The 65th Hunger Games - EDITING

Chapter thirty-two

I wake up to the sound of music blasting in the arena. It's the Capitol's anthem, they're about to project the faces of today's victims. I thought that I would feel anger, sadness and pain during this moment that I dreaded all day long, but I can't feel anything. I'm empty. I clench my jaw as I watch the familiar faces appear and disappear one after the other. Their names only add to the list of people I won't allow myself to forget. They now are names and faces I will have to carry in my memories until my heart stops beating.

Adenias Belleir, boy from three.

Viviana Cerne, girl from four.

Cedar Clarksridge, boy from seven.

Cleoma Hedera, girl from eleven.

Anthos Calder, boy from eleven.

The arena goes back to darkness as the music fades away, officially putting an end to my allies' life as if they never existed. There were only five deaths today and four of them happened right before my eyes. I'm the only survivor of our little group. I don't deserve to be here; my face should be up there with theirs.

No, that's not true.

No one's face should be up there. No kids should be forced to kill each other. No one should have to live through this. If I ever get out of here alive, I'm going to do anything so that these cruel Games come to an end. I'd sacrifice myself without a doubt so that no one else has to. It's pretty ironic that I'm ready to kill other children just so that I may find a way to make it stop. Is it what everyone else thinks when they take their victim's lives away? That they're going to make it right somehow? I'm no different than anyone else; I'm just one of the Capitol's puppets, a pawn in their Games.

🔱

When wake up the next morning, it's not nearly as cold as yesterday. It's quite hot actually; feels a lot like home. Maybe I'm just getting used to the cold. I won't need the combination today. I remove it and roll it into a ball that I throw inside of my bag. While it's open, I decide to grab a bag of dried meat and the two last fresh fruits that I eat in a hurry. Today is going to be a long day; if I don't find water, I will have to hike back to the Cornucopia which will take a few hours. I should probably craft a spear like the ones Adenias showed us how to make; fighting other people with a knife isn't really my cup of tea. I wish I could have a trident; it would be so much easier. Killing humans shouldn't be much different than killing a big fish, right?

When I finish the last bite of my little breakfast, I get up, throw the bag over my shoulder and leave. Unfortunately, the lack of sleep doesn't take long before forcing me to stop. I had a long and exhausting night. Every time there was the slightest sound, I'd wake up, my heart racing in my chest. I don't know what scared me the most; the presence of danger or the absence of it and the certainty that I would have to spend another day in here?

During the few minutes of good sleep I had, images of me slitting open other tributes' throats with a knife flooded my brain. The worst part is that it didn't even feel like a nightmare, it was actually relieving.

I'm a monster now.

I have not yet killed anyone and I'm already a monster. I'm no different than the people I disgustingly looked at my whole life. I hate myself for even thinking about killing other children. Why couldn't I have died sooner? Why did I have to be reaped? I just want to get out of here; I need to get out of here and see the sun and the ocean once again. I just want to go home.

I watch the silver parachute fall slowly from the sky, still lost in the huge mess that my thoughts are. I pick it up from the ground, expecting to find some food attached to it. What I find instead leaves me completely shocked. It's a knife. Not the normal ones with a straight blade or those from the Cornucopia, it's exactly like the ones we use at home. It has a serrated hawkbill blade coming right from District two. The blade is approximately five inch long and retractable. As scary and dangerous as this sound, it's not used as a weapon. We utilize it to cut a sort of plant that lives underwater back in district four. Once it has been collected, we then dry and braid it to make nets. I don't know what Mags is trying to tell me. I look around, trying to figure it out. There's nothing but trees. Maybe she wasn't trying to say something; maybe she was just trying to send me a gift from my sponsors. An expensive but meaningless gift. I sigh and go back to where I was seated before the silver parachute was sent to me. I wish I could have something to rest my back on. If it wasn't of those strangling vines, I could get closer to the trees; maybe even catch a good night of sleep up there.

The vines.

I practicallyjump on my feet and run to the closest tree. I open the knife and press my handagainst the rough bark. The vines start moving right away, slowly coating myhand. I wiggle it as they start to move up my arm more aggressively. I finallyunderstand how people can get caught in this deadly trap; you can't feel athing until it's too late. Once they reach my elbow, I start cutting.Unsurprisingly, the knife works really well and I can soon step away from thetrap. I'm not however freed from the vines. They continue to work their way upmy arm, so I sit on the ground and stop moving to stop the process. Eventually, they fall off, having nothing to attach themselves to. That is what Mags was trying to say, she wants me to use this deadly trap and turn it into a deadlier trap.