Writers Games; Alliances

D12 Female - Seaver Parish - Task 2 [AnonymousRice4]

This is it; the final moments; we’re in the Launch Room, Granny, Djaq, Rarity, my Prep Team and me. After this, I will never see them again; I have to make whatever we say in here profound, it has to be something they all can cling to and remember when my last breaths are drawn out, and I die. I know I’ll die, the others are so much better than I am – but now is not the time for any self-pity. I have to say goodbye to my loved ones, and enter the arena.
     Granny steps forward first, her tiny hands quivering as she pulls me into her bosom. “Be safe.” She says. She doesn’t say ‘come back to me’ or ‘you can win’. ‘Be safe’ is all she says, and it’s all I need; I don’t need anyone telling me they’re counting on me, or they need me. Right now I only need a pleasat goodbye. Is that too much to ask for?
    Granny pulls away and immediately I see tears forming in her eyes, and trailing down her wrinkled cheeks. “Gran, don’t waste your tears on me. I love you, okay?” I pull her into a hug once more, patting her back gently and then tracing circles with my index finger.  For awhile we just hug, until our arms feel like they’re about to fall off, and we let go. Granny wipes her eyes with a flowery handkerchief, before stepping out of the other’s way. Rarity falls into my arms, quietly sobbing, not uttering a sound. I don’t know what else to do except place my arms over her shoulders and caress her back, whispering soothing words to her as if nothing in the world could possibly be wrong. Suddenly my former feelings of envy, jealousy and hatred toward her seem so juvenile. I wonder how anyone could hate something so pure, and then I look at Djaq, and a wave of nostalgia rushes over me. I feel like I love him so much, but at the same time, he’s like a brother to me.
    “Rare, I’m going to be all right in there. You have nothing to fear.” Without hesitation she pulls herself out of my arms, stretching out her index finger to pull something off of it. It is a ring; the ring which she bought from me at the Hob, the day of the Reaping. It’s still perfectly polished, she must have taken good care of it while she had it. I hesitate to take it from her; she obviously wanted it so bad, it reminded her of something or another.
    “No, I can’t.” I tell her, and push the ring away. “I already have a token, see?” I hold up my wrist, around which is a gold chain which is meant to be a necklace, but the clasp is broken so I tie it around my wrist all the time. In the background I hear Granny gasp, and see her stiffen as she looks upon the pink diamonds making up the butterfly’s wings, which hangs off my arm a bit. Djaq lowers his head, and Rarity shakes hers.
    “Take it” she mouths, still holding back her voice. I want to ask her why she doesn’t talk; I want to know the real reason, not what everyone is always guessing. I want to understand Rarity, to relate to whatever trauma she endured to make her this way. But I can’t. Because just like her, I am speechless. The words refuse to form, and suddenly I feel the way she does; maybe she wants to talk, maybe she tries, but the words won’t form, her voice catches and she gives up; she decides having nothing to say is better than stuttering through her sentences.
    “But thank you, Rare. It means a lot that you would give that up for me, knowing you might not ever get it back.” I smile, but she looks confused. She shakes her head, pointing to me and then motioning with her hands, rolling them towards her and pointing behind her. “I’ll come back?” I ask. She nods. “I know, I know. But don’t get your hopes up, I’d hate for you to be disappointed.” I murmur.
    “She won’t be. You will come back; you’re a fighter Seav, don’t think we’re just going to give up on you the minute things look down for us. We will always believe in you, we will always be on your side. That’s what family means.” Djaq spits out, coming towards me and Rare. We lock gazes before I run into his arms, and nod. “Thank you.” I whisper.
    “Time to go.” My Stylist informs us, before patting me gently on the back. I’m wearing tight pants which feel as if they’d be tough against any terrain the arena has to offer, and a regular, insulated tee shirt with a light weight but very warm coat. I have boots on, good as rain books and hiking boots I suppose. I don’t know what kind of terrain there’ll be in the arena, but my Stylist decided to cover most of the bases. I let go of Djaq, smile at Rare, and touch Grandma gently on the arm before stepping into the glass cylinder in the middle of the room. They all wave me off as I ascend, up, up to the arena – to the Games. What I leave behind I can never regain unless I fight, fight to the very last breath. I want so badly to succeed, but I know in my heart that I can’t do it. I’m not that brave, I’m not all that smart, maybe all my failings and shortcomings will be my end. All I can do now, as the cirular door above begins to open, is bet on my strengths and my allies.
   At long last, the moment I’ve been anticipating for days has come; I’ve entered the arena,which resembles an office, instead of the traditional outdoors type you see on TV. At once I am aware of the twenty-four beings around me; some, a great many of them, are my allies. Closest to me on my right I see Amabel Trython, the blonde hottie from Four. To my left, is an enemy; Eugene Weiss, also from Four. He’s only like, two years older than me, but I see him glaring at me with demon eyes. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I think he wants to kill me. I brace myself as the countdown starts, and begin my quick examination of the room; the first thing I notice is there is no cornucopia, odd, and then I see the three doors positioned exactly three feet apart. Beside each door is a set of red buttons, positioned on either side of the metallic barrier. We cannot see past these doors, as there are no windows, but everything is still bright as day. I glance at Amabel, who nods in response. I was very hesitant to join this band of allies, but the offer seemed too good to refuse. I had to survive somehow, being in a group just seemed like the best option. The countdown finally ceases, and everyone is off their pedastol and fighting at once. Eugene lunges at me but I duck, sliding on my knees right under his big, athletic legs and run to one of the doors right away. Chaos surrounds me, children fight, people being slaughtered – without any kind of weaponry. It’s insane. I’m joined by my allies Tobias and Miles, from Ten and Seven, as well as Amabel just as I’m about to open the door. It’s stuck, and as I jerk and pull Tobias points out one simple factor which I failed to notice; the buttons at either side of the door have sticky notes above them which read ‘press to open.’ I press one, and jiggle the doorhandle again. It doesn’t work.
   “Grr, come on!” I growl, ramming my body against it frustratedly. Amabel and Miles fight off Tributes which come after us, while Tobias suggests pressing the buttons simultaneously. Just now Mira joins us, and I order her to press the red button opposite me at the same time I do. Tobias’s suggestion works like a charm, this door as well as one other which the other tributes have figured out, swings open and we all run through. Outside is a smaller room with only one glass door at the end. We spill through, and are joined by Lumen, the only other ally of ours. Someone else tries to slip through with us – the boy from Eleven I think – but Lumen snaps his neck very quickly, and forces the door closed behind us.
     “What now?” Mira asks. We all look to the glass door. Surrounding us are glass walls, which we can see through all the way to the other glass rooms the other doors led to. Amabel and Tobias head for the door in front of us, the rest of us following blindly.
     “There’s another button.” Mira points out. I feel like saying ‘no shit’ but I refrain, reminding myself that I need these people to trust and like me if I’m ever to get out alive.
     “Following the logic of our last little encounter with a button and a door, I think one of us should press it.” Tobias very wisely  suggests. I feel the tension in the room as we wonder who is going to press it; I gaze at everybody, studying them intensly. We’re still not a team yet, none of us fully trusts the other, we’re still just individuals working to survive. We’re all eager to see how this alliance works out, believe me – but I think really, nobody knows anyobody’s specific mindset as of right now, and we’re all just figuring each other out.
      “Seaver, you step on it.” Lumen blurts out, breaking the silence.
     “Why? Because I’m the youngest?” I retort, before deciding it was a stupid thing to say. Lumen and I are the same age, making the both of us the youngest. But I feel like the underdog here, I’m ‘the girl from Twelve’, I don’t have a name I just have a title. I feel like I have to compensate for that. After my rejection Lumen turns to Mira, who shakes her head.
    “This is stupid, I’ll do it.” Miles offers impatiently. We all watch as he presses the button against the left wall, and the door swings open. “See? Easy.” He quips, but the moment he releases the button the glass door shuts, much too fast for anyone to slip through. We all freeze. Curious, Tobias heads over to the wall and presses the button again. Again, the door opens, but the moment Tobias’ hand is removed from the button, it closes again.
    “So, what? Someone is going to stay behind while the rest of us run through to victory?” Miles inquires, while Tobias and Lumen both wear looks of deep concentration. “Hang on.” Tobias places Miles’ hand on the button and heads for the door. No one really knows what he’s doing as he disappears to the outside.
     “There’s another button!” He yells out, and we all feel relieved. “Let go Miles!” He shouts again. Miles obeys, and the door remains open, as Tobias no doubt has his hand pressed against this other button. We all feel like cheering, but nobody feels like celebrating in the company of the others. So, we keep quiet, with smiles on our faces we pass through the door and meet Tobias on the other side. He head counts and when everyone is safely through the door, he releases the button and the door shuts automatically. Well, we’re past obstacle two, and so far no one has died or been left behind. I’d say this allliance is built on mutual benefit, a need for survival really. However, after this, I think we’ll do well working together in the arena. I feel an unfamiliar excitement at this, at the prospect of maybe having a chance, and breaking past the title of underdog.