She panted. She was exhausted. All she wanted to do was fall flat on the ground and sleep, but she knew she couldn't. As worn out as Christine might be, she had to keep on running.
And so she ran. She knew that this was pointless, as the Career would find her sooner or later, but she intended to make it the latter. She knew there was no way she could win, but she vowed to atleast put up a fight. She won't let them kill her easily.
She stopped. Christine bent down to her knees and caught some breath while opening up her ears to listen for the Careers. She couldn't hear their furious battle cries or their thundering footsteps coming her way anymore.
When she looked back, all she could see were a bunch of trees amongst the dying sunlight. When she looked up, behind the thick canopy of leaves was the slowly appearing moon. It was getting darker now, and she didn't like that one bit. The urgency to find some shelter was increasing, but atleast she was safe from the Careers.
Or not.
Much to her frustration, the birds above her started singing loudly, giving away her vulnerable place. The melodies were something which caused her hairs to stand; it was unearthly, but it was tender at the same time. She shook her head.
"Out of all the time they could've sung... Why now?" Christine groaned as she heard some Careers yelling and approaching her direction.
She quickly set her backpack on a comfortable position on her back and got ready to run. However, it seemed that the odds were on her side. The birds didn't stop singing their strange, melodic songs; instead, they started to fly away from her while still singing.
"By the Odds..." Christine muttered under her breath. The Careers, though talented in using weapons and murdering, were quite dumb. They would hopefully fall for the trap, thinking that the birds were following her and so they would follow whatever direction the birds were flying, leaving her alone and safe.
A smile tugged at Christine's lips but that smile was washed away soon after. She had to get going. She kept walking for a few hours until she found a suitable small cave before she finally lay down and rest.
The cave wasn't that large, but it offered her the protection she longed for and nobody would've thought about someone being inside it. The ground was luckily not too damp though it was a bit cold, but she'll survive. She rested her head on her rough backpack and closed her eyes.
Sleep didn't came as quickly as she hoped it would.
She still had too many worries on her mind. How would she survive? She couldn't hide forever, could she? What about food? What if she meets another tribute? However, the most troubling question was; what on earth caused the birds to fly away?
Now that she was calmer, she started to remember what the birds looked like, and that if she was correct, they were the mockingjays. From what she learnt, mockingjays weren't supposed to act like that. So something... someone... was behind all of this.
She remembered a tribute... What District was he from again? She forgot about that. She couldn't remember his name either. It started with an A... Or was it an E? Whatever. It doesn't matter.
What stood clear in her mind was his white half-mask which he wore during the Reaping, the Chariot Rides and the Interviews. She didn't remember seeing him at the Bloodbath but it was probably due to her being too busy running for her life.
She remembered him getting a 7 for his training score, which was totally unexpected, but what baffled her and the other tributes the most was what he said during the interviews.
"So, what would you say your strengths are?" Caesar Flickerman asked.
"I have many," the masked boy replied, "and I prefer to keep them a secret."
"How 'bout a hint then? Just one little clue?"
A hush fell over the crowd. Everyone waited intently for a reply.
"I can sing," he said a second before the buzzer went off.
Christine's mind whirled. Mockingjays like songs. Could it be that he used his songs to train the birds? The songs she remembered the mockingjays chirping had quite an unusual melody. The birds couldn't possibly have created it themselves. It seemed like the most plausible explanation her fuzzy mind could come up with.
If that was true, what happened? Why did he spared her life?
Christine shook her head. Her new discovery seemed to just add more questions which her spinning mind couldn't handle right now. She needed sleep.
Christine took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. I'll figure this out later. Now I need to rest. I can't survive tomorrow being sleep deprived, can I? And with that thought, she let her weary consciousness slip away as she fell thankfully into a dreamless sleep.
But little did she knew about the boy watching her cave from afar. The boy wearing a white half-mask, hiding in the shadows, humming melodies to himself.
I got this idea after I watched The Phantom of the Opera last week. Brad Little was amazing and I couldn't get the phantom out of my head. I needed to do something and so came this little story. This is what happens when you combine two of your obsessions together.
I might make this a two or three shot but that would be it because honestly I have no actual plot to write about.
Anyway, thanks for reading, it would be a pleasure if you would kindly comment me what you think!