"Helios, I can't do this!" I exclaim, looking into the mirror at myself wearing this awful jumpsuit costume.
"You have to. There was never a point where you could have turned back. I'm sorry that this is happening, but you need to attempt to relax. Just breathe Margo, breathe," Helios says, looking into my eyes to calm me down.
I try to breathe slowly, but end up hyperventilating again, causing me to throw-up.
"And that's why there are garbage cans in here," Helios says.
He pulls a bottle of water out of his pocket and hands it to me.
"Drink this slowly but drink it all. You'll need it," he says, sitting me down, "You have about fifteen minutes before you have to go in the tube, just relax and drink your water. You have the necklace on, right?"
I pull it out and nod, scared to open my mouth.
"It's going to be alright Margo," he lies.
We sit quietly for those fifteen minutes, him just trying to comfort me, before a loud beep sounds.
"Oh, god! I can't do this!" I cry out, begining to shake a little bit.
"You have to, Margo, it'll be alright," Helios says, pushing me into the tube.
I get in, and the door closes behind me.
"You have like a minute left before the platform will start rising, then you have two minutes to stand on the platform before the gong sounds. Don't step off of the platform until the gong sounds!" Helios shouts.
"Helios I can't do this!" I scream.
"It'll be alright, Margo!" he yells out as the platform begins to rise.
It takes everything in me not to start crying and focus as the platform emerges from the ground. I'm momentarily blinded, before being able to look at my surroundings. The tributes are lined up in a large circle around the abnormally small cornucopia, in numerical order going clockwise, meaning Alexia is to my left, and District Eleven is to my right. Also meaning that Opal is to the left of Alexia. We look at each other quickly before I see that there's only a minute left on the clock. The cornucopia and all of the platforms are on a large hill, leading down to a beach and four docks, each leading to a different island that look like they're meant to resemble the seasons. The summer island is facing the tail of the small cornucopia, and I decide that we should go for the fall island, so I put up three fingers, meaning to go the right of the mouth. Rowan, Ivy, Bran, Harvey, and Coral all see it, and shortly after I put up my hand, the clock hits zero.
I run as fast as I can to pick up two packs close to us and throw one to Alexia before beginning to run down the hill. I make a mental note of everyone I see, and running next to me are Alexia, Rowan, Ivy, Bran, and Harvey. But no Coral.
"Coral!" I yell out, running back towards to top of the hill.
"Margo, no!" Alexia shouts as I reach the top, just in time to see Kai grab his sister and slit her throat.
"Margo!" she screams just as he kills her, and I can see the sick bastard smiling as her cannon sounds.
I run back down the hill, in shock, beckoning for everyone to come with me. We run across the small dock and into the fall island and don't stop until we can't hear anymore cannons.
"Holy shit," Bran says.
"What happened to Coral?" Ivy asks, worried.
"She's dead. Kai got her before she could follow us," I say, slumping down in disbelief, "I couldn't save her."
"It's not your fault Margo," Alexia says, still trying to catch her breath.
"Quick question – did everybody grab something?" Harvey asks, looking around.
"Yeah, I think so," Rowan responds.
Rowan, Bran, Alexia and I each have large packs, while Ivy and Harvey have smaller ones with water bottles clipped to the outside.
"We should go through what we have once we find a spot to stop permanently," Bran says, "For now we should keep walking."
And so, we do, slowly making our way further into the Fall Island.
"How many cannons did you guys hear? I think I heard like seven or eight," Alexia asks.
"Yeah I think it was eight," Ivy says, just as another cannon goes off, "Nine."
"Jesus Christ it's only been like a half an hour," Harvey says, then he looks around, "Wait where's Rowan?"
The group panics for a second before we spot him a few yards away from us.
"Hey guys look over here," Rowan yells.
"Tell us before you run away like that, Rowan!" Ivy scolds her brother.
"Seriously though, look at this," he says.
There's a natural little barrier of trees in an almost perfect circle, and Rowan is attempting to break one down. He gasps when he looks inside of it.
"What?" Ivy asks.
"Guys, there's another cornucopia," he says, pointing into the circle.
********************************************
~Author's Note
Welcome to the games! Sorry about Coral, this was always going to be her fate ☹️. I have a drawing of the arena if you'd like to see it, just comment and let me know! I'll post it as it's own chapter. I think that's all I wanted to say, so I hope your enjoying the story!
Much Love,
Mareena~
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The 175th Hunger Games
Fanfiction"On the 175th anniversary, for the rebels to remember that the war was fought against their own brothers, the two tributes selected from each district will be siblings, both between the ages of 12 and 18 as per usual." One hundred and one years aft...
