to the sunny field, wishing she could once more dance among the reds and violets and yellows of the flowers, hoping to once more let the wind surround her.

As D'Arcy wept, she didn't notice that her sobs had attracted any attention to her until the small, red-haired girl sat down by her side.

[WC:992]

[kap]

"You are not alone
I've been here the whole time singing you a song
I will carry you, I will carry you"

The reaping was set to take place tomorrow morning, and although it terrified me beyond belief to think of getting chosen to go into the Games, I tried to push the thought from my mind the absolute best that I could. The idea of going into the Hunger Games myself was my absolute worst fear, second only to my twin sister, Nessie, having to go into the Games. She and I have an agreement to never volunteer for one another, but I'd take her place in a heartbeat. There's no way I could even bear the guilt of knowing I didn't protect her when I could have. It would destroy me. It would eat away at me for the rest of my life, I just know it. That's why I won't even let it happen. If anything were ever to happen to either of us, it would happen to me.

When it came to trying to distract myself from what was looming so closely, I had to try a few different things. I started off my morning with tears in my eyes, however, having just awoken from a terribly bad dream. It was a dream where Nessie was chosen for the Games and I didn't take her place, only to watch her be the very first to die in the arena, immediately ripped apart by the other tributes as if they were wolves and she were the prey they wanted to eat. I immediately shot up out of bed, and ran to Nessie's room. I knocked on her door and waited for her to answer. It was early in the morning, so I knew she may still be sleeping, but I knew she wouldn't be mad if I woke her up due to being upset, since we cared about one another so much.

Nessie's door opened.

"What's wrong, Nellie?" she asked as she saw that my face was wet from the tears I'd cried.

"I had a really bad dream," I explained. "Can I sit with you for a little bit to calm down?"

Immediately after I asked this, I was enveloped in a hug by my sister.

"Of course you can," she said to me, still hugging my tightly all the while. I hugged her in return, and when we released from the sisterly embrace, she gave me a soft smile.

"It'll all be okay. It wasn't real, remember." She said this to me with such a sense of sureness in her voice that it even made me feel a little bit better. I knew that it wasn't real, but the part of her words that told me it would all be okay was what I really needed to hear. I just needed the reassurance that it wouldn't happen- that Nessie wouldn't have those terrible things happen to her because I didn't stop it.

Then again, I should have just been able to assure myself of that, anyway. I knew I'd volunteer for her, no matter how scared I was. I wouldn't even let anything terrible like that happen to my dear sister.

I didn't tell her what exactly it was that I had had a dream about that night that was so terrible, but she didn't press to get any more information about it, either, to my relief. I didn't want to talk about the dream in particular, I just wanted to talk to her. Tomorrow was the reaping, and I didn't know how many more years, much less how many more days we would have with each other, so I wanted to sit by her side and just be positive about things. Happiness with my sister was the best medicine for my fears.

When the day progressed, however, my brain needed another distraction from the fear of the Games. Sure, talking to Nessie had held me over for a while, but it wouldn't keep my mind off of it forever. I decided that I needed to go for a walk, so, after eating breakfast that morning, that's exactly what I did. As soon as I stepped outside, the warmth of the sun hit my skin, and a smile crossed my face. This would definitely be a nice distraction.

As I walked, I followed a couple of blue butterflies that seemed to be chasing one another. I don't know how long it was exactly that I walked for, but eventually, I found myself in a field of wildflowers, chasing the butterflies all around as they fluttered about in their beautiful, innocent state. I wish I could be as innocent as them, but I have things in my life, just like anyone else in the Districts of Panem that just so happens to prevent complete innocence from being possible. Some days, I wish I could just fly free.

Eventually, something else caught my eye, distracting me from the pretty little insects that I'd been chasing about the field. There was another young girl who was likely the same age as myself, sitting down among the wildflowers, weeping like I had this morning. I didn't recognize the girl herself, but I certainly recognized someone who needed a friend and some support when I saw it. I wanted to be there for this girl, so that's exactly what I was going to do. Taking a seat beside her, I sat there for a moment to see if she'd notice me. She didn't seem to have realized that I was there, so I decided to take a bit of a different approach. I'd sing her a little bit of a song.

"You are not alone," it was a slow yet soothing tune. "I've been here the whole time singing you a song. I will carry you, I will carry you." My mother had sang this song to me before when I was upset, and it often made me feel better.

I wanted to be the support that this girl may have needed like my sister was for me this morning. Even if this girl didn't want to talk, necessarily, I'd be a shoulder for her to cry on.

I stopped singing and spoke to her kindly.

"If you need someone to talk to, I'm here." I told her this, wanting to be a friend to her more than anything else. I just wanted to help.

word count: 1038
lyrics: "Carry You" by Ruelle ft. Fleurie

[D'Arcy Mason d6b [Tyler]]

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D'ARCY MASON
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As the red-haired girl began to sing, D'Arcy felt the magic in the words. She sang a slow and soft melody, a song D'Arcy had never heard before. She could feel the words hanging in the air around them as if to shield them from the rest of the world. As if to let them exist, even if only for the time, in a state of comfort.

Slowly, D'Arcy's tears stopped, and the overwhelming sense of being trapped was being replaced with a feeling of safety. She looked around at the flowery field and tried to soak up as much of the beauty as she could. The late summer flowers danced lazily in the breeze, a waltz of violets and burgundies. The early leaves of Autumn drifted in their warm reds and yellows towards the ground. The soft blue of butterfly wings bounced among the rest, and D'Arcy found herself smiling. Her fear had left her in the darkness, but the song had let her see look past the dark and see the mosaic of colour that was her world.

Soon the girl stopped singing, but D'Arcy held on to the calm that her song had brought with it. She turned at last to get a proper look at her new companion. She was rather small, just like D'Arcy. She was probably the same age too, although her petite frame accentuated her youthful look. The red hair D'Arcy had noticed was framed around a pale face. Her eyes were a piercing blue. As D'Arcy realized these blue eyes were looking directly at her, she got the feeling that they were able to see through her outer shell and find the deepest truths that were hidden inside. When she spoke, her voice was filled with kindness.

"If you need someone to talk to, I'm here."

It was an invitation into friendship, an invitation to be vulnerable with the girl full of song. For a moment, D'Arcy hesitated. She was used to being the one to be there for others. To help coax Evvie out from her tears. To keep Cecily from being too reckless. And now that she was the one who needed someone else, she wasn't sure how to navigate this new role. As the worrying thoughts about the reaping returned to the front of her mind, her smile began to fade again and the cold hands of fear began to tendril once more through her body.

No. Fear wasn't going to ruin her again.

She had to talk about it. She couldn't let the fear take hold of her like that again. She had to rise above it, so that the icy hands couldn't grab hold of her insides and tear her apart anymore. Perhaps if she spoke through her fears to this girl, she wouldn't have to tackle the fear all on her own.

D'Arcy opened her mouth to vent out her fears, and paused. Perhaps to vent so much right off the bat was too much. When she opened her mouth again, she found a question had formed on her lips.

"How do people handle it? How do people get through the reaping each year?" As D'Arcy said it, she realized it had been a question bugging her for months. Every adult she knew had gone through the 7 years of reaping eligibility. Her own parents had once been eligible to be reaped. How do they cope? How do they go on to have children only to have them placed through the turmoil that comes with reaping? She continued. "I'm so nervous that I'm going to be reaped. I'm sure most people are. But how do they go on each year knowing they'll have to face it again?" Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes again. She felt childish in asking these questions, but as the tears welled up in her eyes at each one, she also felt the icy grip on her insides weakening.

Perhaps this girl could help her get rid of it once and for all.

[WC: 669]