Hunger Games : The Covey

Chapter 2

I immediately felt a wave of panic rise over me. Where was she? Surely, she wouldn't leave us alone, right? As quickly as I could, I shoved my snow boots on and trudged outside into the sludge. I hadn't realised it had snowed overnight, it just added to my worries. As Barb Azure woke up the rest of the Covey, I ran off into the woods behind our house frantically screaming her name.

Lucy Gray! Lucy Gray! Please, where are you? Lucy Gray!

Due to my shouting, the mockingjays had fallen quiet and were now repeating my distressed, weak voice. I could hear everyone else behind me - Barb Azure, Tam Amber and Clerk Carmine Clade (CC) - yelling her name.

I was afraid we would be waking up the rest of 12 as it was early hours. Soon enough, floods of people would come flooding out of their houses for early morning hunts and to try trade with tired peacekeepers. We had been wandering around cluelessly in the woods for what felt like hours before we found anything. As I was searching through the foliage, looking for any signs of life, I suddenly spotted something. On the ground laid a once beautiful orange scarf. It was delicately designed and looked almost vintage. However, when I stumbled across it, it seemed to have been drenched in mud and buried in snow. I wondered who this belonged to. Then I realised something.

One day, us Covey and one of Lucy Gray's peacekeeper friends went down to the lake

The lake was like a second home to us covey as not many other people knew of it. CC and I were digging up Katniss roots and I found a particularly tasty looking one, with the rouge dots and everything! I was so excited I ran over to Lucy Gray and shoved it into her hands. She had been laid on her peacekeeper friend's stomach - I still can't think of his name. I noticed he was holding a just beautiful orange scarf. I could just smell the faint waft of roses. I ran off back into the patch of Katniss's and I think I heard Lucy Gray telling him how we eat the roots. I told her it's probably good enough to eat now and disappeared off into the lake house.

As I pondered over all the possibilities of this scarf laying in the mud, the rest of the covey had joined me on the floor.

"She must be round here somewhere...she has been here recently at least." I explained. They knew why. They saw him with it too.

We slowly walked around, checking out every nook and cranny looking for any clues that could lead us to Lucy Gray's whereabouts. I was determined to find her. Any time she was injured or away from the whole day, I would get these horrible nightmares. I would wake up screaming in the night, sweating and cold. She would sing me back to sleep in her soothing, quiet voice.

And when they open, the sun will rise

Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you

There's more, but I had usually dozed off by then. Thats why it was so bad when she was in the games, she wasn't there to lull me back to sleep.

I could hear her voice in my mind, calming me, giving me hope that she was close. We had been searching for 3 hours before we found another trace of her. I found footprints. But there was something odd about them. It looked as if there were four feet. But not like a bear, it was boot prints and another shoe I couldn't quite recognise. I followed them, excited, but they led to nothing. I thought it was over. I was tired, hungry and scared.

I lost all hope.vvv