District 12's First Victor

CHAPTER 5: THE ARENA

The next day, back in the Capitol...

I wake up to someone shaking my shoulder. It's Sophia.

"Wake up!" she says. "You are going to the arena today!"

Then she starts to cry and runs from the room. I change into a simple shirt and pants and head out for breakfast. Sophia is still crying when I get to the dining room so I give her a hug and say "It'll be okay."

Soon, Lavendar grabs my hand and takes me to the awaiting hovercraft. I step onto the ladder and am frozen in place as they lift me up. We don't fly for ling. I can tell because I feel sick as we descend towards the arena. Suddenly, the ladder is back and they lower Lavendar and I into an underground room.

Lavendar helps me get changed and inspects the outfit the tributes have all been given. "It looks pretty simple but the jacket suggests that it may be cold," she says.

We sit together for a while and I fiddle with the grass bracelet on my arm. I haven't taken it off since the boy gave it to me. Too soon, it is time to go into the arena. I give Lavendar one last hug and thank her for everything she has done before I step onto the plate.

After what seems like ages,  the plate begins to rise. When it finally stops moving, the first thing I see is the golden Cornacopia and then I look around me and all I see is woods. It's perfect for me! It is just like the woods back in District 12!

It seems too familiar to me though. Something isn't right. This feeling is increased as I notice a black bag in the tree directly behind me. It is very well hidden and looks as if you would only notice it if you had seen it very often or hidden it yourself. That can’t be possible. I have to focus or the 60 seconds will be up and I will have lost any chance of surviving!

I decide that I will run to my right. I can see the glinting of a lake or some sort of water in the distance so I'll head there. The gong sounds and I hobble away on my crutches as fast as I can. To my surprise, everyone ignores me and goes straight to the cornacopia. Fine by me! I know that later I might regret not picking at least one thing up from around the cornacopia but I can always go back when I have food and water. I know how to set snares so if I could even get my hands on some vines I could easily trap some food and I could make a container for water out of leaves.

It feels like I have been walking for hours when I finally decide to stop for a rest. I decide to climb a tree in case there are tributes hunting me below. I look in the direction I'm heading and instead of a lake, I see a stream. I'll head there in a little while because I need the water. I really hope that the gamemakers haven't poisoned it or something! If they have then I will die immediately. At least I won't have to kill anyone if I die.

I am really thirsty so I decide that it's time to move on. I collect my crutches from the bush I hid them in and walk. As I do so, a memory from when I was young comes to mind. I remember walking along a path, just like this one with my father, his friends and the boy. The boy and I had walked ahead together while the men talked about snares. We didn’t want to walk with them because it was boring for us. We were young and weren't interested in how to trap food yet, we just came into the woods for fun and to spend time with our fathers and each other. As I walk past a thorny bush I suddenly remember the boy's name:

"Thorne..." I whisper.

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All I seem to do is walk. I wonder if my entire games experience will be walking and stopping to rest.

By nightfall, I've made it to the stream. I take a long drink, hoping that the water is safe. I guess I'll know soon enough. I don't feel sick so that's a good sign! The next thing I have to do is try to find a place to sleep. I have two options - one is to find a chave and the other is to climb a tree. I look around and see some big rocks a little way up from the bank so I decide to look there.

When I get to the rocks, I see a small cave. I could fit perfectly! I don't have any food or anything to set snares or hunt with yet so I decide to go back down to the stream to look for some berries. I manage to collect some mint leave, some black berries and some katniss roots so I wrap them in a large leaf and head back up to my cave. I am shocked to  see a tribute, standing with his back to me on top of the rocks! This is not good. I back into a thick bush where I am confident he won't see me and think about what I should do. I would try to kill him but I don't have any weapons and I would feel bad for the rest of my life - stupid, I know. But I can't just stay here! I found the cave first!

Just as I think of giving up, I notice a black strap sticking out from under some dead leaves. It could help me right now so I pull it out to see that it is a bag. And it has my name on it! How is that possible? If someone had sent it, there would be a parachute attached but there isn't. Maybe the gamemakers decided to hide small gifts for all the tributes around the arena! That would be cool because I could take some of the dead tributes' gifts if I found them. After thinking that, I immediately feel bad. But it looks too familiar for it to be that. Confused, I open it to find a set of throwing knives. Perfect! It must be from the gamemakers because no one else knows about my skills with knife throwing! Except for my father and his friends… and Thorne…

I push out of the bush, stand up and throw the first knife. It hits the back of his neck and I run over to stab him with another knife and watch as he dies.

What have I done?