august ❀ Lamina

Chapter 7

I woke up the next morning, which was an indicator that I'd fallen asleep at some point the night before.

I don't remember when I fell asleep.

But it clearly happened at some point.

It was early in the morning. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon as my eyes fluttered open. I glanced around the enclosure. A few people were awake, most of which looked as though they hadn't ever fallen asleep in the first place.

I looked next to me and saw Lamina. She was closer to me than when I'd fallen asleep. Her leg was resting on my ankle. I felt that same warm fuzzy feeling that I always got when I was around her again.

There was a strand of her reddish brown hair over her face. I gingerly tucked it behind her ear. My heart fluttered at the contact. Just at the sight of her, really.

She was just so... pretty.

I quickly tore my eyes away from her as I felt my face heat up. I crawled away, removing any contact I'd had with her. There was something seriously wrong with me when she was around.

Time passed, probably hours. Everyone began to wake up. Marcus, Lamina, everyone else. I glanced around at the kids, one of which would likely kill me in just a few days.

Or... who knew how many days were left. It could be today. Or tomorrow. Hell, it could've been in ten minutes and I wouldn't have known.

The sun was higher in the sky when Lamina scooted close to me again. She didn't say anything, just sat next to me.

"You're from seven, and you're good with an axe..." I mused. "So... does anyone else know that you could actually be pretty handy in the arena?" I asked her with a smirk, trying to lighten the extremely heavy atmosphere around us.

She looked up at me. "I don't think so." She said softly. "But I wouldn't say I'm super handy or anything. I know how to use an axe, sure, but I'm not too much help otherwise."

"Well, I think you could prove to be useful to someone." I smiled gently at her. "It's looking like your best bet at survival is Coral." I nodded to the girl from four. "She's building a pack it seems. Maybe they'll figure out that being from seven means professional experience with a weapon." I chuckled slightly.

She looked up at me, her expression solemn. "I don't..." She paused, "I don't know how I'd ever be able to bring myself to kill you." She said with a slight shake of her head.

I pursed my lips. "I guess that would be a problem." I thought aloud. "Let's just... hope it won't come to that. And if it does, we'll... we'll figure it out from there." I nodded, confident in my answer.

"Yeah..." She said, still sounding anxious.

I put my hand on her shoulder in an attempt to be reassuring. "It'll be okay," I said. It was a blatant lie though. I knew, she knew. This wouldn't be fine. No one in this enclosure would ever be fine ever again after this.

"Yeah," was all she said.

It hurt me for some reason, to see her looking so down.

Suddenly, peacekeepers flooded the enclosure. I instinctively grabbed ahold of Lamina's hand. The peacekeepers tore us apart though and led us (moreso shoved us) out to the transportation truck.

I was forced into the tiny car just like all of the other twenty three tributes. Lamina sat down next to me, Treech on the other side.

Her district partner seemed to be a bit protective of her. He usually stuck around near her. I almost wished that I could say the same about Marcus, but I knew that would only make things even more complicated for the both of us.