A/N: *Heaves sigh* Whew! This was pretty difficult to write just because I had a hard time staying kind of distant and removed, without any "you"s or "I"s. Try it sometime and you'll see what I mean.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.
5. Break Away
It's empty here. Nobody's around. There's nothing to taste, see, hear, smell. No touching, either. No contact of any kind. Just… empty.
But not bad or lonely. Kind of calming and peaceful, like floating on water – except, of course, that there's no water to float on. It doesn't matter though.
The only things present are the memories, with no taste or sight or sound or scent. Not even a feel. They just are, like the indescribable way that an emotion is. The memories are more than emotion, more than anything tangible, even, because they're the last ties to the place that isn't empty.
There are people who are inside that place, existing within it for as long as they can. They don't notice the claustrophobia while they are there. Their faces are smooth, their limbs strong and supple, able to do almost anything. It's not until they turn to overripe fruits with wrinkles and hunching structures that they realize how enclosed they are, how the feeling and smelling and hearing and seeing and tasting is too much to bear. So they break away from it, as fast as they can, shedding nothing but salt water and skin.
And then, free as anything, they come to this blank place that's so blissfully empty.