The Girl With The Shimmering Smile

The Poison

Hello, I'm back from my vacay now so there'll be more chapters soon. This is a bit short and perhaps a filler episode. Enjoy ;)

I was dead. I couldn't feel anything but pain. They had all left me there to die. I watched as they all came back hours later when the tracker jackets finally had given up. They laughed at me. I knew I looked horrible with big blisters covering my whole face - making it blue and completely unrecognisable. I felt how they twitched the bow out of my hands, breaking a few fingers because of how stiff they were. "The pretty ones always die" I heard Marvel say. Why did he act so differently? Maybe he had fooled me this whole time, only using me for sponsor gifts. He was like the brother I never had. Maybe I wasn't as good at reading people as I thought. I felt Cato spit on my cold body. "She wasn't even that pretty" he says. I thought he liked me. It had felt so genuine with him. I remembered how he gave me his last fruits even though he was just as hungry. I really thought he cared about me. "You really think I would save you of all people? I hate you, it just makes my job much easier not having to kill you later" Clove says. This is what hurts the most. I would've saved her without thinking, but I meant nothing to her. I had just been a burden to them all. My heart started racing with fear as both Marvel and Cato climbed on top of me and started touching me. I couldn't scream, I couldn't move - I could just lay there and let it all happen. The thing I feared the most in the world had happened, and I couldn't protect myself. Clove was just standing there and laughing how helpless I was. I closed my eyes and drifted once again away.

"Glimmer, Glimmer wake up" I heard someone say. I didn't recognise the voice at all. It sounded more like an alien than a human. I opened my left eye and saw Marvel hovering over me. It wasn't quiet Marvel though, he was blue and everything around him was shifting in different colours. I could still feel the pain but it wasn't as paralysing as before. I tried to push him away as I remembered what he had done, but nothing happened. Instead I fell into a deep sleep.

The next time I woke up I felt fine. I could feel the boils on my face and body but they were much smaller and the pain was almost completely gone. The others were watching me from the fire. I could feel the smell of grilled meat. My stomach growled and I felt an intense hunger. I carefully tried to wiggle my toes. It worked so I moved on to my hands. Slowly my body woke up from the paralysis and I could finally move. My whole body ached as I got up from the ground. Intense eyes were watching me the whole time. There were only four of us left. I had a vague memory of Cato killing Peeta. I didn't know why. Did they find the girl from 12th? Did they kill her? I felt my body tense as I moved closer to the other tributes. I was scared. I felt my heart starting to race, my body getting warmer and my breath quickened. My body got ready to run away from them like a prey.

"You got stung by tracker jackers. We all did, but you got the worst of it" Marvel said as he saw me hesitate. I observed them, saw the big boils on their body and realised he was telling the truth. That explains it all. No way Marvel would ever do that to me. "For how long have I been gone..?" I hesitantly asked. They all looked at each other and Cato nodded towards Marvel. "You've been on and off for about five days" he says without meeting my gaze. Something was off, very off. That was a really long time to be gone in here. "Did you kill lover boy?" I asked Cato. He nods and says "it's his fault we all got stung. He was on her side the whole time. I broke his spine and twisted his head". I knew it looked brutal to some people but I realised Cato would do anything for the people he loved. I'm pretty sure he loved us all, in his own way. I don't think he would let any of us win the game for sure, but that didn't mean he didn't care for us. We would all kill each other to win, that's the only way to get out of here.

Clove watched me intensely but I had no idea why. I know I looked.. odd right now but it was still me. I tried to shake it off and instead asked "what happened to Marina..?". I didn't want to know the answer but I had to. They all looked away, no one meeting my gaze. "She's dead" Clove said when no one else did. I sighed and sat down with them at the fire. Some sponsors had sent us meat as we couldn't hunt with the poison in our bodies. I wondered how I got away from the wasps. The last thing I remembered was how my body betrayed me and stopped moving. There was no way I could've run away from them all by myself. Marvel or Cato probably carried me on their backs. I didn't want to ask, I didn't want to know what they had to do to get me out of there. I just knew I could never pay them back for it. But I could try.

When the sun disappeared from the sky and the moon travelled in its place I decided to take a bath. It was very windy and I quickly got goosebumps as I undressed. I left nothing on, I had to pay them back somehow and this was all I could do. The sponsors would definitely send me something really useful if I showed them everything. Cold water surrounded my legs as I stepped into the lake. I shivered but kept going until everything but my head was under water. It was nice after a while and I found myself sighing with pleasure. The cold water felt really good against my boils and I could almost feel how the swelling subsided. I could stay here forever, just watching the stars and thinking about nothing at all. My dad used to teach me constellations in the sky. I used to think it was a thousand jewelleries, glimmering in the moonlight. I knew better now, but I liked my version better. It felt more like home. I missed my home, I missed my parents and I missed... my life. My dad and I used to have a really good relationship when I was a kid. He used to take me with him to his job, showing me how to make tulips of crystals. It stopped once I got older though. He started treating me like every other man did and we grew apart, or I rather started avoiding him as much as I could. My mom and I never had a good relationship. She always liked my older sisters better. She only approved when I achieved things, like graduating early from the academy. It made me strong though, always wanting to be better. I didn't want to think about my parents though. Instead I cleared my head and focused on how good the water felt against my skin. I let my hair out of the pigtails and washed it with water, trying to get the grease out without shampoo. I untangled it as much as I could with my fingers but I knew it still looked messy. It didn't even matter since I probably lost all our sponsors by getting stung by the stupid wasps. I was so angry with myself. It was all my fault. Everything I've done will be completely pointless. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream - I wanted to show any emotion but happiness. I dove under the surface and screamed my heart out. They wouldn't see it, and they wouldn't hear it. It felt much better and I calmly returned to the surface. I decided to stay in the open water, even though it was dangerous. I closed my eyes and let all the negative emotions leave my body.

I didn't hear her until she was right behind me. She could've probably killed me if she wanted to. Maybe she saved it for later. The moonlight reflected in the water, causing her whole face to light up. I could trace every freckle on her cheeks and her pink slim lips were only partly closed. She had for the first time let her hair down and just like me she didn't wear any clothes. I didn't dare to move, allowing her to take this either way. I knew the cameras were watching us, thinking this would cause one more cannon to go off.

Her eyes were hungry and she looked determined as she took a step forward. I completely stopped breathing. Clove was now only a half foot away from me and I could feel her warm breath against my skin. She closed the gap and hugged me - or it would look like a hug to the cameras at least. I could feel her hands travelling my body and a whisper saying "tell me to stop and I shall". I didn't want her to stop. Instead I closed my eyes and hid my face in her soft hair, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. Her hands travelled all over me - grasping my breast, my hips and then down grabbing my ass while pressing her thigh between my legs. I moaned loudly knowing no one could hear us, still hiding in her hair. She replaced her thigh with her fingers after a while and God did it feel good. I've done it with my fingers before, but they felt nothing like Clove's. She curled her fingers in a way I've never tried before. The pace was steady and I just wanted more of her. I wrapped one leg around her hips, giving her access to move her fingers freely inside me. Just the thought of her body so close against mine almost made me climax. I sneaked out from my hiding spot that was her hair and looked at her. She truly was so beautiful. It felt like I was high, and I would never get tired of looking at her. Clove was still pumping her fingers inside me and I felt how my body started to shake as I cried out, still looking into those beautiful eyes. I've never been this loud before but it didn't matter since the wind muffled all the sound. I hid my face for the cameras again, not allowing them to see my most vulnerable moment. It would probably just look like I was just crying and Clove was comforting me. After some time my body started to relax and come down from the high. I wanted to touch her the way she had touched me but when my hands started exploring her body she pushed me away. She looked at me for a second and then started swimming against the shore - leaving me more confused than ever.