Author Games: Memoranda Of Terror

Semi Finals - Variations on a Theme - Elmo Wattson

District Five - Elmo Wattson

I still couldn’t believe it. Even after Vinella had finished talking, I couldn’t believe it. Teal was dead. Teal, with her axe, not afraid to kill anyone, was dead. Teal, the person I had been allies with for a few hours, was dead.

Even though I knew she had to die in order for me to win, it still felt like someone punched me in the stomach. This was wrong, terribly wrong.

This made me even more focused on surviving. I had to fight. There was no twisting or turning possible on that. I had to fight and I had to kill.

But what if I wouldn’t win…

Stop it Elmo! I told myself. I am Elmo Wattson! I’ve faced harder challenges than this before! I can do this! I can survive! I might not be the strongest, but I’m strong. I might not be the best with my weapon, but I’m good. I might not be the brightest, but at least I have a plan.

There is a chance I’ll go home! For Devin, Nymphadora and Teal. For my parents. FOR ELYSIA!

What was that? During my little pep talk inside of my head I hadn’t noticed that I wasn’t completely alone anymore. I heard something approaching.

Calm down Elmo, I told myself. It might be nothing.

The running footsteps that I then heard proved otherwise. There was a tribute running somewhere, most likely ready to rip my head off.

I grabbed my knife and went into defense position. I looked around if I could see the tribute, but I couldn’t. I felt the suspense rising as I was uncertain about who it was that was approaching me. Not that it mattered who it was… But still.

I knew it was her the moment I saw that blonde hair. That hair I had seen so many times. It was Blissia.

‘You!’ she yelled.

I saw that she was holding several knifes, but I couldn’t run away from her. Running would mean walking away from a possibility to increase the odds of winning. I had to fight.

Blissia came running over to me and before I knew it she was on top of me, holding her knife to my throat. I tried to struggle her off, which only partially succeeded. The knife didn’t hover above my throat anymore but made a huge cut from the top of my left arm all the way down.

I felt blood pouring out of it as I kept struggling with Blissia. This could not be the end. Those eyes couldn’t be the last thing I would see…

It was over before I knew it. I somehow punched Blissia very hard, causing her to fall backwards, her head slamming on a stone. She was knocked out immediately.

I saw the blood gushing out of a wound on her head. I saw the other wounds from battle covering her whole body. I took a deep breath and plunged my knife into her chest.

The cannon sounded.

I pulled my knife out and wiped the blood off with grass. I could use Blissia’s clothes but that felt wrong, as if I was insulting the dead. I looked at Blissia for a while. I had killed again. I had taken a live again. Maybe not a completely innocent life, but it still was a life. I had killed…

I forced myself to stop looking. I shouldn’t. She was dead, there was nothing I could do about that. All I could do was trying to survive myself.

That was when I thought I heard it. Another pair of footsteps, another tribute ready to kill me. I looked at my arm and realized it wasn’t the time for me to fight even more. I had already increased the odds for me today. I should run.

I started to run in the opposite direction of the footsteps, leaving Blissia’s body behind. I knew that I couldn’t stop running. Stopping would mean having to fight a fight I would probably lose.

Except if it is someone younger than you, a voice in my head said. I shook it off. I refused to think like that. Someone younger than me wasn’t an easy prey.

That was when I realized that whoever was following didn’t want all of this either. They probably also would wanted to go home, but at the same time die so they wouldn’t feel the suspense anymore, so they wouldn’t have to kill anymore.

I stopped dead in my track when I heard him yell. ‘I know you’re out there! Don’t hide for me!’ he yelled. I quickly went down the incredibly short list of tributes still alive and realized that Gizmo and I were the only guys still alive.

I turned around to see Gizmo coming into my view. His face seemed to have lost the tiny bit of innocence it had had before the games started. His eyes seemed to beam with murderous wickedness.

‘This is about Teal, isn’t it?’ I said, trying to break through the wall the kid had build around himself. I had known Teal too, maybe he wouldn’t attack me this way…

‘I probably won’t survive. I don’t have to, there is nothing for me back home. But if I can’t survive, neither can you’ he said before running and crashing into me.

I blocked his fist attacks and tried to return some punches but the boy was quick. He kept blocking my attacks and returning even more.

The knife in my hand all of a sudden seemed to come alive. As if it wasn’t me who forced it to attack the boy. I delivered a big bow to his head before I cut in his arm.

Gizmo screamed, but my victory didn’t last long. He placed his feet on my wrists, making it impossible me to attack. From somewhere he got a stone, ready to attack.

He started to hit me with it, trying to crush my skull. With every hit I felt consciousness leaving me a bit more. At a moment it even went so far that it seemed as if I had passed out.

Gizmo thought the same because he let go of my wrists. Like a lightning bolt the hand with the knife in it came up to his throat, making a huge gash in it. Gizmo started to gurgle, falling back. He kept spitting blood. I backed away as quickly as I could. My head felt like it was spinning.

The cannon didn’t sound yet. Gizmo got up again, blood still coming from his throat and his mouth. I raised my knife in order to defend myself, but I knew it was hopeless. There was no way I was going to survive this another time…

The cannon sounded and Gizmo dropped to the ground, dead. I stared at his body. His small, innocent body. So young… That was when I passed out.