Disney Hunger Games

Chapter 36

Merida's POV

I can't sleep anymore.

Every night, I see their faces, and now I'm remembering their names.

Aladdin. Charming. Pocahontas. Aladdin. Charming. Pocahontas. The three people whose lives I'd ended.

Killing them, I just imagined they were animals, just emotionless beings that wouldn't matter if they lived or died.

Now I'm started to see why my dad went insane. You start seeing their faces and chills crawl up your spine and you feel like the walls are closing in on you. It's horrible.

"Merida, I'm going tribute hunting, want to come?" Shang asked me, sheathing his sword.

I looked up and shook my head, burying my face back in my knees that were pulled to my chest.

"Have you been ok lately?" He asked.

"Yeah," I croaked, clearing my throat.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "You don't look ok."

"Just go." I said, my voice steady. "I'm going to go looking for food." I'd expected sponsors by now, at least by my dad. I had been getting a parachute every other day before I killed that girl with small provisions inside.

"It's not your fault." I muttered to myself unpersuasively. The timeline of my life is marked off by that moment, the moment I shot an arrow into Alladin's heart. Four weeks since I've killed Alladin which means twenty nine days since the Games started. The day I killed Pocahontas was twenty seven days since I killed Alladin.

It's all that's on my mind now. The people I've murdered.

I pushed myself off the ground and tried to shake the cold feeling lingering on my body, walking off into the trees.

My feet are silent as they tread on the leaves, careful not to scare or attract anything or anyone. I hear a rustle in a bush and hesitate before I raise my bow. Before, nocking an arrow would be second nature, a natural response to a tribute. Now it's just a chilling reminder of the killer in me.

It's just a rabbit that hops out from behind the brush and I slowly raised the bow, the animal looking off the other way, nose twitching.

I take a deep breath and prepare to release the arrow but my muscles tense up when it turns to look at me.

It's big brown eyes stare at me, cocking it's head to the side as it looks at the tip of the arrow.

It's eyes look so much like Pocahontas'.

I drop my bow on the ground and the rabbit looks away.

My knees go weak and I fall to the ground, my head in my hands as tears threaten my eyes.

They're everywhere. They won't leave me alone.

I can't live like this anymore! How does my dad even survive?

I grab my arrow and press it against my temple, tears streaming down my face as the pointy tip breaks my skin.

Then I remember Shang. I remember his smiling face and his corny jokes, and I remember that maybe I have something to live for. Maybe he needs me. Maybe I'm needed for his survival.

A splinter sticks into my hand from the arrow and I snap out of my trance, throwing it on the ground.

I can't give up. Not now. I've come so far and I have a family to go home to.

"Snap out of it." I mutter to myself as I stare at the bow that killed three people. "You need to kill. If you want to live, you need to kill. Don't be such a wuss."