1 year later…
The small baby girl cooed in my frail arms, it’s soft skin wrestling around in them. The faint sound of water dripping from the sink upstairs made the house peaceful. Windows were draped over with violet curtains that blocked out the night sky.
The baby looked like Abraham. From the soft brown hair right to his icy cold eyes. I couldn’t help but let my mind wander on what it would be like if we hadn’t be reaped. We probably woudn’t have talked to each other. Ever. In a way being reaped was a good thing. Although, I lost the love that could never be replaced, I found a new love. Lily. Our child. I hope she would turn out like Abe. Brave and caring.
I missed him so much.
I could could feel his presence. Abe was near. Watching over me and our little girl. Forever.
“I love you.” I whispered, wrapping a downy blanket around myself, stroking the side of Lily’s tiny head.
The fire was definitely on.
“Hurry!” I shouted at Fleur as my feet scrambled out from underneath me. The sound of the Career tributes grew louder. “Faster.” I watched as Fleur sped past me. The Cornucopia was in sight, the bright metal glistened in the sunlight.
“C’mon.” Fleur demanded, landing onto the flat patch of grass where the cornucopia lay. “Grab any weapons. It’s three against two, but we’ll have the upper hand if we have something to kill them with.” I nodded in agreement and tore through the grass.
‘This is it.’ I thought to myself, looking over at Fleur. ‘This is the day you will die. You will die for your love.’ A tall figure appeared inside of the cornucopia. The blonde boy, from District 2. The muscles in his bare chest popped out slightly, a smug smirk appearing on his face. Fleur stayed close to my side, glaring back at the boy. If looks could kill they would already be dead. There was no way I could ever take him on. It was like comparing a tornado to a drizzly day. Maybe if we made a move towards the woods; no. We were surrounded. A drip fell onto my nose. The blonde boy looked up as the rain started to shower us. Now was my chance to make a move.
Letting out a small yelp, I rammed my head into the boy’s abdomen, knocking him into the ground. Everyone, then, began fighting to the death.
My legs wrapped around blondie’s head, trying to squeeze as much as I could. My spear. It was just a couple of feet away but his fingernails dug into the pasty skin that was wrapped around my neck. Blood trickled down it. I could tell because it was spread across my thighs and hands. My hands gripped onto his thick head of hair, pulling as hard as I could. Eleven pounds of pressure. That’s all I needed to smoother him.
‘Harder.’ I pressed harder. ‘For Fleur.’ I pressed as hard as I could. His fingers loosened, one hand falling onto my lap. His whole body fell limp.
Canon.
A sharp wail cracked through the air, like lightning. The female from Two. A dart poked out of her eye socket, her hand wrapped around Fleur’s throat. The boy lay beside them, wounded. My heart hammered against my fragile body. ‘Oh hell no.’
I raced towards the boy, my abdomen aching with pain. ‘You can do it.’ The boy turned his head, giving me a sorry look. He closed his eyes and a canon boomed. My heart fell into my stomach before I could realize there was one more to go.
Another canon went off. Fleur!
Fleur stood, triumphant, as two fell to her knees. My heart stopped. She did it. She can live…
Then a few things raced through my mind. How would I kill myself? Hammer? Rock? Maybe Fleur would do it. It would be easier that way.
I felt two arms wrap around my shoulders, a series of weeps, cries, laughter and sniffles advanced from her lips and nose. I rubbed Fleur’s back. No words would come out.
“Please don’t leave me.” she mourned into the collar of my shirt. “Please.”
“I have to go now… No matter where you are, I’ll always be there. Forever. The fire will always be on.” I couldn’t help but let a few tears roll down my red cheeks. The cool blade slit my skin. The pocketknife I had stuck in my shirt. My throat bled out. A canon boomed.
Death…
The morning sun gleamed down onto Fleur’s famished skin. The hunger had really got to us. I felt fragile and weak, the bones in my hands stuck through. I had become anemic.
Fleur nestled closer to me, her diminutive hand wrapped around my thumb. She was still perfect, in every way, though she lacked her spark. Slowly, I ran my fingers through her matted, crimson hair. Her eyes flew open, bloodshot and weary. Her fulgent smile had burned out and faded long ago. Everybody’s did. Her eyelids shut again, her arms accelerating her body foreward and up.
”How many days has it been?” she inquired, letting her branch like legs fall over the side of our rock. Her eyes cross examined me before her chin sunk down to her collarbone.
”I’ve lost count…It’s been a couple of days, maybe a week.” My stomach roared of starvation. We both had tried to hunt, pick a few plants. We gave up when we didn’t catch anything nor gathered. The two of us had figured all of the plants we had collected were poisonous.
”I just want it to be over.” Her head fell in my lap, her eyes secured.
”I know. It will be, soon. You’ll live on and have a wonderful life.” Her head waggled in my lap.
”No. I don’t want to live anymore. I want to die, here… now.” I felt tears surge up to my eyes, a big lump in my throat like I had swallowed a dry pill that the healer would give you.
”Don’t say that.” I susurrated. I couldn’t talk loud. It would all come up. “Please, just let me go.”
The silence was deafening as we sat there.
“Let’s at least try to win. For our families. Please.” I was then embraced by Fleur, her arms wrapped around my shoulders. “We can do this.” I kissed Fleur’s forehead gently and pulled away, hopping off of the rock which had been used as a bed for a few days. My feet landed smoothly on the flat ground as I reached my hand around and extended it out to Fleur.
-
“Hunting can’t be that hard.” I admitted, taking a quaff out of the canteen. The cold liquid moistened my mouth as it ran down my throat. I handed the canteen to Fleur and proceeded to walk on. “I just we’ll have to wait around for something.”
We both took a seat behind a large bush that was covered in purple flowers with a green centre. The rustling of the bushes probably scared off any surrounding animals.
Sweat beads started to form on the palms of my hands right where my spear rested. I couldn’t help but wipe it onto my beige pant leg. The sweat mark slowly faded as the sun grew hotter and stonger. Soon, my whole body was bathing in sweat.
A smile appeared on my face as I poked Fleur on her forearm, nodding my head towards the small turkey that had waddled into sight. Finally, something edible. Before I could throw my spear, a knife was flying through the air, towards the turkey. In a flash, the knife jabbed into the turkey’s throat. My head gradually turned to Fleur who had an accomplishing smirk spread across her face.
She stood up and walked towards the dead animal, pulling the knife out and wiping the blood on her pant leg which was stained with other various substances.
“Where’d you learn to do that?” I asked her. All I had ever saw her do in training is fiddle around with ropes and inspect weapons. She had quite the arm.
“While you were having fun with your spear I thought I should try something else.” She kicked up her leg up delightfully and leaned over to grab the turkey by it’s neck. The turkey’s head hung low as it’s gobble flopped with every step. I felt kind of bad for it. We took it’s life to save ours. I quickly got over the thought as soon as my stomach started to rumble.
The feathers we’re quite difficult to pull out. I remember how the design team had pulled my hair while they we’re making me look ‘presentable’. It hurt, a lot. I didn’t want the turkey’s ghost to be wincing as I plucked away it’s fluff.
-
The fire crackled violently as the flames flickered high. The turkey was sitting, cut up on the rocks that surrounded the sea of flames. I fiddled with the twine that I had found tied to a bush. I tentatively weaved the feathers through the twine, letting them slide down in a row. My mind instantly went to the bracelet Fleur had given to me the night before we were to be in the arena. This was for her. I tied the end together and held the necklace out, examining it for flaws. ‘Good enough.’ I thought to myself.
I toddled towards Fleur who was starring into the orange flames. Her face had dropped again. No emotion. What so ever. Taking a seat beside her, I reached my arms around her neck, slipping the loose necklace onto her.
“They’re going to come look for us. It’s only a matter of time. They’ve probably already started hunting for us.” I knew she was right. She always was.
“I guess we better put this fire out then.” I poured the rest of the canteen over the base of the vigorous fire. Wrapping the fresh meat up in a new leaf, I left a few pieces for Fleur and I. She quietly took a piece and nibbled it.
-
The sun shone energetically upon us as we walked closer to the cornucopia. I stopped.
“Wait.” I whispered, my toes wiggling in my shoes. “Shouldn’t we plan this?”
Silence.
“I mean, shouldn’t we have some knowledge of how they are going to attack us. Like, their strategies?”
“I suppose. I mean, if we’re going to die, we might as well die with dignity.” It hurt me to know that she thought like that. It made me furious, in all honesty.
“For god’s sake, stop talking like that! You are the most important thing to me and all you do it talk about how we are going to loose. Have a little faith!” I shouted, my eyebrows furrowing. “I love you.” There, now I had done it.
More silence.
I honestly didn’t know what to say after that. So, I walked on, Fleur still at my side. The absence of sound overwhelmed the area.
“Over there!” shouted an unfamiliar male voice. Fleur and I turned to each other. We bolted.
The walloping bee hovered around the flower as Fleur slept, pollonating the other plants near us. It looked like the size of a large boulder, a yellow and black striped boulder. The stinger was about as long as my spear, which I gripped tightly in my hand. I reached my arms out to Fleur, shaking her furiously.
“Wake up!” I shouted, my eyes locked on the whale-of-a-bug beside us. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at me with a puzzled expression. “We have to run.” The bee gradually buzzed towards our bed, his stinger heading towards our faces.
The bee stuck the stinger into the bed of the flower, continuing to do so in other parts.
“C’mon!” I clamoured as she quickly grabbed her belongings. ‘Don’t run.’ I thought to myself as both of our feet hit the ground. Back at home, if there was a bee, I would usually try to swat it away or move; resulting in getting stung. If you just left them alone, they usually would do the same. However, it’s a genetically mutated bee. Made by the Capitol, whom you should not trust.
Well, I guess I should not trust anything since it was bumbling towards us. Fleur and I sprinted down the long entrances of the forest’s gate. The buzzing was getting closer as we stopped in front of the lake that we had collected our water from. Without hesitation, I jumped, diving into the frigid body of water. A plunge splashed beside me as Fleur’s body hit the water. My arms and legs flailed underneath me as I tried to keep my head above water.
Her arms wrapped around my shoulders. “Calm down” she whispered, silently in my ear. “I’ve got you.” Fleur slowly but steadily reeled me onto the land again. The loud buzz of the bee was now faint and off into the distance.
“How did you learn to swim like that?” I asked her, my chest rising up and down as I tried to catch my breath. She wiped a few strands of wet hair out of my eyes.
“Ottoline suggested I watch a few of the games for reference. I noticed when the boy from District 4 was catching fish, he moved deeper into water. All you had to do was kick gently and move your arms.” I was shocked at how observing she was. I would have never spotted that.
“Thanks.” I said as I wiped the water from my forehead onto my arm. I motioned my head towards the large tree trunk, noticing there was a gaping hole in it. I stood up and crouched back down, looking inside of it. “In here.”
It was large enough to fit us two, tightly. I let her go in first, following. We both sat down in silence, listening to the night.
“I’ll take first watch.” Fleur whispered. I didn’t have any objections. I drifted off…
-
I was awaken by the agile touch of Fleur’s hand on my back. My body shot up.
“Is there anything wrong?” I asked her, letting my eyes graze outside.
“No.” she giggled quietly. “It’s almost sunset. We should make food.” The world outside was beautiful. The trees and willows danced gracefully, the water rippled with life and off in the distance the sky was orange and pink. We had survived the first night.
I nodded my head in agreement and poked it through the opening. No animals or tributes. We both stepped outside, Fleur tightening her ponytail that hung low and I running my fingers through my grungy hair. I liked my hair better like this. It reminded me of home and not of the Capitol.
“Let’s go collect some wood to start the fire with. Not much, though. We don’t want other tributes to spot us.”
-
I stepped into our temporary camp when I found Fleur had already made a little fire. “Give me more wood.” she ordered, holding her hand out. I placed a log into it and watched as she arranged them. Pulling the deer out of my bag, I unwrapped it, slid a stick into the soft flesh and held the meat over the fire.
Both of our stomachs gurgled with pain as the sweet smell of meat filled the air. Fleur sat next to me, her head on my shoulder and hands on her knees.
“I’m so hungry.” she moaned, tacitly.
“Just don’t think about it. Look, see. It’s almost cooked.” The meat had browned all the way through as I pulled it out of the fire, tearing it apart with my fingers. I handed half to Fleur and the other half I took. I tried to eat slow but managed to gobble it down in a matter of seconds. Fleur did the same.
My heart pounded as a canon went off. The sound made me remember why we were here. I cocked myself up and stomped out the fire.
“We have to move.” She approved. We walked into the dark forest.
-
Our hands matched each others perfectly. Her thumb brushed mine as the forest became enchanted. The sky was purple, mixed with bits of white and black. The grass blew peacefully among the purple and green plants. To the right of us was a waterfall. It was glowing with blue and white light. It sort of looked like something you’d find in a fairytale. No. It was better than a fairytale. Far in the horizon you could see the moon.
“Can we stay here tonight? Please. It’s so beautiful.” Fleur inquired.
“Yes. I mean, if I die, I’d want it to be here.” I rolled my eyes around the area. “Up here.” I let my arms fold around her waist as I lifted her overhead, elevating her onto a floating, yes floating, rock; hopping up myself. The top of the rock was mossy, a couple of itsy flowers popped out of it.
“You sleep.” I murmured, letting Fleur’s head rest in my lap. The Panem National Anthem blasted across the arena, faces beginning to appear in the sky. The boy from District 1, and the girl from District 10. 18 were dead. Only 6 alive. A rush of hope filled me. I couldn’t think about dying right now. I had to focus on what was happening in this moment. Fleur. At least we would sleep safe.
A cold breeze hit my warm skin as Fleur and I took a seat on a hard branch which was leaning against the tree that it had fallen from. The sky had turned dark blue and the sun had settled.
As Fleur panted silently, I pulled the bag off of my back and opened it slowly. I was half expecting it to be a trick, some creature jumping out and tearing off my face, but to my relief it was a bag of goods. I pulled them out one by one;
A thick piece of rope that was tied together with a lighter one.
A tiny first aid kit.
A pocket knife, which I quickly threw in the pocket of my jacket.
A small metal container.
And finally, a canteen.
It felt heavy and filled with something. My head flipped towards Fleur as I opened the bottle, letting a drip fall onto my wrist in case it was something other than water. The cool drip slid across my wrist and dropped down onto my loose pants. It was water. I held the bottle up to Fleur’s lips and let her take a few sips. She took the bottle in both of her hands and closed her eyes, letting the water pour into her mouth.
“Hey there, save me some.” The bottle escaped her lips and found it’s way to mine. The water dripping down my throat felt spectacular, the cold sensation filling my body. My un-moistened mouth, now, quenched. All thoughts of dehydration were adrift.
“Can we just find shelter and look for water in the morning? Please?” Fleur asked, letting her head fall onto my shoulder. I shook mine.
“We need to keep going. We need a water source.” I said, letting my arm wrap around her shoulders, pulling her into my chest. “Do you think you can make it until we find one?” Fleur stood up, tiredly. She held her hand out to me. I took and it stood up.
-
I could mildly hear the sound of light ripples splashing together in the small distance. Gently, I nudged Fleur to give her a boost of energy. “Do you hear that?” I asked, stopping to hear it better. Fleur shook her head and the world around us went silent. Crickets chirped and wind blew, light splashing in the background.
“Yeah.” she said. We both took off, our feet darting out from under us. We tore threw vines and plants, the sound of water getting closer and the breeze getting snappier. We stooped as we reached the edge of the lake. The water was gleaming light blue. The sand underneath was light brown, little minnows bathed graciously in the majestic body of water. Kneeling down I pulled out the canteen, filling it with water. I looked over at Fleur who was cupping her hands, about to scoop up some water. Quickly, I removed her hands from a cup, watching the water splash out.
“We have to boil it first, not now though.” I stood and watched as a few small deer gathered around the lake to feed. A smile arose from Fleur’s face.
“Don’t trust them.” I said. I took the spear in my hand, clasping it steadfastly. My arm swung forcefully towards the dear, the cuspate end hitting the deer’s soft stomach. It fell over in pain and I ran to it, leaning down. I pulled the weapon out and stabbed it in again to fully kill the animal. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the knife, cutting up little chunks of deer and placing them into a large leaf that had fallen from one of the trees overhead.
“…If it comes down to the two of us, I want you to win.” I heard Fleur mumble, a few feet behind me. My heart sank and a big lump was caught in my throat.
“I won’t let that happen.” I started cutting the deer faster, throwing them carelessly into the leaf now.
“Why?” Fleur asked.
“Because…I lo..” Something inside of myself stopped me from saying it. I knew it was true. “Just because.” I watched as she walked over and sat beside me, helping me fold the leaf and tying the small, thin piece of string that we had found in my pack.
-
We had decided to stay close to the water since it was our best chance of surviving. The air had turned cool and the moonlight shone upon our faces as we searched for shelter.
Silence filled the night as we stopped infront of a huge looking flower that was no less than six feet. The petals were a mixture of dark and light shades of pink, the center of the flower was white. My hand grasped the branch as I shook it lightly, making sure it was sturdy enough to hold the two of us.
I held my hand out to Fleur, inviting her onto the temporary bed we would be resting in. She placed her bony hand into mine and I swooped up her fragile body. I could feel her ribs poke into my side lightly as I lifted her onto the petals. Once she was up I enclosed my hands around the edge of the flower and slowly lifted myself on. I quickly moved to the center of the flower with Fleur.
“I’ll watch first.” I whispered to her as she agreed. Her head lay down comfortably on the rope which she had pulled out of the pack for a pillow.
-
The combination of crickets, chirping and Fleur’s breathing somehow made this place seem, perfect, almost. I watched Fleur. Everything was peaceful, except for a loud buzzing that became more fremescent by the second. I turned.
