Caged | The Hunger Games AU ✓

xiv. halcyon

fourteen - halcyon

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carly and i are absolutely bored out of our minds. nothing has happened and it's been a few hours since matthias had left to find asher. we're not even on very high alert; we're just playing tic-tac-toe in the dirt.

"i found this bow laying around on the ground," carly says after yet another cat's game, pointing to her bow on the ground beside her. "some careless tribute must have dropped it."

i remember the bow asher got and how i lost it while on the run. that's the same one. embarrassed, i do not reply to her statement.

a faint rustling noise breaks the serenity, snapping us to a higher level of alertness instantly. carly and i stand slowly, with her arming her bow, knuckles white from clenching them so hard, and me already holding daggers in my hands.

surprisingly, matthias breaks through the bushes with a very drugged-up-looking asher hanging onto his back, arms slung over his shoulders like a small child. we hold our fire and curiously watch as matthias tiredly drops asher, who is giggling – yes, giggling – hysterically so hard he clutches his stomach and squeezes his eyes shut.

"shut up," carly hisses, but her eyes are glinting with amusement at the comical scene in front of us. she tosses her weapon aside and i sheathe mine. "someone might hear you."

"can't – breathe –" asher gasps and then bursts into hysterics again. he doesn't even seem to mind the fact that he's currently rolling in dirt, or that matthias had dumped him there like a useless sack of flour.

"what's so funny?" i ask with raised eyebrows.

"matthias's hair is fluffy," he manages to reply through scattered laughs. he puts his hands in front of his face like he just discovered them for the first time, playing with his fingers. "like a little bunny. you" - he tries to point at my fellow tribute, but with his horribly misjudged sense of direction, ends up pointing at a tree - "are a fluffy bunny."

"i am a fluffy bunny," matthias repeats, clearly humored.

"yes." asher sits up, looking dazed. "you are a fluffy bunny, but you ran out of carrots and died. matthias the dead fluffy bunny."

"what on earth happened to him?" carly asks, watching as asher starts giving us each animal nicknames (carly is a deer and i am a raccoon.) "he's a completely different person."

"i found him by a new water source crying about a leaf he stepped on," matthias explains. "immediately i knew something was up. then i found the tracker jacker stings." using his foot, he turns asher - who has returned to his former position facing the sky - over and lifts his shirt slightly. there are about six swollen, red pumps that are oozing orange puss. i crinkle my nose at the sight.

"he's in a lot of pain," matthias continues, "but he's so high he can't feel it." seeing mine and carly's confused faces, he further elaborates. "the stings affect everyone differently. there are rare cases of immediate death or allergic reactions, but most hallucinate. i guess asher has a case of the giggles."

"carly!" asher shouts, jolting to a sitting position with his eyes wide. all traces of humor have disappeared from his face. if it weren't for the slightly dazed look in his eyes, i would have thought he'd seemed perfectly normal.

carly jumps in surprise at the outburst. "what, asher?"

"wanna marry me?" at first i think he is joking, but then i notice that despite the lazy smile stretched across his face, this boy is completely serious.

carly's eyes go wide and i actually think she blushes a bit, then she covers it up. "asher, you don't know what you're saying."

"yes i do," asher argues. "c'mon, pleeeaaasseeee?"