Writers Games; Alliances

D12 Female - Seaver Parish - Task 5 [AnonymousRice4]

  I grit my teeth and clench a fist-full of hair in one hand, the handle of a knife in the other. I never really cared about my hair before, I hadn’t cut it in three years, and it has since grown well below my waist. My hair has never been my most attractive feature, aside from the fact that it’s a golden shade, it remains knotty and twisted most of the time. Now that things are beginning to change in the arena, it’s getting harder and harder to take care of all the little things we did on a day to day basis back home. It may not look like a big deal, but half your height in hair is no easy thing to take care of. It came down to two choices, either get rid of all this hair, or spend the better part of my day – when I could be hunting or sleeping – down by the stream washing it. I could always just throw it in a braid and leave it that way I suppose, but I felt it was time for me to face the music. I am no longer that girl I was back at home; I’ve changed, we all have. Perhaps now is the best time to make my appearance match my character.
     I slice through several inches of thick hair, unfortunately not as smoothly as I anticipated, ridding myself of half the problem. Gathering the rest of my hair on the other side of my head, I slice through it as well, watching the pieces fall down in ribbons. I then hand the knife over to Lumen, eyeing him with suspicion while he gently pulls the blade out from between my fingers.
    “Can you do the back?” I ask in a rather hostile tone. It’s not that I mean to be hostile toward him, it’s just part of who I am. I’m not very nice, and I know it. I’m rude, selfish, and sometimes a little reckless and independent. But I guess, being in the Games, that’s just how you have to be. Even if you weren’t that way to begin with (which I was), you start to slowly become that person over time.
    “Sure.” Lumen flips the knife, successfully catching it blade-up before taking our chained hands together to the back and gathering hair in his palm. I take slow, deep breaths to calm the sudden nervous feeling I get as he holds a knife to the back of my head. What if he ‘slips’ and cuts me? Or worse, stabs me and uses the knife I just handed him to carve the key out of my chest, thus freeing him from the bonds which hold us together? Would Lumen do that to me? I don’t know why, but since we’ve been in this alliance he hasn’t seemed to care much about it. I mean he’s grateful to be here and all, but, I get the feeling that if he didn’t have to he wouldn’t be.
     My back arches just the slightest bit, and a cool breeze brings tingles up my spine as my hair is sliced off and falls to the ground. A breath of relief escapes my lips as Lumen hands the knife back to me.
    “There you go.” He says plainly. I eye him as he returns to where he sat next to me, back leaned against a rock. I take my free hand and run my fingers through my hair; it feels strange when my fingers don’t keep going, catching on the knots entangled throughout my hair. Instead they drop; they reach an abrupt end, and fall to my shoulders. I breath deeply. There’s no going back form this.
   “Guys! Everyone, gather around.” We hear Tobias call to us. Although he stands in the middle of the camp as our sole speaker, Miles stands at his side saying nothing. Those two were lucky when they were made partners. They actually enjoy each other's company, unlike Lumen and I, when it’s always hostile. I know it’s not him who makes it hostile, it’s me. Most of the time he just sits, plays with his token, and stares at the sky like he’s dreaming of something. I am much too impatient for such things. Occasionally I will glance down at the necklace tied around my wrist, and remember something funny about Djaq, or Rarity, or even – I can never say his name, not even internally. It’s like a curse word, one Granny would slap right out of me. Even if it’s a beautiful name, I must never speak it.
    “I know we’ve all had a pretty rough night. The whole incident with Mira has probably put us all a little more on edge than we normally would be, considering.” Tobias begins the speech. He speaks of last night’s terrifying events, in which Mira was murdered by Ki, her partner whom she was chained to. I didn’t really see what happened, I suspect none of us really did. Mira had been on watch during the middle of the night-early morning hours, when we all woke up to screaming and stabbing noises. They were hideous sounds, the combination. Ki had evidently turned from her adorable, childlike innocence to a trashing maniac bent on killing everyone in our camp. Luckily we woke in time to stop her. Unfortunately not before she sliced and diced one of our allies. The whole thing seemed a little screwed up; she kept referring to someone named Eno. She’d scream, ‘save me Eno, save me! Protect me! Kill them all Eno.’ While we never found out who this ‘Eno’ was, it was clear Ki had some mental problems. Tobias speculated that Eno was a separate personality of Ki. I’d never seen that happen before, and hope I never will again. 
    “But it’s a new day, and as such, we should begin anew. If anyone has anything they want to say about Mira, or the incident, please, speak up. Don’t hold it in, that will only cause you more grief and pain later on. It can be dangerous to keep such emotions bottled up inside.” Tobias speaks in the most caring tone.
    “Oh my god, we’re in the Hunger Games. People die every day for god’s sake. Just let it go.” Jasper Flint – Amabel’s partner – retorts and shakes his head slowly. I picture him storming off, except he’s stuck here with Amabel chained to one of his arms.
    Tobias, at first unsure what to respond with, quickly regains his composure and finds an answer. “Well, this is true. I don’t expect you to have known this, Jasper, being that you’ve just joined the team. But Mira was more than just another tribute to us.” I frown, scrunching my eyebrows. What is he talking about? That’s exactly what Mira was. “I know, I know. Alliances – ” He pauses. “they’re always temporary. We enter into them knowing this. Some of us may have distanced ourselves from each other, and that’s understandable. But, another fact is, alliances are more than just a group of tributes trying to survive off each other.” He places his hands together, entwining his fingers. “They’re a bond. It may not be like brothers and sisters or friends, or even the bonds we share with relatives. But the truth of the matter is, bonds are formed. We might not feel the need to cry over one another’s death, or feel saddened when the alliance finally breaks apart – but once you’ve known someone, doesn’t matter for how long, you’ve known them. You can’t ignore that fact. Knowing Mira, and then watching her...die,” I gulp. I think it’s Tobias who misses her the most. For whatever reason, he cared for Mira. Maybe because she was his district partner? Who knows. He hurts now that she’s gone. “It – it might draw us closer, or tear us apart. Or, who knows, we might just stay the same. But no matter what happens now, we’ve been forever changed. In the smallest, tiniest way, we’ve been changed by her death.” He breaths heavily through his nose, and gazes over us briefly. “I’d like for all of us to be able to take a moment to think about things, but, unfortunately time does not approve.” Miles and a couple of the others chuckle. “And so I’m afraid we must get moving if we are to find the flag on time.” No one argues, and we all stand. Everyone is quiet because of what Tobias said. Nobody really knows how to respond, because they think maybe he’s right. We are changed, whether for better or worse, it won’t be the same as one after another, we die.