Rising Flames

Chapter 15: The Arena

Meeting Kafiata under the arena after the hovercraft ride was sort of surreal. I mean, I'd been expecting to die before I saw another friendly face, so this was quite a surprise - a good one though. I hugged her, happy for the sibling affection she could give me so easily.
I take a deep breath after releasing my tight hold, saying something I never wanted to say: "If I die-"
That's where Kafiata cuts me off, already preparing for the tears that are threatening to spill from my eyes. "Sweetie, you're not going to die."
I look up at her, eyes shining. "How do you know?"
She smiles. "Because you're brave and smart and strong. You could sway the audience to your side with a single tear."
I look away, blinking the tears away. "I don't want their help." I look back up at her, anger shining in my eyes now. "They put me in here. I'm going to get me out. And I am not going to give up or cry for their entertainment! No! Not ever," I was becoming more and more agitated as I spoke, raising my voice to a shout. "They are not my lifeline, they are not my way home. My friends, my family..." I smile and Kafiata again, calming down a bit, "even you..." She smiles, the tears springing to her eyes now, as I guesture with my hands to the pipe that will pull me into the arena, "and all those people out there... They are my lifeline, not some snotty rich person living off the labour of others, not the people in the Capitol betting on our lives, and none of them, NONE of those people out there deserve to die." I was almost screaming when I finished, and I expected Kafiata to be wary of me, maybe even afraid, but she just stood there smiling, as a voice rang through the speakers announcing that I needed to enter the capsule.
She leaned down smiling sadly, hugging me for a moment, whispering in my ear, "Then show them."
Kafiata pulls away and leads me to the platform that will lift me to the arena, allowing me to step in before the glass comes down around me, preparing for the lift to begin.
I stand in front of Kafiata, brave and tall. She believes in me.
As the silver disk beneath me starts to move, I nod to Kafiata, preparing for the bloodshed ahead, as she mouths to me the last thing I may ever know of her.
Show them.

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Opening my eyes to the bright glare of sunlight was harder than I expected it to be, but once achieved, I could see my surroundings very clearly. The Cornucopia is on an island, just like in the last quarter quell, and we are all positioned around it, seemingly floating in water. There is a beach behind me, leading into the water surrounding the Cornucopia, and a thick layer of trees just past the sand, but what was beyond that was nothing like nature should have been: off in one direction, the trees dropped off into a far reaching desert; another direction, a rainforest thickens the further it is from us; ahead of me, mountains rise high above us, dusted in snow and ice.
A voice interrupts me from learning my surroundings, as it echoes off invisible walls. "Welcome, welcome to the 100th Hunger Games, the 4th Quarter Quell and the reinstatement of the rightful course of justice. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour." Just as the voice - that I believed may have belonged to Claudius Templesmith - finishes speaking, a countdown appears, and I prepare to swim. Whether I go to the shore and escape or the Cornucopia and fight I don't know yet, but that's not important yet. I turn, looking at the other tributes - all lined up, ready for battle, ready to die - and I catch sight of Heather, the only tribute not preparing to swim. The countdown continues, down to 5.
4
Heather steps forward slightly on her platform.
3
She takes a deep breath. Maybe she is going to swim.
2
She closes her eyes, stepping forwards more. As I see what she's doing I cry out to her, but I'm too late.
1
Heather steps off the platform and the water around her explodes.