A drabble for the last competition on the Hogwarts Online forum.
Theme: Running
Prompts: "The hands of time tick against us" muscles, tears, blood, sweat, Victory.
Okay, so I didn't make the deadline, I didn't use the quote in dialogue like it was meant to be, and this is about 160 words, though it was supposed to be at least 400 for the challenge. I don't care though – this challenge gave me hell, and just having something to publish feels like a small victory ;)
They tear through the Ministry, racing after victory – and still it evades them. Slipping, sliding away... a children's game. Bella would taste the thrill, the yearn for blood, the yearn to grab, to take, to claim victory. This buzz is ever so familiar to her, but today she has no breath to draw in with sharp delight. Today the hands of time are ticking against her; her muscles are burning, sweat tickling her forehead, her robes clinging to her back, and her legs might give way at any moment.
(she pushes on, pushes forward, she has no right to fall)
Her eyes are stinging with tears, and fiercelyfiercely she imagines the girls crying, the boys screaming, their delightful agony. It fills and fulfills her – it drives her forward, and she knows that she won't fall.
(because Azkaban won't have broken her)
They come to a sudden halt. Their race is over, and the time has come – their fate is written now.