When Luck Runs Out

Deadly Day Camp

    When I woke up the first thing I noticed was that the awful smell of cigarette smoke was lingering, and that if I could smell it then Molly, with her nose of a bloodhound, would definitely smell it.
"John, wake up." I muttered, nudging him awake with my elbow. John stirred, muttering some gibberish and set his head back down on the carpet.
"Come on John, we'll get busted." I insisted, pushing him over on his side. John groaned and curled into a little ball on the colder tile floor, keeping his eyes closed with determination.
"What do you want?" he hissed.
"The whole place stinks like smoke, we need to shower before Molly wakes up." I insisted. That got John's eyes open, and he shot up like a spring.
"You don't think she'll find out?" he asked.
"If she does I'm blaming you." I shrugged.
"Sherlock she'll kill us!" he insisted.
"I don't think she'll get the opportunity before someone else does." I shrugged. John groaned, pushing me aside and dashing out the door to take a shower in his bathroom. I just rolled my eyes, getting my clothes and taking a quick and extremely perfumed shower, taking advantage of all the different types of shampoo, conditioner, soap, and body wash. When I stepped out I was sure I smelled worse than the perfume section in the mall, but at least I wouldn't smell like the backside of a gas station. I was now properly dressed in my training uniform, the last time I would wear it to training. I cleared away a section of the mirror to look at myself in the mirror. My hair was still wet, with small flecks of shampoo suds still clinging to it, there were dark circles around my eyes, I looked horrible. But I was alive, and as I stood there in the mirror I realized that I might not be able to say that in a couple of days. I hadn't really processed the idea that I would be dead come the end of the games. It's easy to think, everything will go black, that's simple. But if you actually sit and think about it, you don't know what's going to happen. Is there life after death? Would I return as a ghost, an uneasy spirit, maybe I could haunt Snow to the point of insanity? If I die I will never see John again, Molly, Mrs. Hudson, even my parents, I'd never see them again. My goodbye to them might just have been my last goodbye. I would never walk the streets of District Twelve, never go on nightly walks over to John's when I couldn't sleep, never sit on the couches of the train and drink hot chocolate with Mrs. Hudson and Molly. I'd just sit in the box in the stones, lay there and rot, hopefully people would come to my funeral, but it would probably be like most of the game's casualties, people are too busy being relieved that their children didn't die that they couldn't focus on the one that did die. That would hopefully be me. I sighed, taking one last look at myself and knowing that I'd probably never see myself in this way again, before drying my hair and walking out to see what the common folk were doing.
"Good morning Sherlock." Molly said pleasantly. She was on the couch wearing a sweater, sipping some tea. She looked normal enough, but she also looked exhausted, as if she didn't sleep at all last night. I just nodded my greeting, sinking down on the empty couch and waiting for John and Mrs. Hudson to make their appearances. I sat there, staring at the ground without any attempt in making conversation. As much as I was impatient, I didn't really want to rush things. This was the start of our last two days before the games, and I certainly wasn't checking off the hours. The longer it took the better it was for me.
"What smells like flowers?" Molly asked, looking around as if someone had planted a garden overnight.
"It's me. I might have used too much body wash." I muttered guiltily.
"You look tired." She decided.
"So do you." I pointed out. Molly shrugged, stirring her tea with her pinky and looking gloomily into the cup.
"I couldn't sleep." She admitted.
"Nightmares?" I asked. Molly nodded in agreement.
"I just can't think positively about these games, Moriarty and Moran, they're not threats to take easily. They will want to kill you, and I don't think there's much you can do to stop them. I know you want to be the hero, but I think you won't have a choice, either of you." She admitted.
"You're not the only one thinking along those lines." I assured.
"You have them too?" she asked. She meant nightmares, I think.
"Of course. I couldn't sleep tonight, John couldn't sleep tonight, and evidently you couldn't either. We're all wrecks." I shrugged.
"Part of the Terms and Conditions that no one read." She shrugged. I nodded in agreement.
"So, did you take my advice?" she asked.
"I don't need to tell you that." I insisted. Molly's gloomy mood suddenly turned to a smile, an accusing one at that.
"That's a yes if I've ever heard one." she laughed.
"I didn't, didn't kiss him if that's what you think. I simply cleared the air." I insisted.
"Cleared the air." Molly repeated. "What does that mean?"
"You don't have to know what it means, Mrs. Nosey, I'm just saying that it's fine and you don't have to snoop around in my personal life anymore." I insisted.
"That's never going to happen." Molly promised, and I just raised an eyebrow at her, trying to point out that me and my personal life are going into the arena, probably never to come back out again. I didn't say that out loud of course, in case Molly starts to cry again, so I stayed quiet, leaning back on the couch and waiting for breakfast to arrive. The breakfast actually beat John, but Mrs. Hudson had appeared a little bit earlier.
"Go and get him Sherlock." Molly insisted as we all walked over to the breakfast table. I groaned, but walked over to John's closed bedroom door and knocked.
"John? Come on, breakfast is ready." I called.
"Give me a second!" John called from inside, obviously not wanting to open the door. I sighed, but waited for the door to finally open. John had obviously just showered, and was hopping around in a single boot as he tried to unzip the other. It smelled worse than I did in there, like some flower goddess had thrown up everywhere.
"How much perfume did you wear?" I laughed.
"It's called soap, and probably enough to knock someone out." he insisted.
"God John, it's not like you went overboard." I groaned, shutting the door to the brand new Bath and Body Works.
"It's better than smelling like stale cigarettes." John insisted. I shrugged, thinking there might be an argument there, and lead him over to breakfast.
"Ah, there he is!" Mrs. Hudson said happily as the two of us took our seats. Our plates were already filled by Molly, and for once I didn't even protest, I just poked at the potatoes.
"Did the Avoxes put in new air fresheners?" Mrs. Hudson asked, sniffing the air like a bloodhound. Molly looked at me curiously, as if mentally asking what the heck happened between John and I last night. No one answered her.
"So, last day of training." Mrs. Hudson muttered a little later.
"Apparently so." I muttered.
"You'll be fine." Molly assured.
"I never said I wouldn't." I defended.
"Well, we were all thinking it." John pointed out. I shrugged in agreement, and continued on with my breakfast.
"Well, you will be. Maybe you could try to make a new friend?" Molly asked. I just laughed, looking at her to see if she were joking.
"We can't make friends." John insisted, taking the words right out of my mouth.
"Bingo." I agreed.
"There's got to be more friendly people out there than just Greg and Jeanette." Mrs. Hudson insisted.
"Oh, sorry, let's invite Jim over for tea." I said sarcastically.
"And I most certainly don't mean Jim or Sebastian." Molly said firmly.
"We're not really the most sociable of people; surely you've picked up on that?" John asked.
"Well, I knew Sherlock wouldn't want an icebreaker activity, but John, possibly you could charm your way an ally?" Mrs. Hudson decided.
"Um, no. No charming any other guys please." I insisted, and John just laughed.
"I'm not going to 'charm' anyone, two allies plus one Sherlock is good enough for me." John insisted. I smiled proudly at Molly, as if trying to say 'I told you so'.
"Well, maybe if you think someone looks nice then you should approach them. If not, then just avoid them, either way is fine with me." Mrs. Hudson assured. Molly opened her mouth to protest, but three angry stares made her close it almost immediately. When breakfast was over we all shuffled into the elevator. I didn't know why both of them felt the need to come escort us to the training, I'm sure we could make the confusing and perilous journey by ourselves. I know at least Molly never went last year, and of course I didn't either, I was much too scared to go into the light.
"So, remember, try to focus more on the survival bit, since everyone can fight. But also try to find out which fighting technique you're best at, for the evaluations. I mean, I guess evaluations won't be that important, considering everyone already knows you and you can just use the sob story to get sponsors." Molly was kind of rambling to herself in the elevator, whether John or I listened or not.
"Molly, calm down, we'll be fine." John assured, pressing the ground floor button since no one bothered to already.
"I know, I know you're be fine I was just, you know, kind of making myself feel better." Molly muttered. She reverted to nervously twirling the strings on her sweatshirt. When we got to the train it was silent, and we were all thinking the same thing, when this day was over we'd only have a one day barrier between us and the looming death that hovered above us. When we got to the platform the paparazzi were waiting, taking pictures and trying to get news articles and all sorts of annoying stuff.
"Alright, make friends okay?" Molly aksed as Mrs. Hudson held the door for us all to shuffle in.
"That's highly unlikely." John pointed out.
"I know, just try, okay?" she asked.
"We'll be fine Molly, we've done it before." I assured.
"So have they." Mrs. Hudson muttered.
"Oh, just be safe okay?" Molly asked, catching me completely off guard with a surprise hug.
"Okay Molly, I will." I insisted, patting her awkwardly on the back and looking at Mrs. Hudson desperately.
"And you John, keep him under control." She insisted, hugging John as well. John seemed a lot more comfortable with the idea of her hugging him than I did, maybe because he had some more warning than I had.
"It'll be fine Molly, don't worry." He assured. Molly nodded, pulling herself together and smiling at us with uncertainty.
"It'll be fine." I repeated.
"Come on Molly, let's go get some coffee." Mrs. Hudson insisted.
"Get us some!" I yelled as they started to walk away.
"They won't." John muttered as the glass doors closed behind them.
"I know." I sighed. The lobby was just starting to fill up with the tributes, all of them looking tired and slightly nervous, as if the idea of the games was creeping up on them more than ever. That was the case for John and I at least. Thankfully Greg and Jeanette weren't there, and we were free to pick our own seats without the effort to avoid them and their loud mouths. Jim and Moran were here though, sitting in chairs across the room and talking in hushed voices. They didn't look affected by the games, quite the contrary in fact; they looked positively excited, as if another round in the arena was like an early Christmas. They were insane in my opinion.
"Are you nervous?" John asked. I half smiled at him, because we both knew I was. We both were.
"Like I told Molly, it'll be fine." I muttered.
"I was lying." He pointed out.
"So was I." I smiled.
"No lying to each other." He insisted.
"What if it's for our own good?" I asked.
"There's two different viewpoints to lying with a purpose." John pointed out.
"Then John, your hair looks wonderful today." I said with a sarcastic smile.
"Sherlock, I love it when you correct me and twist the things I say." John shot back.
"You're an extremely pleasant person in the morning." I lied.
"You're a pleasant person." John shrugged.
"That's quite harsh." I decided.
"I know." John laughed.
"You're likable." I added.
"Neither are you." John insisted.
"I beg to differ." said a new, very much overused voice. Greg had arrived.
"I love it when Greg shows up, the best part of the day." I said through my teeth. John giggled, but obviously neither Greg nor Jeanette had any idea what was so funny.
"Aw, thanks Sherlock." Greg said happily, taking the seat next to me while Jeanette took the one next to John, trapping us in a District Five sandwich.
"Ready for the last day of training?" Jeanette said happily.
"No." I sighed.
"Still tired?" Greg asked in a baby voice.
"Of you." John muttered. Thankfully I only heard him, and that was enough to make me crack a smile. Finally (thank God) the doors were opened, and we were allowed to pour into the training rooms. This time John and I discovered that we had already done all of the survival courses, so we redid the most important ones. A couple of fires, filtered water, and some tree shelters later we were able to go to lunch, where we were thankfully the last ones in line. So this meant we were able to pick wherever we wanted to sit, and we picked the most District Five and District Three free corner of the table.