The Forgotten Tribute: Logan's POV

Chapter 11 In Logan's POV

Disclaimer: The only characters I own are Loretta, Logan, and Claire, any other one's mentioned belong to Suzanne Collins.

I wrote this because someone requested I do something like this on my Instagram and I figured I'll share it with you all as well. It's just a One Shot about Logan watching Claire in the Games but I it really cute. So enjoy.

I watch the screen in horror. In front of me I see my best friend being heartlessly slashed. Claire staggers back. The blow has thrown her attacker off balance, and she has just enough time to drive her knife into his neck. She runs away from the bloody scene until she collapses onto a rock.
I can't take it anymore; I stand abruptly and run away just like she did. I don't want to be watching her last moments, I can't do it.

"Logan," I hear someone call from behind me but I don't stop. I continue running until I'm out of the Home. I hear the sound of stomping feet behind me.

While I sprint I feel the scratch of dead grass on my ankles. I only slow to slip under the fence that surrounds District 12. I don't go out of the District that often, in fact I think the last time I was out was when Claire taught me to fish. The thought of her keeps me moving.

I don't know why I'm running. I guess I just think that maybe I can outrun the inevitable, that I can outrun the obvious truth that my best friend is going to die. Eventually my burning legs and lungs make me stop.

I collapse onto the ground and sob. My pursuer soon catches up and sits down next to me. I don't bother to look up, but I feel them clasp my hand. Whoever it is they hold it tightly and stoke it reassuringly. They don't speak, they just sit with me.

At one point I look up and see who it is. It's Loretta, one of the girls from the Home. Claire had given her the job as care taker after she was Reaped for the Games. Everyone knew Loretta would step up any way. She was just that kind of person, kind, caring, and willing to do anything to protect the ones she loved.

"It should not have been her," I whisper.

"It shouldn't be anybody," Loretta responds.

"She can't be gone," I say. "She can't be."

"She's not."

"Not yet," I clarify.

"Logan, you know her better than anybody," she tells me. "She can get through this, plus she has an ally and he's not going to leave her there."

"You're right, but what if, what if he doesn't find her," I stutter. "What if he leaves her to die?"

"You've seen them together, I don't think he's going to give up on her."

"I know, I just can't bear to sit here and do nothing while she's laying on a rock bleeding out!" I scream.

"None of us can, but we have to and we're all going to have to tough it out together," Loretta explains. Suddenly I reach out and wrap my arms around her. I bury my face in her hair and cry.

"I can't take it though," I sob.

"I can't either," she cries and returns my embrace. We stay like that four who knows how long. You never know how much someone means to you until they're gone. Claire was like my sister and now, for the first time, she wasn't with me; not only was she gone but she was in agonizing pain. And there was nothing I could do about it.

I tried to remember all the conversations that I'd had with Claire; tried to remember something she told me that might just be able to give me some kind of hope, or something to hold onto. Then I remembered what she made me promise her right before she left.

She told me to someday have a family, to take care of myself, and to be happy. I laughed remembering that I had told her the same thing a day before.

"What?" asks Loretta. She lifts her head and looks up at me. I gaze into her light green eyes; around one of them is a bruise. I smile at her, now seeing her in a way I had never seen her before.

"It's nothing," I practically whisper. She continues to stare at me and I melt. I lean down and kiss her. Loretta kisses back. It's perfect. I forget about everything else and just focus on this one moment in time.

"I love you," she confesses when we part. "I always have."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yes," she blushes. I lean down and kiss her one more time.