The Fifth Annual Writer Games: The Fall

The Fall of Man - Nerida Cresswell

There are stories we tell in Four. Some of them have lasted centuries; some will last the years to come.

The strangest things become stories, sometimes: a sailor who spots a strange clump of rocks might turn it into a siren, or a mysterious island might become the home of an angry goddess, waiting to exactly her revenge onto all the men who've wronged her. But there are beautiful stories, too, moving ones about families and friendships and struggles and love. These are the most human of stories, and it's these that people will tell as long as they breathe, for these are the ones that speak to them.

Monsters are fascinating, yes, but it is not on them we dwell. Humans are selfish by nature, and so we speak of ourselves.

There was a girl, once, long ago. Our land was a different place, a land ravaged by violence committed in the memory of violence, ruled by the most twisted and senseless sort of justice. You may have heard of it before, in another story: this province of Quatrain was then known by its early name, District Four, and we suffered under the cruel grip of a ruling nation so heartless it sent our children to fight each other. These were hard times, painful times, and only the most resilient survived them. The battles lasted seventy-five years, and the country then known as Panem stayed united for another forty-two after that. The rest, you already know. We cover it in schools when we tell the founding of the Western Nation. But stories of the Red Days are restricted to the bonfires, and this story is perhaps the most beautiful and mysterious of them all.

There is not much we still know about the girl. We know not her name, nor her face; all we know is that she had a drive for adventure, and that, when she loved, she did so with the entirety of her heart—even when she loved many at once.

This girl, more than anything, loved the sea. It was the fondest of her memories, the favourite of her sights, and the backdrop of her dreams. Her love for the sea comprised not only of its coasts or its beaches, but of its vast, unexplored mystery. She longed to travel it, to see what might lie beyond the horizon in the distance, and she knew that, one day, she'd discover it. But she had another mystery, one even more dangerous than the sea, and, despite her family's best warnings, she resolved to explore it before the sea.

When she arrived into the fight, ready to discover it and its mysteries, she found herself in over her head. The violence was more than she expected, but so were the friendships. She grew to care about the people she was with, and, as the girl was wont to, she fell in love with them—and they with her, too.

They were happy, for a while, but as time came along the fight took its effect. She watched them die, one by one, or watched them turn on each other as paranoia set in. She herself abandoned some of them, frazzled by the fight and the confusion it creates. And, though she came out in the end, she was never the same.

When she got home, the girl was greeted with memories everywhere she looked. Each bonfire looked like a partner, each piece of metal, each breeze, every rock reminded her of a lover. She couldn't bear to look at them, couldn't stand to see all she had lost, and the home she had once loved became unbearable. Even her family could not bring back the joy for which she'd once been known.

The girl knew she had but one love left: the one she'd held closest to her heart, growing up. The sister she held so dear begged her not to go, reminded her of what happened the last time the girl had gone to adventure, but she would not listen. She set out to sea ten days later, armed with nothing but her sailboat, an oar, and the supplies she'd packed.

She left on a beautiful day, and the entirety of her town gathered to see her go. They waited and waited, until years passed and they realized she'd never be seen again. Some feared she'd drowned. Others thought she'd found a new land, a place without the violence and misery her own country had left her.

As for me? I simply hope she's happy.