Jabberjay [The Hunger Games]

Chapter Three

     The loud cheers from the crowd are still echoing in my head even after I have been taken into isolation from the rest of the District. As I wait in the Justice Building, the reality of everything officially sinks in. I will be going into the arena, alongside 23 others, and we will fight to the death. It doesn't hit me until this moment that I have never actually killed a human, just decoys. I assume that it isn't too different, because the decoys in The Fray are made to resemble the human body to an exact science.
     My thoughts are interrupted by the golden-rimmed door that flies open into the room, my father following it. I can sense something is off as soon as I see his expression, and I immediately ask, "Where's Mom?" He is trying to catch his breath, almost as if he had ran here without pacing himself. He shakes his head and my heart slowly begins to sink as if weights were tied to it. The fear in my chest that has built up causes my voice to crack when I ask again, "W-Where's Mom?"
     The hesitation that glosses my father's lips, sends chills down my spine. "Carmen, you have to win," is all that he can say and I know something has gone wrong. In the back of my head, I try to retrace the last time I saw my mother. I don't remember seeing her in the crowd after I was reaped, but I do remember her giving me one last hug before she went into the section roped off for the parents of potential tributes. The shine of her hair in the beaming rays of sunlight as she walked away from me still stays with me in this moment. "Where is she, where is Mom?" The anxiety in my tone is causing my hands to tremble at my side.
     My father takes a deep breath before speaking, "Your mother is okay, but the Peacekeepers are only letting one parent say their farewells this year. It's some new rul-"
     The reflexes in my body send my hand directly to my fathers' shirt, grasping a chunk of the cloth in my hand and holding it in a fist. "Do not lie to me, I'm not buying it!"
     The look on my father's face is filled with shock and potentially a tint of embarrassment. He puts his own hand over my fist that is still gripping onto his shirt with all of my strength. I threaten him with my eyes that are piercing through his soul at this point. That is when the gunshot sounds and with that, my hand drops from his shirt. The expression on both of our faces are of great fear and a haunting sense of paranoia looms in the room. Could that be her?
     I have no time to react, I have to quickly process what I want to do, which is make a B-line for the door and hunt down my mother. That plan is interrupted by the two Peacekeepers that enter with their robotic ways of movement. Each of them grabs one of my father's arms and begins to pull him away from me. "Times up," says one of them.
     My natural instincts force me to reach for my father and hold on to him. I need answers and I won't get them unless I pry them out of him. The Peacekeepers have almost succeeded in dragging him out of the room until I lunge myself onto my Dad, causing them to drop him. I wrap my arms around him, making it near impossible for the Peacekeepers to lift him up.
     "Where is she!" I scream, holding onto his body as if I was suctioned to him. He lets out a cry, almost sounding like a wounded animal.
     The gloves of a Peacekeeper wrap around my shoulders, forcefully pulling me back off of my father. I try to lunge forward, towards him again, but I find myself being held back. I squirm around on the floor, watching one of the Peacekeepers pull my frantic father out of the room by the collar of his shirt. I can hear him yelling as if he had been injured, but he is too far out of reach for me to do anything. My mothers' possible death stabilizes in my mind as the door meets the door frame. I allow my heated body to lay back on the floor, and my eyes to close. I try to cancel out any negative thoughts, but they are too abundant to ignore at this point.
     I lay there for what feels like 5 minutes, then I make myself get up. I notice that I am in here alone, so the Peacekeeper that was holding me back must have escaped while he could, which was probably smart on his part. I wouldn't want to be in a room alone with a pissed-off girl from District 2 who just volunteered to enter the Hunger Games either. My thoughts shift back and forth from my mother to the Hunger Games for a few more moments until I see the door begin to open. I don't know if it is hopeful thinking or some sort of manifestation but, "Mom," is what escapes my mouth.
     However, it is not my mother that enters the room with me, it's Deco Talli. Her platinum blonde hair lightens the atmosphere and is very misleading once I notice the look painted on her face. The door shuts behind her as she lets' her ponytail swing back and forth, headed my way.
     "What's going on there, Carmen?" She asks, with a smirk that slowly appears on her face. She speaks to me in the most sarcastic tone, "You're going in, Congratulations girl!"
     Confusion bubbles up inside of me, and I try to make sense of the situation. I have no idea why she is here, or why she was allowed in here? We were never anything more than helping hands to each other at times when it came to practicing at The Fray. I've never spoken to her once outside of that building, so why is she here, and why is she acting like this? It doesn't make sense, none of this makes sense.
     "I'm here to help you because if you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best." She says, and that's when she reaches from behind her. She moves quickly as she raises a gleaming dagger into the air, sending it down in my direction. I have to think fast, bolting to my right to avoid getting stabbed and making sure that I keep my eyes locked on her. She turns over to me after she misses, and charges at me with the force of a bull. I scream for help, trying to get the nearby Peacekeepers' to hear me in hopes that they can put an end to her. With nothing to defend myself, I instinctively go for her legs, trying to avoid a knife in the neck.
     I feel a sharp pain above my right eyebrow, and I know she got me, sending killer pains through my nerves. The impact of us clashing sends the knife spiraling out of her hand and into the air, planting itself into the laminate wall. Blood covers my face, and I can start to taste the metallic reminder of failure as I manage to pick myself up off the ground and bolt for the knife. I am about halfway through the room when a hand grabs my ankle, sending me to the floor, yet again. That's when I feel Deco's teeth sink into my back as I am pounced on top of.
     A shriek escapes my mouth begging to be heard as I push myself up off the ground and roll over, stabilizing myself. Deco and I leap at each other with great force around the same time, causing us to break out into a wrestling brawl. At times I feel her beginning to overpower me, but then I force myself to find the strength to meet her level of aggressiveness. Fingernails clawing at each others' faces, fists exchanging blows to one another's chins, and blood from my forehead mixed with the blood from our newly-fresh open wounds paint the floor in a vibrant red. The power shifts that occur in the room are consistent and completely fluid as we take turns weakening each other.
     The blood from my forehead has gathered in my eye, resulting in temporary blindness, making my task of coming out of this alive even harder. Deco rolls over on top of me, locking her hands around my throat. She puts all of her pressure down on my neck, cutting off my supply of air. As I struggle to push her off me, in a last-ditch effort I take my fist to her temple causing her to tumble over to the side. I think to myself, "This is my chance," as I hastily rise from the ground and dart for the knife. The rate of my heart is skyrocketing, but I am relieved to not feel the grasp of death around my ankle this time around. It doesn't take me long to pull the knife out of the wall, and then pounce onto Deco as she struggles to get up, forging the dagger into her chest.