The 70th Hunger Games: A Little Love

Chapter Twelve

Dear Diary,

When I wake up in the morning, my body aches from my right shoulder where the velociraptor bit me all the way down to my feet. I know that if I don't get some sort of capital medicine soon, I'll probably succumb to this infection. But I can't do that. Instead, I push myself up and hold my shoulder as if trying to suppress the pain.

"Here, you want an apple?" I ask Percy, who seems as if he'd been awake for hours already. Oh no! Had I overslept? I wasn't sure. Percy nods excitedly, holding a grumbling stomach. Out of the bag, which it was my turn to hold tonight, I take out two apples and each of our canteens of water. Reaching up to Percy, I partially stand up on my branch, and feel myself begin to wobble.

"Let's get out of the tree, and then eat," Percy jokes, climbing down to my branch. As I continue to climb down, each time I move my shoulder, it shoots pain up into the rest of my body. When I inhale through my nose, I feel my sinuses explode in my brain, sending a headache through out my entire head every time I try to breathe.

"Percy..." I mutter, holding onto the tree weakly, and taking deep breaths. "I don't think I'm going to make it much further without some kind of capital medicine. You should probably leave me, and continue out on your own," I offer him my water and my apple that I hadn't even taken a bite out of yet.

"No Annie, I'm not gonna leave you!" He exclaims, running into my shirt and burying his head in my chest. When he hugs me that tight, I feel a shooting pain in my ribs that leaves it hard for me to breathe.

But I also feel Alex. I feel Alex and my family giving me one last hug before their time was up and I had to go to the capital and into the games. I feel Percy's tears, just like Alex, both trying their best to be strong and cheer everyone up, and both succumbing to sadness themselves.

"Alright then," I said, pushing myself to stand up. Although I felt a little woozy, and the world around me seemed to spin as I walked, I closed my bad eye, the one that was less blue and more black, and held on to Percy for balance. "Where are we off to today, Perc?" I ask, letting him guide the way as I stumbled behind.

I heard Percy start talking, I knew he was talking, telling me about something or other and his plans to go do something, but all I could focus on were colors.

Colors. Here in the capital. Our first moment entering on the train, seeing pink and red and gold and blue and shades of colors I didn't even know existed. Seeing Velerio and his frosty golden skin, his orange hair in long braids that changed color. Seeing Caesar, and his bright hair that seemed to change every single games.

Colors. Here in our suites. My first moment alone with Finnick, and his sea-green eyes and his light brown hair and his dark sweater. The orange color of my fruit, and the bland cream color of my oats, spilled on the floor. The red of the blood on the screen, and the red of my cheeks as I hid in Finnick's arms, and the red of my hair that cascaded in waves down my back.

Colors. Here in the games. The green of the trees surrounding me, swirling me in images of jungles and forests and farms we learned about in school. The blue of the sky, and the brown ancient dinosaurs that flew over it. The grey of the rocks, splattered red with my blood from the velociraptor that tore off part of my shoulder. My shoulder. Yellow, and red, and black, and white, and any color that a shoulder shouldn't be.

So many colors in my life.

Yet the one I feel most is red.

Red, like my hair, in a low ponytail with my bangs in front of my face. Red, like my shoulder, bloody and exposed to any possible infection. Red, like my cheeks, when I think of Finnick and wonder if he's thinking of me. Red, like my vision, as I feel myself falling down, tripping over the air and tumbling down to the ground, hitting my open wound nice and hard.