The 70th Hunger Games- Fliss' Story

22

I sit away from her body and watch the hovercraft take her body away. The emotion of the past few minutes hit me. I drink some water and sit there emotionally drained. I just watched a girl die. I just killed someone. I can't get the picture of his face out of my head. I wonder if he has any family, a girl cheering for him back home any siblings he tried to protect. I can't recall any detail about the boy; what he wore at the parade, the reaping, and his interview. I don't even know his name. I think that's the worst thing.

I don't know how long I sit there. I am a very easy target but I don't care. The thing that distracts me from my thoughts is when a silver parachute falls in front of me. For a while I just sit there and look at it. Then curiosity gets the better of me. I rip open the parachute. Inside is a cream. I smell it, it smells medical. I can only think it could be for one thing. My leg. I put it on and instantly feel relief. After a couple more coats in the evening I feel I can swim properly again.

I don't want to move now so I sit in the rocks in my sleeping bag. The anthem fills the arena and the faces of the dead appear. The girls is from district 8. Then I see the boy I murdered. He was from 11. I see his face in the sky smiling. I think that makes everything worse. Then he fades away forever.

I bury my face into the sleeping bag. Away from all the cameras. I give myself a few minutes to get rid of all my built up emotions. I shed a few silent tears in the safety of the sleeping bag before I resurface. My face is now devoid of all emotions. I was in for another long night.

When the sun rose I ate the rest of the fish, knowing it wouldn't last any longer. I roll up my sleeping bag and put it into my pack. For good measure I put some more cream on my leg.

I decide to dive for some shellfish but I barely get started before I see someone appear. I hide by the rock, yesterday's events fresh in my mind. "Rachi, Rachi?" I hear the girl shout. Something tells me that Rachi is the girl who died yesterday. Maybe she didn't see the sky yesterday or chose not to believe it. I feel I have to say something.

I swim over slowly and get out of the water. The girl looks weary and steps back away from me. I hold my hands up. "Rachi died yesterday." I say softly.

"When she didn't come back we thought the worst. I only saw a glimpse of the sky."

"I tried to save her but there was nothing I could do."

"Why would you help a competitor?" She says suspiciously. I guess being from 4, reputation proceeds me.

"She was defenceless and she was brutally murdered. And... I guess...... I saw myself. If the arena hadn't fallen in my favour. That would have been me." She eyes me suspiciously then something changes. She appears to soften.

"Allies?" She asks.

"Allies?" I say shocked.

"You tried to save her. You're not like them." She said, "We could help you too."

"Ok" I say

"You look like you could use some company too."

I pick up my stuff and follow her into the water. She leads me to an outcrop surrounded by reeds, hidden from site. Laying on the ground is a boy who has injured his arm. You can tell by the pallor of his skin he has lost a lot of blood. He startles when he sees me. So would I. I've seen my reflection in the water, wild, rugged and with a certain look in my eye that's hard to ignore. I'm also from district 4 and I got a 10 in training. Why trust a career? You wouldn't.

"It's alright Kendith, she's ok." I walk over to Kendith who tries to move away. I can see he doesn't trust me at all. I pick up his arm ready to look at his wound. I feel like I've seen something similar before. He again tries to pull away but he will just make it worse.

I harshly hold him down with my foot. From the shape of his wound I can tell he's been bitten by a shark like creature. Whether it's poisonous or not is another problem. I will deal with that later. I let go of him and cross to some of the reeds. I pull some up and begging to weave them into a bandage shape. These will protect his arm and are water resistant. I cross back over to him and put it on his arm.

"What bit you?" when he doesn't reply I say it again harshly. "If you don't want me to help you I can let you die from your bite if you want."

He looks at me again before speaking very quietly and quickly. "It was some kind of big fish with teeth, it came out of nowhere attacked then left again."

Possibly poisonous but I decide not to mention it. "Probably something to keep the audience entertained." I say bitterly, "Don't want these games to become dull."

"So I'll be alright?" He asks.

"If you class alright as being in an arena where you have to fight to the death whilst people watch you for entertainment."

"You are really not like the tributes from 4 are you?" The girl asks.

"I've gone through a lot of hardship and seen people, family stand by and watch. I wasn't in the mood to train and volunteer to go through more."

"Why are you here then?"

"No one took my place." I simply say.

We sit there in silence for a bit before I say. "Fliss."

"What?"

"I'm Fliss."

"Fawn." The girl replies. She is of a slight build and has a strawberry blond mop of hair. She has hazel eyes.

"Hungry?" I say. They try to shake off the question but I can tell they are. I get out the rest of the remaining shellfish and divide them equally between us.

"All this?" Kendith asks. I nod.

"They may look slimy but they do taste better than they look." I take the flesh out and stick it in my mouth. It tastes like home. I loved watching my allies' expression when they ate them, to them foreign.

The sky goes dark and I see the small girl from 11, Dorothea, in the sky. I must have missed her cannon. I sigh and give a slight shake of my head. What a waste of a life. 9 of us left.

"I'll take first watch." I say. They settle down to sleep and I stare out at the sky. I think about home. Kris must be terrified. I think about what I would be doing now if I wasn't reaped into the games. Sitting silently watching someone die then trying to forget about it altogether. What type of life is that? But that's the one I've been living for the past few years.