Haymitch Abernathy has been selected as a tribute in the biggest hunger games on record. He joins fellow tributes in the arena for a fight to the death. He goes into the games with the attitude of never coming out but a friend has other ideas.
I own...
"Why?' Maysilee asked again as I insisted we keep on moving in the same direction. I ignored the question as I have done for the past few hours. Maysilee on the other hand seemed fed up with me ignoring her so she stopped in her tracks. I walked a few more meters until I realised.
"I'm moving until I get an answer." She said and promptly sat on the ground. I walked back over to her.
"Because," I begin, "It has to end somewhere, right? The arena can't go on forever."
She thought about this and seemed to accept the answer. She got up and we continued to walk.
"What do you expect to find?" She asks as we trudge along side by side. In the dappled light of the trees her eyes seemed to sparkle.
"I don't know." I shrugged. "But maybe there's something we can use."
We kept on walking. At dusk we stopped to make camp
"Haymitch." Maysilee calls out from where she's sitting.
"What is it May?" I ask. She starts smiling in a way that almost breaks down into a fit of giggles. "What?" I ask.
"What did you just call me?"
"May."
She laughs. "I never thought I would hear you use someone's name let alone give them a nickname."
"Well I have to call you something don't I?"
"Yes but I just thought you would have forgotten my name by now Mr 'You're going to die anyway, so what's the point?'"
"I didn't though." I retorted. She laughs again. It's a beautiful laugh and just the sound of it makes me smile, something I haven't done in a long time.
She laughs even harder. "What's that?" She manages between giggles pointing at my face.
"What's what?"
"That." She points at my smile. This makes me laugh and I playfully shove her over. She topples onto the ground shaking and crying from laughter. After we both recover I help her up and she brushes the dirt from her pants.
"What was it you were going to say before you died of laughter?" I asked
"What? Oh yeah, I was going to say that we're low on food so we should ration harder." She replied suddenly all business.
"Yeah go ahead you're in charge of things that are edible."
"Because I'm a girl?"
"No. Well yes. I mean..." I trail off. She shakes her head at me and hands me a strip of dried beef. "Thanks." I mutter completely embarrassed.
"This is a new Haymitch that I haven't seen before." She says as she settles down for sleep. "Most people change for the worse during the games, but I think they've made you better." And with that she fell asleep before I had even realised what she had said.
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The next day we finally make it. The end of the arena is a steep cliff. Below is an army of jagged rocks.
By now Maysilee is pretty fed up with the idea of 'something's at the end of the arena' stuff. "That's all there is, Haymitch." She says gesturing at the never-ending cliff. "Let's go back."
I shake my head. "No I'm staying here," I say.
"All right. There's only five of us left. May as well say good bye now, anyway," She says. "I don't want it to come down to you and me."
"OK." I reply. I can't even look at her. She's right though I don't want it to end up between the two of us either, but I don't want her to leave just yet. I hear her storming off back into the woods where we came.
I decide to skirt around the edge of the cliff to see if there is anything I can use. My foot accidently dislodges a pebble and it falls down into the abyss that is the cliff base.
I sit down to take a break, the sun slowly roasting me. But just as I get comfortable the pebble shoots back up and lands beside me. I stare at it a long time. I through a rock the size of my fist down the cliff testing a theory. I wait. It flies back up into my hand and I start to laugh. There's a force field like the one in the tribute centre.
It was then that I heard it. The most horrible noise I have ever heard. I could hear Maysilee Screaming.
