Author Games: World Seasons

Task Five - Autumn Air - Christmas Tribute

Gamemaker's note:

Hello there. This time, if your entry is missing I'll assume you didn't hand it in. Thank you all for your patience with us.

Rudolf Snow:

I have no idea where I am. All I know is the grass is still big, too big. It’s taller than every tree I’ve ever seen in my life. Maybe I just haven’t seen tall enough trees.

It’s also still dark, but warm also. Not as warm as it was in the sunlight, but still warm nonetheless. It never got this warm back home, not even when we sat by the fire. It was always at least a little cold, but I don’t think it’ll get that way here. In fact, I think it’s gonna stay fairly warm.

There’s nothing to do really except just chopping down the grass. Which isn’t really fun. In fact, I’d even say it’s a bit boring. The machete is still bloody, but I’ve stopped caring now. It still chops the grass down, which is all I’m asking.

There was a small butterfly on the grass a few minutes ago, but it flew away. I don’t think I’m going to be seeing him again though. Or her… I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl.

Not that it matters, considering I probably won’t be seeing him/her again.

The grass keeps falling down, quick and choppy. It’s dark and I have no idea where I am, or where I’m going. It’s kind of a scary thought, but I keep walking.

❄❄❄

Clover’s face was in the sky earlier.

But she can’t be dead. I don’t want her to be dead.

Tears build up in my eyes and slowly fall out, drenching my shirt. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Without Clover I have no idea what’s poisonous and what’s not. I won’t know when to eat and when to be loud or quiet. I feel lost. And out of place.

The grass still towers over me, and I can barely navigate my way through it. I keep shifting in and out of wakefulness . When was the last time I slept?

Have I even drank in the arena? Have I eaten? Have I slept at all?

I can’t remember anything, but I’m not sure I even want to. It’s all too confusing. My eyes keep shutting, then opening. I don’t want to sleep, but I don’t why. Clover always suggested not sleeping. Maybe that’s why she was always so mad. Because she never slept…

A girl jumps out at me. She’s pretty and blonde. That’s all I see before I use the machete to kill her. What was her name? April? August? Alice? I’m pretty sure it was something like that. Easter’s District I think. Then her District partner hops out at me too, with anger in his eyes. He’s screaming at me, but I swing my machete at his neck. Crimson blood flies out of the wound, but he’s still alive. My tired eyes examine him. He’s small, but so is the other boy from Easter’s. Are they both still alive? He squirms and shrieks, and just won’t die. I keep trying to stab him, but it won’t work.

Eventually he dies, and I listen to his cannon before I drift into sleep.

❄❄❄

I wake up and see the face of the pretty Gamemaker who yelled at me during my training session. She’s smiling. “Better find shelter…Hmmmmm, I wonder where it is!” she cackles before her face disappears from the sky.

My face screws up while I think of what she might mean. Then suddenly I smile and realize that grass is short again!

But then I’m scared. Everything seems to be on fire, and I have no idea where I’m going. I just pop up and run. I run and run and run and don’t stop or look back. The flames are bright and orange. They burn down each and every tree in sight.

I run straight into the Halloween boy. We both fall to the ground with a THUD. The first thought in my mind is to shove him into the fire, so I do. It takes some effort and a few seconds, but I push him into the fire. He screams and howls in pain, and his body shakes violently in the fire.

I look away and run again.

Everything’s happening very quickly and I barely register what’s happening. All I remember at first is running face first into the Cornucopia. There’s blood, and I kill a few people. I don’t remember their faces. One had a beard, and one was a pretty girl with dark hair. It all happened really fast, but their cannons went off which means that I did kill them. I killed another boy and he was really young, but I didn’t feel bad at first. It’s what I have to do right? There might have been two really young boys, but I’m not even sure anymore.

I’m covered in blood. Lots of it. And Clover’s dead, but I see Jefferson.

❄❄❄

Jeff says he’s thirsty too, so we’re heading for the river. We have no idea where it is, so Jeff just leads me somewhere that seems right. Clover always had some smart way of finding the water, but she’s not here now. Leaving Jeff and I alone.