𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬: 𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 ✔️

Chapter 32 - Soren

^Cada from District 3 (killed in the Bloodbath).

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Chapter 32

POV: Soren (District 4)

Time: Day 8

Tributes Remaining: 16

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I'm starting to get worried about the injury in my side. I'm glad there's a solution, no matter how hard it is to find, but the deadline is growing closer and closer, and I'm starting to panic a bit.

My torso has turned purple and veiny, looking hideous like a bruise. I press it with my fingertips, wincing in pain.

Lacie stirs, sitting up, and I quickly lower my shirt. Lacie's worried enough about me as it is. She wakes the others and I sit with them as we eat breakfast.

Lena's face looks raw from crying all night. I pretend like I didn't hear her sobbing all night, but it was hard to ignore her. I wanted to console her, but I think she needed the time to herself.

"Hey Soren, you never ended up telling us that flower story," Robin says as he eats. "From before the Careers attacked us."

I completely forgot about the bellflower that Cressa sent to warn us. The flower that saved our lives.

"I completely forgot," I reply, pulling the flower out of my pack. One of the flower's five petals is missing, while the rest are beginning to wither slightly.

"It's a bellflower," I tell the group, "and it's one of District 4's oldest traditions. Lacie probably knows the story better than I do. It began in... was it the 76th Games?"

Lacie nods, taking over for me. "Yeah, 76th. That was the first year after the Revolution."

"To make up for the failed Quarter Quell, the Capitol made the 76th Games a 'Special Games' to make up for it. There was a special twist to mark the return of the Games. The tributes were selected among children of rebel leaders. One was selected from each District, and they went into the Arena with a District partner with a close relationship to them, like a sibling or a boyfriend.

"From District 4 they chose the mayor's daughter and her boyfriend. Luckily, they were both strong fighters. Midway through the Games, one of the Careers went crazy and started killing tributes left and right, and the District 4 tributes abandoned the Careers. After this, they stuck together and played up their relationship to the cameras. Actually, if you look in the Hunger Games records, they had one of the largest sponsorship funds in the modern era, as most of the other relationships had ended at that point, with tributes splitting or being killed."

I remember this part. " Whenever they would pass a bush of bellflowers, the boy would pick one and give it to the girl," I say. "The flowers were a muttation in the Arena but they were harmless."

Lacie nods. "Yeah, they were actually designed by the Head Gamemaker for his wife. They spread them in the Arena as well to add color to the Arena. The girl kept all the flowers in her bag except one - a purple bellflower with five petals, which she kept in her pocket because it was her favorite."

The group sits in silence, soaking in the story. Even the animals seem quiet around us.

"When the pair were attacked by the crazy Career, they survived, but the girl's bag was lost in the chaos, including all of her flowers except the one in her pocket. The two tributes survived until the very end of the Games, when they were the last two. However, knowing that they couldn't do what Katniss and Peeta did in the 74th Games, the girl quickly stabbed herself before the boy had time to react and sacrificed herself so that he could live."

Lena's breaths become shaky with emotion. Robin and Dalia also look somber. I have to stop tears from pooling in my eyes. It's an incredibly sad story, and I haven't heard it for a while. It's even more impactful now that I'm actually in the Arena.

"When the Games ended, the Gamemakers emptied the girl's pockets and found the flower," Lacie continues. "You know the Capitol is a sucker for drama, so the Gamemakers bred the flower to produce more like it, and gave the Victor a bouquet of them at the end of the Victory Tour. He took those flowers and planted them in the Victor's Village."

I interrupt. "I told Robin already, but every year when a tribute dies, every person in the District receives a purple bellflower from the Victors' Village to remind us that we may have lost a member of our community, but they live on through us, just like how the girl lives on through her flower. And that's why the flower was so alarming; our mentors sent it as a warning - if we hadn't moved quickly out of there, they would have been sending bellflowers for us into the District. Bellflowers signify hope, but they also represent death, which is why Lacie and I knew to run."

"That's crazy," Robin says quietly. Lena and Dalia nod in agreement.

"I actually haven't heard the legend behind it in such a long time. I only knew about their context from when a tribute dies. I'm glad you had the tale memorized, Lacie," I thank her.

"Of course, any District 4 scholar would!" she jokes back. The others laugh.