hope in our eyes || 37th hunger games ✔️

Visitor

Lily

A cannon soon sounds off about ten minutes after the Gamemakers transported us back to our camp. Depression shrouds us fast as a peregrine falcon. There's no point in looking up at the sky at night to see which tribute has fallen, since we all know that Hazel died.

She was way too young to be reaped for the Hunger Games; It's not fair. And yet she still stubbornly strived to live as long as she could, which was about a week. I'm gonna miss Hazel's grouchy yelling and bossy orders; She never let her age define her.

An afternoon sun warmly smiles down on us, as birds sing softly off in the distance. I even notice a patch of flowers far away. How does everything look so happy when we're all in mourning?

I rip out a sage piece of grass, frustrated. Eisley looks at me and raises an amused eyebrow, but I can see the grim sadness in her eyes as well.

After an eternity of silence, Aspen finally says, "How 'bout we play that game Hazel showed us?"

"Yeah, sure," I say, getting up. Both of us look at Eisley.

She sighs. "Fine, I'm in for it."

"Okay then," I find a tin can. "I'll be it." I go off to the tree zone, and start racing toward the closest tree in the distance. Eisley and Aspen are at my heels, panting like a pack of wolves, but I speed up.

I'm just ten feet away from that single tree, when THUD! Both Aspen and Eisley land on top of me, wrestling for the can. They're close to grabbing it a few times, but the next time I'm on top, I throw the can far away with a smirk, and then we're off again.

We continue playing like this, laughing nonchalantly as if nothing can get us at all, until...

"They're after us! Run! Now!" Britney shrieks, with Tovar and Blade twenty feet behind her.

All we can do is stare at her in utter disbelief, until she yells, "What are you doing?! Go!"

And then I'm off. My feet beat at the hard soil faster than ever before, almost matching the speed of a newly fired arrow. My heart pounds as if there's a rock in my chest. All I can think is, Run.

Behind us, Tovar and Blade scream cries of, "Faster!" and "Get 'em!"

We're getting deeper and deeper into the forest area, and the more we run, the darker it gets. Soon, it's gonna be like racing blindly in an eclipse, only that eclipse will last until we get out.

"Over here, Lily!" Eisley yells, and I follow her voice, smacking into a large tree on the way. Scrambling back to my feet, I continue towards her, before bumping into Aspen.

"Up!" He whispers, pointing at a tree, where Eisley and Britney have already crawled up. I nod and place a foot on the branch, pulling me up as fast as I can, with Aspen below me. Soon, all four of us are perched upon the tree, at a very high level.

I can hear Blade and Tovar's footsteps getting louder as they come by. I hold my breath, praying that the Gamemakers won't make the branch I'm sitting on sway or anything. The remaining Careers' are now almost at our tree, then here, and that's where they stop to catch their breath.

"Where do ya think they went, Blade?"

"I dunno; It's way to dark here to see."

"Let's keep going; They probably kept running. Cowards."

It takes all my might not to swoop down there and punch them in the face, as they keep running. One second passes. Then five. Then ten. Then twenty.

"I think it's safe now," Britney says.

"Yeah," I breathe a sigh of relief.

"So," Eisley begins. "Do you guys want to go back to where we came from, or what?"

"It's too dark to go back," I sigh. "Hopefully it'll somehow be light again. Right now, let's just wait."

And so we wait.