Perfectly in Pieces

let the games begin

I wake with a start, I feel the weight of the games on my shoulders, and I feel my hands shaking, today at 12 all of the tributes will be transported to that awful arena, and I'll die, I wish I could stop this from happening, it seems funny that just last week I was complaining because I failed another test at school, it felt like the world was ending then if only I had known. Time is funny that way, it's the one thing that we can't really stop, well unless we die but that goes without saying, I can't hold on to something to stop it because everything is trapped by time. I head over to the dresser and dig around in the drawers until I find a pencil, I quickly run into the living room and spot Thresh, "hey! Do you have any paper?" he looks me up and down, clearly curious about what I'm doing, I just shake my head and he doesn't prod, "I have some in my room" he grabs it and gives it to me, I quickly scamper back to my room and begin writing.

I write letters to my loved ones, some confessing things, some giving things, while some give responsibilities, it's already 11 by the time I write my last letter, it's addressed to Aster.

Before I know it seeder is coming into my room and telling me it's time, her voice seems hallow and I think we've both accepted what going to happen, i slowly rise from my seat and tell her that when I die I want the letters to go to the people they're addressed to, she nods and hands me my uniform. I shake uncontrollably as I put it on, oh my gosh, this is it, I'm done.

A few minutes later I finish and I leave clasping seeders hand as if my life depended on it, we walk to the elevator, but it all feels like a blur, almost like I'm at home watching another tribute, I never thought I'd be the tribute we all watch from home.

After an excruciatingly long walk, we board a jet, I sit beside Gem and she holds my shaking hand.

"Breath, when we get out there run, I'm so sorry this happened to you"

I nod knowing if I speak the tears will start,

Bryce is sitting beside Gem and they're also holding hands, his head is resting on her shoulder peacefully. Thresh is sitting by himself in between 2 careers but he looks fine with it, I know if that was me I would be bawling,

A peacekeeper walks in front of me and holds out her hand

"Arm," she simply says, I raise my arm and look up to see what she's doing, I immediately regret it when I see her sticking a giant needle into my arm, I wince and try to keep in a shriek,

I close my eyes hoping to wake up from this nightmare, but it's not because I'm still here,

I reach up to brush the hair out of my eyes but when I feel my face it feels wet, I'm crying again,

Gem looks over at me and sees, "Oh Rue" She pulls me close and lies my head on her lap, she lightly strokes my hair and rubs my back but says nothing.

We land, and she taps my shoulder and whispers so only I can hear "We're here, I love you, please be careful, you can do it" We all rise from our seats and peacekeepers are already there to stop us from killing each other before we're in the games, I see gem and bryce exchange a quick hug and then gem turns to me and bryce goes over to thresh, gem crouches to my level and then quickly embraces me "you can do this, you'll get out of this arena, I wish I could stay but I made a promise to my brother" I nod in understanding, I wouldn't want her to stay, gem dying would break me. I swiftly finish the goodbyes with quick hugs and a few tears before we're all pulled away to the chambers to prepare.

I put on the outfit they provide and I put my hair into two buns on each side of my head, clementine comes in to wish me to look and say a final goodbye, I hear a voice go over the loudspeaker telling me that it starts in 20 minutes, I prepare to cry but no tears come, I feel like I have to but I just can't. Every minute feels like a second but in the moment it feels so slow, it's an odd feeling like I'm in an alternate reality or a dream.

The voice comes back saying I only have 10 minutes before I go, clementine sits with me and rubs my back lightly until it tells me to get into the tube, my legs shake as I rise from my seat on the bench and I slowly enter the tube, the moment I'm in the doors shut behind me, meaning there is no escape from the games that come.

I slowly feel myself rise from the floor towards the sky.

I rise and see lush first surrounding the clearing with the cornucopia, There's a lake in the distance and stuff is scattered around the area, the clock is already down to thirty seconds before I can start assessing the people around me, to my right there's are career girl with the biggest grin I've ever seen plastered to her face, and to my left there's a boy with poofy red hair that sticks in all directions, not great,

The cloak is at 10

I can run towards the trees for cover

9

Maybe snatch a bag

8

Or a weapon

7

I need to be the first to the lake

6

Should I try and join Thresh?

5

Does he even want to join me?

4

I can't worry about that know

3

Everyone will probably go to the lake

2

Maybe that's not the best idea

1

To late now

Everyone throws themselves off their platforms and runs towards the middle, I run to the outskirts where the bags are all propped up against each other, as I run, a knife flies past my head and I glance back to see the girl from two turning her attention to another tribute, I can't hear anything so I just have to trust there's no one behind me. I spot another girl running for the bags so vear to the right as to avoid her.

there i'm greeted by another tribute but she has an axe, she swings it and i drop to the floor in an attempt to avoid it, suddenly thresh lunges at the girl and begins to beat her to death with a sickle, he mothes the word go so i run faster towards the bags, i quickly swip on from the floor and scurrie of towards the lake i saw, i run for hours before finally arriving at the lake, i open the bag i grab to see it was open and most of the contents fell out, i want to yell with rage and i examine what i have, i find a small water bottle and fill it up with water knowing theres not much time before the other tributes arrive, i walk towards the sun for what feels like hours and slowly my hearing returnes, i know i didn't hear the canons go off so i have no idea how many tributes are left, after many more hours of chasing the sun it slowly begins to set so i chose a tall tree to climb and sleep in, i eventully chose one with thick floiage so i won't be visabel from the ground, then i climb as high as i can so i'm almost at the top, i find a bigenough branch to hang my bag on and another good one to settle on, i sit in the quiet appreciating the fact that i made it out of the blood bath and know i'll hopfully die of thist out here, i hear the capitol antheme pick up and look to the sky to see the capitlo logo flash up.

The fallen has begun, first, we lost the redhead boy from 4, the girl from three, the boy from 5, both from 6,7 the boy from 8, and Gem and Bryce, the girl from 10, good thresh is still here, I can't help but hope that Bryce and gems plan was successful even though they were also composition, I sleep doesn't come easy but I'll need it to get ahead so I let myself slowly drift off to the sound of the wild