Seventeen year old Finch Crossley has been chosen to participate in the 75th hunger games, and she is absolutely devastated by it. With her experience with throwing knives and survival, she thinks that she can at least make it to the top ten... unti...
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"Do you miss her?" I asked Glimmer while poking a stick into the still blazing fire. She looked up from the ground and gave me a look of confusion.
"Do I miss who?" She asked in a puzzled tone.
"Clove." I said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You know, since you guys were allies and stuff. And then she kind of like, died?" I ask her, I realized that I hadn't really talked to anyone in a while, and my voice sounded like it wasn't even my own.
"No." She sighed, "not really, she was kind of a bitch to be honest." She said with a laugh. "And she was really annoying; she was all over Cato, like, all the time." She said with a smirk, and rolling her eyes.
"Oh," I said, I was honestly surprised, I hadn't really expected Clove to be the type that drools over boys. I expected her to be tough and emotionless in a way. "Really?" I asked, which was a stupid question.
"Yeah." Glimmer said with a small laugh.
Our fire had started to go out almost all the way, and we were left with nothing but a small flame in the middle of a bunch of burnt logs. "I'll go get some more wood for the fire," I said to Glimmer, standing up from the grassy ground. She nodded and sat by the fire as I walked away.
Since it was pretty dark out, I had a tough time finding any wood for the fire, so it took me a few minutes. Finally, I came back to where Glimmer and I were camping out. To my relief, she was in the same place, unharmed by anything or anyone, or more specifically, Cato. I was worried he would follow us into the woods, and wait for his time to strike.
I rolled the logs that I was carrying, out of my arms and into the 'fire pit'. I took one of the two matchboxes that I had out of my backpack, and lit a few and threw them into the small fire, and created a bigger flame. We warmed our hands by the fire for a while, in silence, until finally, Glimmer spoke up.
"So, have you um..." she paused, trying to think of something to say. "You know... killed anyone..." she asked, maybe she was just trying to speak up conversation.
"Uh. Yeah." I mumbled awkwardly. And then the blanket of silence covered our campsite once again.
-🕸-
It was a cold and crisp morning, and a light rain trickled down on the forest floor, covering everything with a shiny mist. Glimmer and I had taken shifts with sleeping that night, and had kept the fire running the whole time.
This morning, we were walking through the trees, in search of a water source, and talking as we went. I had asked about her family, and she had asked about mine. She had told me that she had two little brothers, one had died when he was only a baby, and her father was absolutely deviated. Her mother had thought of it as just less one mouth to feed.
She didn't like her family all that much, and she would always spend the least possible amount of time with them.
I told her about the small plant shop me and my father would run together and the forest that my friends and I would spend the afternoons in, having picnics and hunting. They brought back memories, ones that I was sure I wouldn't experience again because I might not even come out of the arena alive.
It felt like the day went by in a flash, before I knew it Glimmer and I were taking shifts on sleeping, and watching the stars.
-🕸-
Just the same as every morning, the sun rose high in the sky. Today though, it was a bit foggy, an the sun looked like it was almost dusty. Though, it still beamed strongly through the fog and the tree tops, making everything look like it was shimmering. Small drops of morning dew rested on on the grass, flowers and leaves of the tall pine tress, the drops of dew looked like fairy tears glinting in the light. It was absolutely gorgeous. Just the sight of everything brought a small smile to my face.
Over the next five days, no one had died. Glimmer had taught me how to properly use a sword, and I had taught her how to set a snare. We shared stories about our childhood and laughed. I remembered every single word she had said. We had enjoyed berries together, and sitting by the waterfall and skipping rocks on the glimmering lake. We took in our surroundings like it was the last time we would ever see anything again.
We had received three other sponsors in our time together, they all consisted of food. We had gotten a fresh loaf of bread, a round of cheese, and a small slice of cake. The cake wasn't all that useful in keeping us alive, but we were certainly grateful for it. It was unlike anything I had ever had before, it was a vanilla cake with strawberry filling, and sweet, strawberry pink frosting on top. Although it wasn't much, Glimmer and I savoured the small slice and made it feel like we had eaten an entire cake.
If I didn't win, I wanted Glimmer to win for me. Just like Rue had wanted me to do for her, just like my father had wanted me to do for him, just like Hibis wanted me to do for them.