the 19th Hunger Games

Chapter 8

Early in the morning I woke up by the sound of splashing water. I tore open my eyes, propped myself up to my elbow and turned my eyes to the lake. Lan and Sylvari were frolicking around like children, hip deep into the water. Lan was holding up a fish triumphantly while Sylvari spattered water onto him. For some reason I wasn’t sure how I felt when looking at the whole scene. Then I noticed Oscar, just a few metres away from me, his gaze carefully trained on me.

“Hi,” I said, ignoring the look in his eyes. “Slept well have ya?” He nodded and yawned.

“Just the ankle nagging,” he murmured. “What about you?”

“Too, minus the ankle,” I smiled.

“Had a good conversation last night?” He asked, without smiling back. He was still examining me like I was some strange creature. Immediately I felt my defences rise.

“What is it to you?” I snapped. He inched back and frowned deeply.

“I’m sorry I was just… I don’t know. I’m sorry.” I hunched my back and sighed.

“No,” I breathed, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.” At that moment Sylvari and Lan ran out of the water, laughing loudly and trying to tackle each other. Well, what a happy little couple. I ignored them carefully as I started folding all my clothes into neat packages and pulled on my long underwear. It was smoking hot but I had my mind set on leaving as soon as possible. We were sitting ducks out here in the open, especially with Oscar’s bad ankle.

“What are you doing?” Sylvari asked as she made a new fire.

“I’m packing,” I answered without ever meeting her gaze.

“Why?”

“Because I’m leaving.” A heavy silence fell and I felt three pairs of eyes stare me down. I still refused to look up. “What?” I said. “Staying here is like begging to be found and killed. And with Oscar’s ankle it’s even worse. We need to move and find shelter.”

“I don’t want to leave,” Lan whined.

“Me either,” Sylvari added. Suddenly I jumped up and stared both of them down.

“You are such kids!” I yelled. “Well, if you wanna stay here, play around and then die, it’s fine by me! But I’m leaving, whether you like it or not.” I turned to Oscar. “So what’s your plan? You coming along or you wanna stay here with them?” Oscar was the only one staying expressionless, whereas I was only looking mad and Sylvari and Lan were kinda green and carrying scared expressions.

“I don’t wanna die just yet so I’m tagging along. No need to shout, I was on your side all along.”

“Good. Is your bag packed?” He nodded. Without further notice I tied the lasso to my belt, helped Oscar up and slung his backpack over my shoulder after attaching our bundles of clothes to it. “Are you coming or what?” I asked the other two. Sylvari and Lan glanced at each other.

“I’m staying here,” she said. “I’ve survived here for two days and I’ll keep it up until I’ve won.” What arrogance. “Sorry,” she added. I turned my gaze to Lan. He shrugged.

“Staying too. I think this place isn’t to bad.” My eyes turned dark and without another word I turned on my heel and gently took Oscar’s arm.

“I guess we’re the only ones left then. Come on, let’s go.”

   Helping Oscar through the sand wasn’t easy and the pain in his ankle left him too breathless to speak, which left me alone with my thoughts. Normally walking numbed everything spinning around in my head but not today. Today this walking without talking was driving me nuts. The evening before Lan and I had shared jokes about the kids from 8 and he’d openly provoked the Gamemakers to push us into their direction. And now, all of a sudden, he was sticking with Sylvari? What was that all about? And more important, why did I care so much? Why had it it secretly enraged me to see them in the water, playing together? I hadn’t really felt anger but that was exactly how I knew I really was mad at them. Not feeling was for me the same as being angry. I didn’t understand any of it. I tried telling myself I was mad at it because the arena wasn’t a place to fool around but it didn’t work. I couldn’t convince myself that was it.