The Writer Games | 4 - 5

Finals: Lily

The moment our car jumped through the light, I was blinded by some sort of radiance and after several seconds of blinking back black dots, I opened my eyes to paradise. Literally. The moment Gingko stopped the car, I rushed out of the door, ignoring his worried cries, and ran to the nearest pink tree and gave it a light shove. It felt like cotton. "Candy," I breathed in with an almost heavenly sigh.

"Lily," Gingko reprimanded, putting a retraining hand on my outreached arm.

"What?" I said innocently with a sweet smile. Don't get me wrong, I love his overprotectiveness, but sometimes a girl has got to do what she wants to do.

"What if it's poisonous?" he cautioned. I rolled my eyes; leave it to him to see the negative side.

"Um," I motioned around with a sarcastic tone, "we're in freakin' candyland."

"And we're in the Writer's Games!" he reminded me.

"You're no fun," I pouted before grabbing for a handful of the cotton-like stuff and throwing it at him.

"Lily!" he said sternly, "we have to be serious now."

I glared at him in defiance before turning my back and muttering under my breath, "I'm done with being serious."

"What did you say?" He came over and put a hand on my shoulder in concern.

Whipping around, I glared at him, feeling utter confusion as a part of me refused to act that way I was supposed to. His eyes opened wide as he took a slight step back. "I'm done with being serious." I said a bit loudly, ignoring the fact that other tributes could be standing around waiting to take the both of us down. "I'm completely done with it. I-I just want to go home, dang it, I just want to..." Suddenly, I choked up and tears welled up in my eyes as I realized how close and yet how far we were to winning. Clenching my fists, I tried my best to hold my tears back. "I just want to—"

Before I could finish, Gingko took a step forward and wrapped his arms around me in a soothing embrace. "Shh..." he comforted. Unable to control myself any longer, I broke down into tears, and to my embarrassment, I couldn't stop. He patted my back comfortingly and for a moment, there was no one in the world except the two of us. Every touch he made caused tingles to go up my back in the most soothing way possible and after several minutes of just my sobs being heard, I finally managed to put a stop to my tears. "Dang," Gingko said teasingly as soon as I let go. "If you cried that much in the beginning, we wouldn't even have to look for water."

"You're a jerk," I spat back but a smile danced on my lips, revealing the true meaning behind my words.

"That's not the first time I've heard that," Gingko smirked, running a hand through his hair.

"And it won't be the last," I added in before walking back to the car—only to realize that it had disappeared. "Did you see—"

Before I could finish, Gingko shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "That's weird." Suddenly, from the corner of my eyes, I saw a shadow move in the forest of cotton candy that was right behind us. Swiftly, I drew back and arrow and aimed it in that direction. With a twang, I let it go and almost immediately, I heard a loud drop. Shooting Gingko a worried look, he smiled a bit reassuringly before rushing forward with his woldo drawn out.

"Damn," he said just as I came over to see what was going on. My arrow had pierced something that looked like a fairy—it had light blue wings and an aura that made me slightly dizzy as well as sleepy.

"What is this?" I said, barely biting back a yawn. Suddenly, Gingko grabbed my arm and dragged me back. Jolting awake, I stared at him in confusion.

He held out his hands; in them were several dark red berries that I recognized automatically. I mean, Gingko and I had never used them before but both of us recognized it right away. When broken, they release a sleep-inducing powder and when exposed to too much, it can cause eternal coma. In other words, if we didn't notice the fairy in time, we would both be dozing off to death-- literally.

Wordlessly, he pocketed them carefully. "Be more careful." He reprimanded.

Unable to help it, I stared back at him in defiance. "I was."

"No you weren't," he argued before waving a hand back to the forest. "You nearly passed out."

I stared at him, unable to comprehend why he was giving me a lecture at a time like this. Anger boiled up in me and before I could think on what I was going to say, I retorted, "And wouldn't you like that! Then that's a better chance for you to win."

Gingko stared at me—stunned—and for a moment, neither of us spoke. Suddenly, he drew closer and closer until he was practically staring down at me. I shrink back a little, immediately regretting what I just said. "Don't you ever say that again," he said, slowly, with a pained look.

"I—"

Before I could apologize, he leaned down gently kissed me. My mind went blank as I tried to figure out what was going on. "Please." He begged after drawing back slightly but keeping his hands on my shoulders.

I bit my lips before saying in a reprimanding tone, "You're going to make me cry again."

"Save the tears for after we win the games, okay?" Gingko teased. "Which reminds me, I have a great celebration idea for after the games."

I stare at him in confusion. "What is it?"

"Well," Gingko drawled out agonizingly slow before suddenly pulling out his woldo and swinging it in the direction of the forest once more. There was a loud smack of a body hitting the ground. "Next time, don't interrupt while I'm trying to engage to my girlfriend!" Gingko yelled back at the forest before turning towards me and smiling his lopsided smile. "An engagement party. That's my plan," he said before drawing me close once again. My heart fluttered as I leaned in.

And this, I thought with determination, this will happen because if anything, Gingko and I will live on through the Writer's Games so that in the future, we can tell our kids about the adventures we had and hopefully, put an end to this all so that they no longer have to face the horrors we did.