Author Games: World Seasons

Task Four - Oh So Grassy - Valentine's Tributes

Cupid Valentine:

My chest is sore, again. Every day, I am closer to death; it wants me, I feel it. I know it. There are things I know now, things that I didn't know before I was reaped into these so-called Games. Things I wish I still didn't know.

People do crazy things when they're afraid.

Jack stares at me, a fearful look in his eyes. No, he isn't precisely staring at me; just my hands. They are covered in blood; Snowflake's blood. My hands are still clutching her icicle, shaking. Why I did it, why I obeyed her last request, I'll never know. But now she's dead.

I killed her.

"She asked you to." I mutter to myself, remembering her final moments.

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"They're back!" She screams, squirming around on the ground. "The lizard birds, they've returned! They... They..." Her maddening shrieks fill the air, so full of pain they seem to cut me. "Valen! Please! They're hurting me!"

For a minute, I can see her nightmare. Lizards, with wings like birds, are everywhere. They are pecking at us like vultures would. They tear my stomach, yet instead of hearing the ripping of my own flesh, nothing comes to my ear except Snowflake's desperate sobs. "Kill me!" She screams. "I don't want them to hurt me anymore!"

As I stab the icicle into her chest, only one thoughts goes through my head: I understand her pain.

I finally have lived her madness.

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"It's my fault." I mutter, shaking. Snowflake's blood is all around me, trapping me in a giant cage, until hands pull through the red bars. I have been saved, unless the hands have come to kill me. Plenty of people here want to kill me; Clover has tried. So has Rudolph. Even Rubyn has tried to kill me. Can I trust anyone anymore? In this place, can you ever trust anyone?

The hands wrap around my shoulder, and I can now see the face attached to it; Jack is there. He has rescued me from my cage, yet it feels as if it has moved inside me. The pain is now inside me, guilt is everywhere. "Valen, are you okay?" he asks. I don't think he really cares; Jack isn't the type to care about people. Nonetheless, he rescued me from my cage. He has to at least think I'm useful to him. Therefore, he wants me to be safe. I can trust him, for now.

Eventually, he will want me dead.

"Yes." I lie. I can't seem weak; Jack doesn't like when people are weak. Then again, I don't like to seem weak anyways. "I just feel bad about Snowflake." Her birds were gone; those were simply hers. They left when Snowflake had.

"Don't." He says, still looking into my eyes. "She had to die anyways. Besides, you knew it would only last a certain amount of time. Eventually her hallucinations would be too much." Comfort was nice; I didn't know Jack could be the comforting type. Then again, maybe it was all an act, a way to gain my confidence. 

I wouldn't allow myself to trust anybody. I couldn't.

"Wakey wakey!" The male Gamemaker shouts, and though I would normally be aggravated by his choice of words, or worried that the Gamemakers are getting involved, I am currently nothing but thankful that he has interrupted my madness. "Alithia, press that button. Not that one, the blue one. Good."

A horn echoes throughout the arena, as my hands fly to my ears. "There, that should do it." He turns to face the tributes, putting on an attempt at a charming smile. "Welcome to day three. Now, you've all been through a lot; the beauty and elegance of Vinella, the impatience and directness of Alithia..."