This is my response to Alissa Leonard’s ‘Finish That Thought‘ challenge:

Start with: Three strangers appeared on my [doorstep], and in their [hands] they brought death.

Include: Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes and Katniss Everdeen (my choice from a list)

Three strangers appeared on my doorstep, and in their hands they brought death. Three figures in black cloaks – it was all very Harry Potter to be honest, I thought they’d be darker. That they’d make me feel scared, nervous, but there was nothing. No feeling there at all. Just a dull, numbing sensation which was hard to shake off…but maybe it was best not to do so.  I knew why they were there, I had little time left, I’d known for a while.

It’s hard not to notice the cold rushes. Not to notice the intermittent blackouts where I couldn’t remember what I had done for the previous few hours. Time and time again I had ignored them. So now, now it’s too late. Too late to say goodbye. Too late to tell them I love them.

I don’t know why I’m so calm. Maybe because I know it shouldn’t hurt. They take one person each year to satisfy the hunger of the One. Without fail, like clockwork, one person just disappears. We don’t know who it is ’til they’re gone. Only the chosen knows, and by the time they work it out it’s too late.

The first takes your soul. The second takes your mind. The third, it takes what’s left. Your body. Your broken, empty shell.

There’s no possible second chance like Sherlock Holmes knew he had. Though that sort of opportunity would be good, I’m sure I won’t be coming back. No miracles this time.

My death won’t stop the sacrifices, I wish it could, but it won’t. So just one last thing. There is a small amount of hope. One thing my subconscious must have fed my mind while my clock kept ticking down until d-day. Katniss Everdeen. In 74 years of tradition, she was the only one to have said no. So if that worked in Panem, then why can’t it work in my own world?

I lifted my head, the head I had bowed to accept my fate, but not anymore. Staring them down, and hoping it would give me life after Death, I let that powerful, one syllable word leave my lips:

“No.”

Thanks for reading,
Anna x