The Overlooked

Chapter 15: Learning to start over

I stare, looking at Fern's lifeless body, laying on the ground. Her eyes are wide open, looking up at the sky. Her face is etched with pain and her hands are lying over her wounds. Her stomach is all torn up and I can't bear to look at all the blood that is pooling up around the knifes entrance holes.

I lean down and zip her jacket up. I know I have to leave so they can collect the body, it's pointless to stay. Someone might come to see who died, or maybe to see if there's anything they can use. Plus there's a chance Clove might come back with the careers to have 'a little fun'.

While I'm squatting I close Fern's eyes with my fingertips. I slowly stand up and back away. I turn around and look at the woods in front of me. I'm try holding back my tears, but I can't stop them from flowing. I can hear the hovercraft coming.

I turn my head around to catch one last glimpse of Fern. I see the claw of the hovercraft pick Fern up. The last thing I see before I turn my head back around, is the red glint of Fern's hair as she's lifted up into the sky.

"Bye Fern." I say, It's barely a whisper.

The tears start to stream thicker immediately after. I silently walk away with tears slipping down my face. I walk forward, never stopping, never running, never jogging, I just keep a steady pace. After a long time I stop and make myself drink some water. Sitting on a rock I undue my backpack and get the water bottle out and take small sips. 

I sit there thinking about Fern's family, how will they cope with Fern's death? Will they be ok? Will I be ok? I already miss the company of another human, you wouldn't realize how lonely it gets when your all alone, I hate it. I hate this game, I hate Clove, I hate death, I hate pain, I. . .I just hate everything. I can barely think of one good thing that's happening right now. But I manage one, Thresh is still alive, still up and going. If only I could talk to him, only for a minute. That's all I want.

I pack up my water bottle and force myself to stand up and keep walking. Now would be a good as time as ever to see If I can actually shoot this slingshot.  I gather a pile of rocks and then take my sharp rock I found and have been carrying around to make a makeshift target on a tree. I take a rock and put it in the slingshot, I pull back, aim, and let go. 

Forget Fern

I hit about four inches high.  I make an adjustment and shoot again,

Start over, forget and start over

I'm still about an inch high and a little to the right. I keep shooting until I can hit the center about eight out of ten times. I decide to try something actually moving. I walk around looking for something to shoot at. I see a bird I know called groosling, we have them in our fields back home. I put a rock in, aim, and let it fly. I miss and the bird flies off.

"Shoot." I say

I try for another hour. I don't get anything. I sit down and sulk in frustration. I dig in my backpack for roots and berries. I find a hand full of berries and a couple of roots. The roots are getting flexible, so I eat all of them. When I'm done eating I decide what to do. It can't be later than 12:00am so I decide to do some spying. I climb a tree and start hopping around.

As I hop I think about the games. The farther into them I get, the more I realize that no one really wins. Even if you make it out of the games, you'll always have the memories of them. And you'll have to mentor, and watch people die, every year. How do Seeder and Chaff do it? Sit there watching us die, not being able to do anything. 

I try to keep my mind off of Fern, but I can only distract myself for so long, and the tears come back. I try to keep my breathing under control.

I'm about to hop onto another tree, when I realize, there isn't another tree. I stop and bury myself into branches. I look around and see the cornucopia. All the careers are there. I see a face I don't recognize until I realize its the boy from District 3. They have all the supplies piled into one great big pyramid. Their camp isn't far from the pile. Why would they leave the stuff all out in the open? There has to be a reason.