The 70th Hunger Games: A Little Love

Chapter Nineteen

Dear Diary,

I'm sorry for the rather odd and out of place entry yesterday. In truth, it was a rather boring day. No one died, no one came near me, and I struggled to find food after deciding the lemons on this side of the arena were far too sour for me. Although, I guess at the end of the day, a boring day is a good day. Maybe not for the citizens of the capital. But for the remaining four tributes? It's another day we haven't died.

I have to have been in here for over a week at this point. As I'm skimming through my diary entries in the little book Finnick gave me, I see that I've written about thirteen times. On top of that, I skipped a few days here and there when I was out. So, I'm going to guess it's been about seventeen days? That's a long time without my family, or my friends, or Finnick. I guess that's why I found it so easy to reminisce on my first senior high dance yesterday.

Pushing myself up from the curled up position in the bushes, I look around me. Searching into my bag, I find a few of the lemons, some matches, and about half a canteen of water. Great. I better find some new food and water soon. I swallow nervously as I think of the layout of the arena. I could almost bet that Cicero was guarding the waterfall, so I didn't want to go there. My best bet would be to possibly check out the small streams in the dinosaur territory. But could I take on a pack of velociraptors by myself? The answer is most likely not.

I sighed and surveyed the area around me. All I could see were trees, branches, dirt, grass, bushes, and more trees. There was no source of water, no source of food other than lemons. And if I was going to be eating the lemons, I would need more water to drink.

Slinging the backpack over my shoulders, I decide to start looking for another source of food. I have enough water to probably last me a day, if I'm careful and don't drink as much. Food, not so much.

I head to my right, somewhere in the direction of the infamous tall grass where the girl from eight may still live. One thing is certain:  I don't plan on killing any snakes, or any animal for that matter, for food any time soon. But, I vaguely remember large bushes bordering the cornucopia and the tall grass area having blackberries. If I could make my way over there without getting caught, I could just find enough to stuff in my pockets and in my empty water canteens and run off. Fruit had juice, juice is hydrating—right? It could work.

So, with my hand shakily holding the small knife—purely a defense mechanism—I head off in the direction of the cornucopia and the grass. I had gotten a decent ways away, even found an apple that was on the ground, when I heard a scream. As the scream pierced through the air, I quickly dove into the bushes with thorns. Suddenly, my mind was filled with flashbacks to one of the first days of the games, where Percy and I hid in the bushes while the careers killed the poor girl from district five.

I shudder involuntarily and wrap my arms tightly around my legs.

I can't freak out.

I can't freak out.

They're nearby.

I can't think about Percy now.

I slowly rocked back and forth, cradling my legs, trying to district my mind with anything. Anything I could do to not think about the smiling girl, killed, and Percy, killed. I bite my tongue between my teeth, sucking in a sharp breath as I feel blood leak out. I guess that was too hard. Okay. Food. Let's think about food.

If I eat the apple, it'll be too loud. They'll hear me. I didn't eat any breakfast today, and yesterday all I ate was that bread. But it's okay, once they're gone I can eat this apple. And I'll find blackberries. I don't see these games lasting much longer, with only four of us, I just need to find enough food to last another couple of days.