❛ HOPE ISN'T SOMETHING GIFTED TO YOU
IT'S SOMETHING YOU ACHIEVE. ❜
in which a small girl from district ten must
protect those she loves, or die trying.
𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙋𝙇𝙀𝙏𝙀𝘿 (UNDER HEAVY EDITING)
― oc x...
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JAMES' POINT OF VIEW
I HOPED THAT I DIDN'T SEE SILVER'S face in the sky that night. She needed to win, more than anyone else, even if that meant I had to die. Bella was the strength we needed to win, but Silver was not there. She didn't follow me after the countdown finished and instead went for the supplies and weapons, sprinting off in a completely opposite direction. There was a part of me that wanted to cast her away from my heart, but knowing that she was out there alone pulled me back into my worries.
"What is the matter with you? I didn't team up with you so you could be miserable all the time," Bella jeered inside my ear then sat down beside me on the tree branch.
Before I could say anything, the Anthem played above our heads and the shining Capitol emblem appeared in the already black sky; the day had passed fast. In total, ten Tributes were already deceased, their faces observing us all in the sky. Firstly, the girl from District Three's face appeared, swifty followed by Kestrel and Bella wimpered sadly as she slouched further down into the corner of the branch she sat upon. The District Five male's face came next, his head held proudly. Both Tributes from Six were next, then the District Seven boy, both from Eight and the boy from Nine shone across the Arena next. My eyes dropped, expecting the worst.
It immediately went straight to both District Eleven Tributes and the Anthem played. I sighed in relief. Ten Tributes dead, but Silver was still alive. I could have still saved her. I turned to Bella, smiling hopefully, but she didn't not return my happiness.
"Kestrel wasn't much, but he was in my class at school, we were friends you know," Bella whispered under her breath as the closing anthem played. After a moment or reminiscence, she glanced towards me with a patient expression along the features of her face. "When are we going to find your friend then?"
"Tomorrow," I said, my voice cracking as an unsignificant tear, which I hoped had no meaning, cascaded out of my eye.
"Alright," Bella replied, breathing heavily and sighing, "This would have been a whole lot easier if she'd just followed you, y'know. And we're leaving ourselves defenceless until we find the little rogue. Do you even know how reliable she is? You sure she hasn't just abandoned us?"
"She gave me her word," I retorted, trying to push that doubt to the back of my head. "And I trust Silver. If she's not dead, I know she'll come through."
Yet there it was again: my uncontrollable flaw of trusting people that I barely knew. There was something somewhere in my head that was making me believe Silver was really telling me the truth, but their was still a sense inside of me that said it wouldn't be enough to erase my doubt. But those conflicted thoughts left me with one option, my one way ticket forward. However, which way forward that was was unclear. There was no space for blind trust in the Arena now.
"You got somewhere to sleep?"
"I'm not. . . I can't sleep until we've found Silver. You should know that," I said, my head hitting in anxiety against the tree trunk.
"Fine, just don't make a sound or move a muscle," Bella warned, raising an eyebrow at my odd choice. "If I don't wake up in the morning I'm blaming you." She shuffled around momentarily, choosing the right position to rest underneath the leaves and placed her head on my shoulder, using it as a make-shift pillow.
"Goodnight Bella," I sang as she hummed into my ear. Then, like a sudden blow of exhaustion had overcame me, the unwanted dusk of danger hit me quickly, sending me into a lull of sleep.
❂❂❂❂❂❂❂❂
I was running. Running away from what? I didn't know. All that I knew was that I was running away from something. I was out of breath, but whenever I took a breath it stung down my throat, burning my insides, burning my soul. Every step I took was another risk. I could have fallen. I could have trembled. I could have died. It was like a flash back to the past and also a look to the future. I was in the Games. However, I couldn't see the horizon or another Tribute. It was just me. Alone in the Arena and I was running. Unexpectedly, I fell, face first into the moist ground and I froze. The thing I had been running from, from what seems all my life, was above me and its breath burned on my back.
BANG!
I jolted back and hit the back of my head against a large slab of wet bark. It ached as I regained my vision. The day had already come, the sunrise harshly beaming into my eyes.
Looking over to Bella, I noticed that she lay on the branch asleep, her breath slow and peacefully paced. My fingers ran through my hair slowly as I attempted to figure out what was to be done next in our journey.
"Wakey wakey," I whispered, tapping Bella on her neck, "Bella, we have to go." I slipped out the sleeping bag I sat in and stuffed it into my backpack. Within seconds of my movement, Bella's eyes fluttered open, her gaze reaching mine.
"What time is it?" she asked, stretching her arms in front of my face. I shrugged my shoulders as she pushed herself up.
All of a sudden, a deafening scream echoed through the jungle, originating from what seemed to be only thirty yards away. A cannon boomed as the scream came to a sudden halt.
"We need to go, quickly," Bella insisted, her voice rough from sleep. Stretching my legs, I hopped up onto the branch and began the race to the ground. Bella grabbed her trident as she joined me on our descent downwards to the surface. My feet placed themselves into each gap in the bark as I made my own way down. Somehow, we had chosen to rest at a good height, so our trip to the floor took a while, with each step taken cautiously and timely.
Suddenly, Bella's hand slipped and her trident fell through the air and gashed my forehead. I instantaneously lost my footing as I fell promptly onto the autumn leaves. Crimson red blood gushed into my eyes, sending me into temporary darkness.
