Safe and Sound || Hunger Games

Chapter Eight - The Bloodbath

Chapter Eight - The Bloodbath

That night, Effie, Haymitch, Grayson and I ate our last dinner together before the Games. After my flaming performance, Effie and Haymitch had been insisting that I was going to get many sponsors and that I was a star among the other tributes. Poor Grayson didn't get as much praise, but he didn't seem to mind. It was as if he didn't want the attention. I hadn't watched his interview. I wanted to know what had happened. Had something gone wrong or not as planned? I made eye contact with him, but he looked away instantly. I wasn't technically his friend, but that didn't stop me from feeling slightly worried about the boy.

After we had all had our fill of food, Grayson and I bid Haymitch and Effie goodnight. Haymitch reached out to us before we had a chance to leave.

"I want the two of you to fight through this. I know this sounds rather stupid, but I am going to give you the most important advice I can give you when you're in the arena," He said, looking at the two of us dead in the eye. Grayson and I exchanged glances quickly, "Stay alive. May the odds be ever in your favour. Get a good night's sleep and may we hope luck is on your side."

With that, Effie whisked us along the corridors to our bedrooms. I gave Grayson one last nod, knowing that tomorrow, I would be set out to kill him. I entered my room and changed into a plain shirt and a pair of shorts. I took out the braid Cinna had made, tied the ribbon around my wrist and put the mockingjay feathers on my bedside table. I put my hair into a simple ponytail for sleeping in, before I climbed into bed and tried my hardest to get to sleep, but sadly, to no avail. The thoughts of the horrific Games and arena that I was going to be thrown into the next day swirled around my head, keeping me very much awake and not able to get the precious sleep that I would need.

I felt the hours tick by and still I was staring at the ceiling. I couldn't do it. I was too afraid. I slipped out of my bed and crept over to my door. I opened it and snuck out as quietly as I could. Because I had bare feet, I made hardly any noise, which was good, as Haymitch would have strangled me if he had caught me up at this time. Especially since it was the night before the Games, I had to get as much sleep as I could. I snuck down the corridor and reached the wooden door that, behind it, held the person I wanted to talk to. I knocked three times as quietly as possible. I heard movement from inside the door and within seconds, it was opened to reveal Grayson with severe bed head, as if he had been tossing and turning...which he probably had. I offered a sheepish smile.

"Can't sleep either?" He asked me. I nodded and he opened the door a bit more, so that I could slip into his room from under his arm without causing too much fuss and making too much noise, which would result in a maddened Haymitch.

"No. Well, yes. I just...you know why." I said, placing myself down on the end of Grayson's bed, looking at him and bringing my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them. Grayson nodded and sat down next to me. He looked out of his window from where he was sitting and down on to the view of the lit up Capitol. He let out a small sigh.

"It's disgusting. What they do to the Districts, I mean. Not the view. The view is spectacular. Well, it would be if it weren't for the awful people living in those homes out there." I smiled slightly at Grayson's comment and looked over to him. Our shoulders were almost touching, but Grayson hadn't noticed. I watched as he just stared ahead of him out of the window, looking like he was deep in thought. I knew he came from the Seam, but his eyes were so strange for someone of that area. Seam eyes were usually grey, like mine. His were that beautiful blue-green. They reflected the lights from the window and shone brightly. The pain was still evident, no matter how many coloured lights were shining in them.

I looked at this boy. The very boy that had saved my father for three days, the boy that lightened situations and seemed to be able to smile no matter the situation, the boy who had been so good towards me without me even realising it. He had supported me during training and made me smile. There was a lot more to him than meets the eye, and to be honest, I didn't want to be thrown into a contest to the death with him. He was good to be put in there. Too good. Too precious to this world. It would be even more wrong to slaughter someone like Grayson Stengard.