Pyo -- Fifteen -- District Four
i'm like an ocean-- i can't be stirred by a teaspoon
i'm like an ocean-- i can't be stirred by a teaspoon
“It’s a she and she’s my little sister.”, Bora answered, a bit flattered on what the boy offered. She knew it was strange to just believe his words like that, for God’s sake, they just met! Something inside her heart told her to just believe him and if she do get chosen, just leave Soo Na to him. “You’re such a nice person, for a stranger.”
She nodded. “Uh huh, I do. People may see you as a joke just by a glance, but well, if they spend some time with you, like I do now, they wouldn’t see you like that.”, Bora explained some more. “I don’t know if I want to form an alliance or not if I ever get chosen. You’d grow more closer to the person and at the end… You still have to kill them.”, her throat felt dry as she said the sentence. It was unimaginable. To kill your own friend even though you both were chosen to do so? One of the Capitol’s cruelty.
Bora was just looking over to Pyo as he said something about the waves when suddenly, her body fell into the water, not enough time for her to closer her eyes. She swam up to the surface and tried to get the stingy water out of her eyes. “You douche!”, she laughed and splashed some water to Pyo.
“Little sister? How cute! I’ve always wanted a sibling, you know.. She must be nice to have around, huh?” He said with a smile. Pyo always loved kids, their energy level was usually about the same, and he got along with most people, so it could be fun— hopefully though, Bora didn’t get picked. As nice as it would be to meet the girl, the reasons behind it wouldn’t be too great. ”Thanks.. You seem pretty nice yourself.”
Pyo sighed lightly, shrugging his shoulders, “Well, maybe.. I mean, I usually don’t have conversations like this, I know people, but we don’t get close, but this is nice..” He said, trailing off as he thought about it. When was the last time Pyo had a serious conversation? Probably with his dad, but, that still was ages ago. “Oh.. That’s a good point, but maybe for a little while, just to make sure I survived the first day.. After that, It’d be nice to just be free.. Or as free as you can be in the games.” How the capitol controlled innocent kids, ‘Why not just kill us before making us do such horrible things..?’ Pyo thought.
With a laugh, Pyo watched as Bora surfaced, moving an arm in front of his face to block the splashing, “Whaaat?! It wasn’t me! You just weren’t looking when the wave came!” He continued to laugh, shaking his head a little, “Okay, okay, I’m sorry! It was just too tempting~!”
She sat on the edge of the buoy with her eyes scanned the beach on the horizon. As courageous and daring they were, it wouldn’t be pretty if the Peacekeepers found out and what they would do? dive into the water until sunrise? Bora hummed quietly as she think of an answer for Pyo’s question. “I don’t know. I want to be in the Games, but I have that one person. I don’t know if I’m ready to leave her yet. She still needs me.”
“I think you could win if you volunteered or get chosen.”, Bora smiled down slightly to the boy, who was still in the water. “I bet you can survive and kill some of the other tributes, not to mention, maybe a Career.” The tides were high and she pulled up her legs to her chest, hugging them tightly with her arms.
Pyo glanced around, eyes dropping to the water for a moment, before back up, sighing lightly. ”Hm..? Well, if you ever get picked and I’m still here, I could maybe watch over that person for you? If there’s no one else I mean.. Who is the other person, if you don’t mind me asking? He or she must be really special to you.” Pyo tilted his head to the side, lightly kicking his legs.
“You really think? I hope so, it’d show people that I’m not just a joke.” He chuckled dryly, closing his eyes for a moment just to listen to the water. ”Yeah.. I think I’d be friendly enough to make a few alliances along the way, maybe that way I’d have an even better chance..” Pyo looked up at Bora, with a small smirk on his face.
“Omo.. Did you notice how big the waves can get late at night? Almost like..” He paused, pressing his palms flat onto the buoy, pushing it down just enough to tip it so that Bora would fall in the water, “..they could really push you off~” With a laugh, he watched Bora plop into the water.
“Ne…”, she whispered as an answer. Pyo was right. It was peaceful at night; no one could disturb you, even the Peacekeepers. They already had too much in their hands to deal with a couple of teenagers who sneaked out to the beach at night, more over to a secret place like Bora did. The warm water was already up to her calves and the soft sand tingled her legs to just jumped in already. “Ready?”
Without waiting for the boy’s answer, Bora plunged in and swam to the buoy. No matter how painful her nostrils were because of the salty water that got in, she wouldn’t want to stop. This was her escape, no need to destroy herself. If she got chosen at the next Reaping, she would just buckle herself up and go. Tell Soo Na that she would come back as the Victor. When she reached the buoy, she pulled herself out from the dark water and sat on the edge of it, waiting for the boy to catch up.
“So, you didn’t get chosen at the Reaping and we get another year of life. Do you have any plan if you do get chosen?”
The water was surprisingly warm for this time of night, Pyo sighed lightly, glancing around, somewhat paranoid someone would come and ruin the night— but he had nothing to worry about, he was barely able to come across this place, so what were the chances of someone else? Probably next to nothing. Pyo glanced at Bora as she spoke, nodding his head a little. “Yup.” He replied simply.
Watching the girl for a moment, Pyo took a deep breath before closing his eyes and jumping right into the water, he swam forward for a while, before opening his eyes. There was a small stinging feeling that came with the choice of opening his eyes under water, but Pyo didn’t mind much, he continued to swim toward the buoy where Bora was, stopping at one point to come up for air, gasping lightly. He wiped the water out of his face before proceeding to where she was.
Once he got to the buoy, Pyo flipped over, floating on his back as she spoke, “Mnn..” Pyo thought for a moment, not exactly sure how to answer, “Well, to be honest, I’m thinking about volunteering to go, it doesn’t sound too bad, even with the games, I’m curious as to what the capitol is like exactly.. If I get chosen though, my only plan is to try to win.. what about you?” He asked, turning over again and moving to the buoy, resting his arms on the edge.
“Okay, then. Pyo. Pyo. Pyo.”, she repeated his name with her eyes closed, trying to let his name absorbed to her memory. The boy, now known as Pyo, was too nice to just remind her that she had Soo Na to take care of her. Not to mention on how scared the little one was before the last Reaping.
Bora’s cheeks flushed a little when he said he noticed her around too. Mostly, when she was around the district, she would be dragging her sack of fish or flirting or again, being flirted by the boys. It would be embarrassing if Pyo saw her when she was being the usual Yoon Bora. She didn’t want people who saw her like this knew her daily life. When Pyo said the word ‘suicide’, it felt like someone twisted her gut. “Yes… And now… I’m just going to escape.”
She stood up and walked towards the water edge until her ankle was under the warm clear water. “You coming?”
He laughed a little as she said his name, “Neh, Bora Bora.. Bora.” He also repeated, the name seemed easy enough to memorize. Glancing around a little, the night sky looked so nice, almost too peaceful that this all felt like a dream— or rather, nightmare.
Pyo looked back at Bora, smiling a little with a nod. He thought back to when he’d seen her around, maybe just walking the beach or something simple, no memory stood out as to what she had been doing, but Bora’s face was definitely familiar to him. He blinked as she spoke, tilting his head to the side slightly, “Escape?”
Standing as well, Pyo slid his hands into his pockets, nodding a little as he jogged to the water, watching the water wash up onto the sand for a moment before stepping in, “Yeah.. It’s so nice out right now, don’t you think? I really should come out at night more often.”
When the boy talked about how she should live for that one person, her mind played some sort of a short movie about Soo Na. About how the both of them grew up together. About how Bora raised her for the last years. It was a bit of a surprise when he said he would be sad if she did die because she hardly knew about this boy. “Well… to make it easier, I shouldn’t introduce myself, but I’m Yoon Bora.”
“I’ve seen you around the district… but… Well… You don’t care about my being, so…”, she trailed off, not wanting to hurt the boy’s feeling. It was a matter of being polite, whether you know them or not. “I’m always alone out here. Like I said, this is a secluded part of the beach where anyone shouldn’t be able to see me, but… Maybe this is your lucky night.”
Watching the girl carefully, he adjusted a little in his spot, hoping that the one person who she thought cared would be enough to keep her alive, ‘I wonder what happened, and what can even push someone this far.. aish.’ He thought, blinking as she spoke, smiling a little, “Ah, what a nice name Bora; I’m Pyo Jihoon, everyone just calls me Pyo.”
With a small nod, he replied, “I think I’ve seen you around too, it’s hard to miss anyone in the District, especially with all the trade going on or, well you know.” He chuckled softly, for a moment he thought about the other districts— was it easy to recognize someone, or did they flat out ignore people. ”I see.. Well, it is nice to be out here at this time of night, and.. I think we’re both lucky. A lot of people are ready for suicide, but not everyone is ready for death, they just want to escape..” Suicide. That word seemed so harsh.
