Annie Cresta in Her Hunger Games |Fanfiction

Chapter 2: The Truth about Mia

We walk through the woods, searching and searching, but we don't find Talon.

"Ah, it's hot! Wanna head over to the lake?" I ask, but then a panicked look crosses over my ally's face.

"What's wrong?" I ask gently, and she just shakes her head.

"Oh, you can't swim." She looks up at me with big, sad, brown eyes.

"It's okay," I say in my cheeriest voice, "it's by the cornucopia, so it'd be dangerous to go anyways." We continue our trek, and by the time it gets dark, we still have no luck.

"Wanna sleep here?" say my partner, pointing to a large, hollow bush that we can easily fit inside.

"Sure," I say, climbing in. She follows me, and then I realize I still don't know her name.

"Hey, what's your name?" I ask her, taking off my backpack.

"Mia. What's yours?" she asks me in return.

"Annie. And I like the name Mia, it's pretty." I say, giving her half of my remaining bread.

"Thanks," she says, smiling weakly, and takes a bite.

We finish our bread quickly, since there was barely any of it left, and she let's me sleep first.

I drift off in no time, and my dream is terrible. It's about the Careers finding us, and, knowing Mia didn't kill me, they kill us on the spot.

When the dreams over, I bolt upright, startling Mia.

"What?!" she exclaims in a whisper. I explain the dream, and then she goes to sleep. I'm sitting there, waiting for the sun to rise, when a cannon blows. I can only hope it's not Talon.

The sound wakes Mia up, and then I decide to ask, "Won't the Careers come looking for you?"

She thinks for a while, then replies, "No. There have been cannons blown, so they probably think it was me. They dont care about me. No one does." She looks down at her lap, where her hands lay, fidgeting. I place my hand on top of hers, which stops them from jerking around.

"I care," I say, and I can see it in her eyes that I've made her happy.

"I bet there's someone back home who cares too." I say softly, but when a tear rolls down her cheek, I know I have said something I shouldn't have.

"Actually, my father died when I was very young, and my mom, well, I don't know my mom. She left us when I was born. After dad died, I lived with my older brother, until he was reaped. He died in the games. Ever since, I've lived alone. So, you are, in fact, the only person who cares."

I wrap my arms around her, and I feel her crying harder. I whisper soothing words to her, and eventually, she calms down. She falls asleep, but I still hold her, after all, I am 2 years older, she could use my support.

The sun rises, and Mia stirs soon after. "I'm sorry about last night," she says, her eyes puffy, "I was immature."

"No," I say, "the story you told me just proves that your twice as strong as I thought you were. You can't handle death because you've experienced it before, not because your weak." She gives me a weary smile, and pulls a dead squirrel out of her bag.

"Woah!" I say, as she hands me part of it. I start a fire as she says, "I always take some supplies before I leave the Career base, just in case of this."

We stick our squirrel meat onto sticks and roast them on the fire until they turn a dark, tender pink. The squirrel tastes delicious, compared to the bread I've been living off of. A cannon sounds, and I count on my fingers and realize there are only 8 left.

I can only hope one of them is Talon.