JOSH

• "Hey mom!" Josh shouted, "I'm going out for a bit!"

Annie scurried in, "where are you going?" She asked.

"A couple of guys from school are hanging out at the beach tonight." Josh replied.

"I'm not so sure if you should go. The beach can be dangerous at night. Thieves, killers..."

"Come on mom! Why won't you ever let me do anything!"

Josh shouted.

"Josh, please..." Annie pleaded. Ever since Josh turned 13 he had been more insistent on having more independence, leading to many fights similar to this one.

"Don't. Just don't. This is what happens every time, well it's gonna be different this time. I'm leaving, and I don't care what you say!"

Josh turned and stormed out.

"Josh..."

Annie shouted after him but he just kept running. He ran all the way to the woods beyond the fence and kept running. Tears streamed down his face, not tears of regret but of anger.

"Why is she so protective of me?" He thought

"I'm 14, she has to let me go! I can't stay here forever!" Josh ran for hours, past district 5 before he stopped by a stream. He threw off his shirt and shoes and jumped into the cool water. Water had always helped to calm him down. Josh stood in the cool water, letting it loosen his limbs and calm him. He stood there for an hour, watching the sun go down. Seeing the colors change the sky from its usual blue to a collage of oranges and pinks. Then Josh walked out of the water and pulled his shoes back on, but he left the shirt on the ground, letting the cool night breeze run over his bare skin. He continued walking, thinking of where he would go.

"12" he thought.

"dad had friends in 12. What were their names? Katniss and Peeta? Yeah, that's it. I'll go out to 12..."

ANNIE

* Within a day search parties were out searching for the missing teen. None of them managed to find him. Annie blamed herself for Josh's running away.

"I was too strict, I, I just didn't want to lose him..."

Everybody told her that this was normal with teens, they all have a rebellious streak, but Annie knew this was different. She knew Josh wasn't planning on coming back.

JOSH

• Josh had been walking for awhile now and was beginning to have second thoughts. He hadn't had much to eat, because he hadn't planned on going far. His stomach was screaming for food, but he ignored it. He was determined to make it to 12. He thought he was somewhere around 9 or 10 but he wasn't even sure. Everything kind of blended together, time, environment. Josh had left his shirt at the steam and his shoes had gotten so worn out he had taken them off and left them. Josh would occasionally see hovercrafts flying overhead, looking for him he assumed.

"They'll never find me" he thought dully. He was dehydrated and exhausted, physically and mentally.

"I can't stop" he kept telling himself, "if I stop I won't want to get going again."

Josh was regretting leaving his shirt at the stream. As he got closer to the outlying districts it began to get colder, this was the only way he was able to tell where he was. Josh took a step forward and fell. He had walked off a drop off. It was only a few feet but his leg fell under him and made a sickening snapping sound, pain shot through his body. Josh bit his lip and tried to stand up but fell on the first attempt, slamming his head into a rock as he fell. "I'm going to die..." Josh thought, then he lost conscious.

So...Long time no see...

I almost have the next chapter finished but I was reading through the story and noticed how badly written parts were. I'm going to go through and rewrite. Rereading isn't needed, it's all small changes like formatting and how the story flows. I should have the next chapter up by next week hopefully...

Alex