Not Just A Game

Chapter 15

As I lay in my bed at night, the image of Griffin being impaled with a knife keeps replaying in my mind.

What if it were real? What if that was the real games, and I sat on the sidelines to watch him die?

I close my eyes tight, and try to think of something else. Anything else. I imagine the sweet song of the birds that I awoke to every morning back home.

They would always sound different. Sometimes their melody was drawn out and mellow, but other times it was high pitched and fast, waking you from your peaceful slumber.

I can almost hear them singing in my head.

Almost.

Long ago when Willow and my mother were still here, still here with me, my father would walk with me in the meadow, and talk to me. He would ask me questions.

What do I want to do when I'm older?

I always answered, to work at the bakery with Sadie.

This was before Willow got a job there. Before that bakery burned to the ground. Before my life slowly started to fall apart, piece by piece, heart by heart.

Everything I loved was ripped from me brutally.

The bakery.

Sadie.

Willow.

Mother.

Although Sadie never died, we never spoke again, other than me ordering bread at the bakery. It was as if we had never met. I blocked her out during my time of grief.

I regret it so much.

But I just couldn't stand the thought of facing a reminder of my dreaded loss.

I just wanted to forget.

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I wake from my sleep peacefully. Nobody yelling (Elsie) or sound of footsteps in the hallway. All is silent.

I actually take the time to take a long, long shower. I almost fall asleep, but I manage to snap out of my daze when I run into the shower wall.

I dress in my training outfit, freshly washed.

I pull my soft blonde hair back into a high ponytail.

I look into the mirror and wipe the sleep from my hazel eyes.

I don't put on my training boots because I don't have to leave for another two hours.

Why did I wake so early?

I walk into the hallway, and try to soften my padded footsteps in an attempt not to wake the others.

Stealth is something I'll need in the games. Being able to run or walk or even crawl around silently if i need to hunt or I'm near other tributes.

I try to figure something out. The training center is teaching us about edible plants. I can now assume we'll be somewhere with life. Not a frozen tundra or a dead desert.

Maybe it's a forest or a beach. Or even a jungle. What if it's multiple environments?

I need to be able to climb and scale large trees if that's the case.

I noticed a climbing range in the training facility. It had numerous fake trees and obstacle courses. Maybe I'll go there today.

I reach the living room and switch on the tv.

I play the reaping again.

The career pack was literally all volunteers of ages 16 and older.

I hate it when I see twelve year olds being reaped like Hazel from District seven.