73rd Annual Hunger Games: Sebastian Hart

The Next Day

I wake up and instantly get blinded by the sunlight coming into the doorway. I slept in late and I am lucky that no one found me. I stand up and immediately curse myself for not eating before I left for the arena. If I am lucky, I might be able to find something edible to eat.

I set off into the think forest, using my biggest knife to cut away some of the thicket so it is easier to walk through. Not long into my walk, I find what resembles a raspberry and pick lots of them. I don't want to eat much of it now, so I put most of them in my canteen. I start to walk away in hope of finding some fresh water to drink when I hear what sounds like a struggle.

Unsubconsiously, I start walking towards the noise until I see what is happening. There are four careers in one place, that is not good. I take a closer look and notice two of the careers are fighting each other pretty violently.

Before I even really process what is happening, I see three of them walk away and one lay limp on the ground. I automatically run towards the person and realize it is the boy from district eight. I guess he was not a career after all. If only he knew what kind of fight he was going to get into with them, he would not be dead.

After walking away from him and eating a few more berries, I realize that the sun is already setting. I guess time flies when your life is in danger. I can't remember the direction of the castle, so I climb the nearest tree with wide branches. I am not even close to being  tired, but I need to get out of site incase someone comes by looking for a fight.

After settling in on the branch, I put the large knife into my backpack and pull out the smaller of the two. This one would be able to be hidden in my hand, making my attacker unknowingly going into a fight with someone with a deadly weapon.

I finally start to doze off when I hear something moving beneath me. My mind instantly goes to some wild animal but then it hits me, I haven't seen one animal in my time here. Not even a bird. There are no animals in this arena. And if there are no animals, what I just heard was a person. I grip my knife tightly in my hand and silently climb out of the tree making sure to leave my backpack up there so I wouldn't have any burdens if I had to fight.

Once I reach the ground, I survey the area. The only area where the thicket was pushed down was the path I made walking to the tree. Just then out of the corner of my eye, I see something move. I turn in the direction and grip my knife even tighter.

"Come out of hiding! I know you are here! Lets just get this over with already!" I shout into the darkness. No reply comes. The only sound I hear is my own heartbeat thumping wildly in my chest.

Seconds pass but it feels like I hours until I feel a tap on my shoulder. I quickly spin around to find no one there. I slowly start to panic. What is happening to me? I turn back towards the tree to see someone standing there. And it's not just some any someone, it's my mom.

This has to be some sick joke the capitol is doing because there is no way my mom could be standing in front of me right now. I saw the crash when I was nine. I buried them and was the only one at the funeral of both my parents. I lived by myself for eight years, then came here. There is no physical way this can be my mom.

"Hello dear." My so-called mom says to me.

"You aren't my mother." I state as tears threaten to spill from my eyes.

"If I'm not your mother, then kill me." She responds nonchalantly.

"I...I can't do that and you know it." I say while the tears explode from my eyes.

"Fine." And with that she grabs my hand with the knife in it and plunges it into her abdomen.

"Mom!" I scream bending down to comfort her, but there is no one there. She vanished into thin air.

Tears continue to spill out but not just because of sadness any more. I am confused, angry, and tired. I can't even begin to comprehend what just happened. All my memories that I have of my parents and feelings of when I saw the fatal car crash that they were involved in comes rushing into my mind. Every painful thought feels like a stab to the chest.

I finally stop crying and slowly rise to my feet. That could not have been real, but yet I felt her grab my hand. And at the same time, she simply disappeared. I must be seeing things from my lack of water. That is exactly what I will blame it on. Dehydration hallucinations, sure, sounds reasonable.

I make my way back up the tree and inspect my knife. No blood on it. I do not understand why this hallucination was so vivid, but it was. And now it is going to haunt me for the rest of the games, and possibly my life. I lean my head back against the tree and close my eyes, only to find that I am wide awake. I mean, that is reasonable, I did just "kill" my dead mother.