By her life, she flies to the large bounty that besets the grounds around the Cornucopia. Determined and like a scattering rabbit, she leaps through her path, avoiding tumble after tumble of helpless tributes already meeting with their demise. The camera swoops across the opening, rich green danglings and over hangings impeding the vision of the viewer. The girl from District Seven springs out of the way of a spitting arrow. She roles across the floor, crashing through a thick under-layer of nettles and plants. With a swipe of her hand, she lifts up a bag and twirls on the spot, crashing it into some guys skull. He falls back and she embraces her moment to escape. She slides a long knife from an idle rack and heads towards the distance, refusing to look back, refusing to embrace the bloodshed that spills around the jungle floor - refusing to play this game.
After the first day flies by, she finds herself a home-tree, a place to rest and to mark as her temporal safe-house. Eleven tributes have been killed at this point and the District Seven girl, Surah, has lasted this far. The world watches as the unsuspected competitor spends each day hunting for food and each night crying for the gap that lies between her and her family.
On the seventh day, she meets with the little boy from her District, Comet. He's shy, injured and hungry and naturally her instincts press her toward helping the motherless child. Together, they aid each other in the art of surviving the thick and unforgiving jungle.
It isn't until the eleventh day, with seven tributes remaining, that they encounter the career pack - A deadly collection of the strongest, most arrogant tributes of this years tribute pool. The girl from Two picks Comet up by the throat and slams him against a tree. His canon hits the air a single beat later. Surah tackles the boy from District One but the girl from Four has her in seconds. A single pull of the hair and slide of the knife and Surah collapses onto the floor, her body bathing in her own puddle of dark blood.
I flex my thumb and switch the television to a silent showing of nothingness.
I wipe away the tears from my eyes, place the remote delicately on the sofa, and I move over to the window. All of Panem rushes hurriedly by and I watch as the landscape deteriorates into my past. I inhale the last smell of pine trees and finally lose sight of my distantly flickering District. I wonder if I will ever return or if that was the last glimpse of the place I will ever see again. I can see my mothers eyes now, swollen with the expected loss. I'm not predicted to last much longer than the first day - if even that.
I'm not strong like my sister was, and look what happened to her? I was forced to watch everything crush her spirit and life. I was forced to draw entertainment from her bloodshed. Seven years later and the train draws closer to the Capitol. With the fiftieth Hunger Games bringing in the second Quarter Quell, It is now I who must share my sisters fate.
My sister Surah.
