Liberosis - The Hunger Games

18

Day three was mainly uneventful, at least in the Capitol's eyes it would have been, no deaths, no surprise volcanic eruptions, no packs turning on each other. I taught Elsie to fish with a trident while I was on strict bed rest.

Day four, was not eventful, for us at least, about halfway through the day a rumble came from the eastern side of the island. Later at night, four tributes hung in the sky, The boy from Eight, both from Ten and the boy from Eleven, all dead. Four families mourned, four more people not out to kill us, four more on the back of my conscious.

Now came day five, we all woke in high spirits only for it to pour rain. We could tell the game makers were moving up the tide to trap us further inland. I was re-braiding Elsie's hair earlier into the morning when Thorn applied the last of the ointment onto my back. The welts on my back had almost cleared up, leaving a small amount of peeling red skin, irritating me only slightly.

Beck returned from further in the jungle holding several plants that Elsie had taught him about, leaving us with a small but satisfying lunch to eat while we huddle under our tarp to keep out of the rain. "What does District Twelve look like?" Thorn asked Beck as we nibbled on the plants.

This was not a question that the Capitol would want us talking about, this was not what the Capitol wanted us to see. They wanted us to kill each other, they wanted us to turn on each other through the night. They didn't want us to have a happy little gathering and talk about our feelings. To them, beauty came in blood.

But I don't care, if I'm going to die in this arena then what does it matter if I talk about my home, about my friends. I spilled enough of it with my conversation with Thorn, the Capitol could bear some extra sappy storytelling. "Some parts of it are really pretty, other parts, not so much," Beck said, being careful with his words. He doesn't want to say anything that could get anyone into trouble.

"What about District Four? What's it like?" Elsie asked, snuggling into my side. The rain thundered down harder, pelting on our tarp so hard I feared it might rip holes in it.

"It's beautiful," I gushed, "The sand is nearly white and the waves are so clear and clean, I love the smell, the salty air. The fish swim right up the edge of the water and nip at your feet," I nudge Elsie's foot with my foot causing her to giggle.

"Don't forget about Pirates!" Thorn calls out.

"Pirates?" Elsie gasps excitedly.

"He's kidding, there's no such thing as pirates. Although you could count old Crusty as a pirate, the man who lives on the boat, he drinks so much rum he can barely stand most days," I joke, the rest of the group begins to laugh.

"Crusty's an interesting fellow that's for sure, we buy our fish from him some days," Thorn muses.

"You mean on the days that he doesn't catch himself in the net?" I ask him, the four of us laugh again. The old man probably wouldn't appreciate me talking about him, I didn't really care, I wasn't going to get home for him to get angry with me about it. Crusty was pretty easygoing, the most he would ever really do is throw a fish at you, or threaten to turn your hand into a hook.

The rain began to clear up halfway through the day, the sky cleared from grey to blue. Cool droplets of water trickled down the leaves as we began to move further into the island. My eyes still felt heavy from a lack of uninterrupted sleep, my hair was riddled with knots, sand sticking to my scalp like a second layer of skin. Even with a drinkable supply of water, my lips felt chapped and dry, the back of my throat itched with thirst. I felt like a rabid animal, I didn't feel like myself anymore.

If it weren't for the fact that I had someone to protect I would be long gone by now. My mind has been battling with the idea since the first canon went off, every time I heard that sound, I felt like someone has punched me in the stomach. One more child added to the Capitol's list of people they'll forget they ever murdered.