The Hunger games - I'm still breathing (Everlark)

Chapter 11

The world is dark around me. I see nothing, I feel nothing.
Then the black walls begin to crack and tremble and a burning light filters through the gaps. I shield my eyes from the blinding light and when I open them again, I'm in the woods. The trees are lush and green, towering over me.
I feel a force pulling me into the air. I feel weightless and free and wonder if this is how the birds feel when they are soaring through the sky.
I hear the giggles of children above me and turn my head upwards to see two little girls perched on a branch.
The girl with dark skin on the left has unruly brown ringlets. A crown of Ivory and Bluebells lace through her hair. Her mouth is formed in a perfect 'O' shape as a sweet melody is released from her lips.
The girl on the right has pale skin and flushed cheeks. Her hair is in two perfect plaits down her back, not a strand out of place. She holds a single Buttercup in her hand.
They could not look more different, these two girls.
Wild and tame.

Messy and neat.

Rue and Prim.
They both stare down at me, smiles illuminating their faces. They beckon me to them, their arms extended down to me.
As I lift my arms to grasp their hands, I feel whatever force holding me up begin to dissipate beneath me. My arms flail around in the air and some how mange to clamp on to another branch beneath the girls. I cling to the branch for dear life, holding back a scream.
"Katniss!" I hear the girls cry. I look above me again and see that their smiles have vanished, replaced by a stricken look of fear. They try to reach their arms down even further to help me up.
I go to reach for them but before our hands can touch, a voice from below startles me.
"Katniss no!"
I look down and see Peeta's anxious face staring up at me. Three other figures emerge from the trees surrounding us. Haymitch, my mother and... and Gale?
No, he played a part in killing my sister. No, I can't trust him to catch me if I fall.
I yank myself up on the branch again, stretching my hand out for Prim.
"Katniss, no! Please don't leave me," I hear Peeta wailing, his voice desperate.
I am torn, half of me wanting nothing more than to be with my sister, the other half frantic to fall into Peeta's safe arms. How can I live in a world without my sister? How can I leave the boy who needs me behind?
I scream in frustration, my fingers slipping, unable to hold on for much longer.
"It's okay to let go Katniss," Prim smiles down at me. Tears silently trickle down her face and splash on to my tiring hands.
"No Prim," I sob, trying for the last time to reach for her. Our fingers just touch, before my whole body is zapped of energy and gravity pulls me down to earth.
Prim blows me a kiss and waves sadly at me. Rue's song fills the air once again, this time with a more somber tune.

I feel warm arms wrap around me, breaking my fall. They rub my small hands with their larger, rougher ones. Heat fills my frozen body and I hear a boy's muffled voice, telling me he's sorry, telling me to stay with him.

One word fills my mangled mind.

Always.