Grain & Blood | A Hunger Games collection

System Overload: Chapter Seven

Kamalyn

My face is on fire, flooding with the pain of a million shards. Both my arms are heavy and burning like the skin is gone and has been replaced with blood and flesh. There's a recurring headache that feels like I've been thrown to the depths of hell and back, and my stomach feels like it's been ripped open and replaced.

I'm lying in a hospital bed, in a plain white room, like the ones I used to live in after the arena. I don't really remember what happened and why I'm away from Iris. Did she attack me? Or was there an explosion where we were killed by rubble? None of those seem likely. Unless...

"Jake, what happened?" I ask, expecting him to be sitting by my bed and looking worried. "Jake?"

He isn't here. Yes, I hate him, but that doesn't mean I didn't appreciate his presence. Having someone there was always good. But I told him to f*ck off and now he won't come near me, which is pretty expected from that kind of thing.

With a sigh, I mash the call nurse button and wait. About a minute later a nurse walks in with a glass of water and painkillers, which isn't what I wanted but it'll do. I take the tablets and chug the water.

"Can you fetch Jake Lambert for me?" I ask the nurse. She nods and disappears again, then returns with the blond boy.

"Hello," he says coldly.

"Hi- Jake, can you tell me what happened earlier?"

"Sure." It's as if he hasn't slept in a year. "Iris threw plates at your head. Two of them. They knocked you out and then she picked up shards from the floor and stabbed you seventeen times. That's it."

"Oh. Thanks. Bye."

I feel like nothing has come of that short conversation, like I didn't learn anything. Hopefully Iris is okay, I know that she tried to kill me, but she is a human and was amazing company for the couple of days that we shared a room. Much better than Jake could ever be.

"Benedict! Benny?"

"Kammy... It's okay. I will die, but at least... At least I got to be in the Hunger Games, right? And at least we got to be together. I'll watch you from heaven."

"I love you Benny..."

"Make that District 9 scum pay..."

"I will. I will kill her in the most painful way possible, and then I will win and go home. For you."

"Thank you Kammy... I love you"

Boom.

Why did I just think of that again? I never do when I'm awake. Is my brain trying to make me cry? But no tears are coming. It's as if I don't care anymore, or I've just beat the pain of loss. I know I care about him, but after six months maybe it's time to move on. Maybe there's someone else out there who would like me back. But I love Benedict! Why would I fall in love with someone else, and in any event nobody really seems to understand me.

Is there a name for loving people of both genders? I know you have straight and gay, but we didn't really learn about it in depth at school. What was it? Bisexual? Maybe that's what I am. Yes, I love Benedict, but there's a most pressing question going through my mind right now.

Is Iris okay?

I'm so tired. Three nights in a row I haven't been to sleep until three in the morning and the dark circles under my eyes are something else. And trying to be awake by 7:30 so I can start my day and not stay in bed too much is killing me. Also, message for Red_Panda_Writer11:
The picture I sent you is not me wearing makeup, it's the power of editing.

-Katherine