A.N: So chapter 2 up... but its not the reaping yet
So keep reading coz the real actions about to begin!
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Chapter 2.
I pick up the knife and throw it with all my force straight into the dummy's heart. The knife digs into the dummy and knocks it backwards with a loud bang.
I glare at the fallen dummy and stalk over to get my knife. Then I rip it out of the dummy's hard wooden flesh, giving it a kick before I spit at it's featureless face.
Everyone turns and looks at me with surprise to which I glare at them and throw the knife again at another dummy with just as much force.
"Thistle, are you OK?" I hear someone calling from behind me sounding worried and I scowled annoyed at the disturbance when I suddenly realise that isn't anyone speaking it's Spark.
I love Spark, he's brilliant; he makes me laugh and he's the only person I've ever felt comfortable talking to. With Spark I don't have to be Thistle, ruthless future victor of the Hunger Games, with Spark I can be me. He's the only person I can lose my control with and not have to worry about the consequences.
Just realising he was here is enough to wipe the scowl off my face and I spin around to see him.
"Spark!" I yelp in a very un-scary-killer-career-tribute-like manner, giving him a big hug glad he is finally here.
"Hey Thistle?"
"Mmmm…?" I murmur into his hard yet cuddly chest.
"You're kind of choking me." He says with a playful laugh.
I look up at him and peel myself off . "Sorry."
"That's OK Thistle, I like it when you hug me just try not to kill me next time." He says giving me one of his winning smiles and then after a moment or two he suddenly says, "Thistle, are you OK?"
Great way to kill the mood, I was finally relaxing.
"I'm fine." I say curtly.
"Really? because the dummy doesn't seem to think so." He jokes motioning to the dummy I had knocked over that now had a massive split in it's chest where my knife had lodged into it.
"I'm just stressed. Besides what does it matter if I ruin I dummy all the better for the games right?" I snap wishing he would just drop the subject.
Ignoring my tone, he looks at me with concern.
"I'm guessing you saw the announcement."
"Yeah, I saw the announcement." I say bluntly giving him a glare and turning around to pick up another knife, trying to ignore the flash of hurt I saw on his face.
I feel bad about treating him like this; we've been best friends for as long as I can remember and we've always been there for each other no matter what and now when I needed him the most I was treating him terribly. But I just can't talk about how I feel with anyone at the moment because if I'm honest I didn't really understand it myself. I don't know why I am so angry and upset and, god damn it, scared. I am so, so scared and I don't know why.
"I'm sorry." He says quietly, "but Thistle you know I'm here for you, right?"
"I know." I replied and I did, I really did.
"Then why won't you talk to me? Do you think I won't understand? because I'll try, I'll try really hard to." He asks.
"It's not that."
"Then what?" He asks looking slightly confused, his face is etched with concern, his angular features softened with care.
"I just." I struggle to find the right way to explain, "I just…I don't understand." I finally get out.
"What don't you understand; maybe talking out it will help." He says kindly coaxing the information out of me with a smile.
"I don't understand how I feel." I say looking him square in the eye lowering my voice so no one else could hear; my reputation would be ruined if people knew, "I feel so confused and angry and well, scared I guess. But I don't know what I'm scared about. I mean I know why I'm angry that one's simply enough, but I don't get why I'm scared. I've got nothing to be scared of."
It feels good to get that all off my chest even if it did make me seem weak, after all this isSpark the boy who's seen me at my worst and still been there. I shouldn't be worrying about not looking strong in front of him.
"OK well that seems simple enough." Spark says, "You're angry about… your parents I would imagine…"
I nod at this and he smiles before continuing.
"You're scared because you are worried about the games and you're confused because you know logically you shouldn't be worried about the games because you're a kick ass fighter and are sure to win."
"And if I don't? What if I don't come back, Spark?" I ask in an almost pleading tone.
He falters at this.
"You will; you've been training for this your whole life." He answers firmly after a nerve racking moment of silence.
"So have all the other tributes from districts 1, 2 and 4." I point out still not feeling at ease.
"True… but they're not you. They can't climb a tree in a matter of seconds, they can't scale a mountain, they can't hit a person through the back severing their spine and piercing their heart with one throw and most importantly they aren't as smart as you." He says confidently giving me a little poke in the stomach every time he made a new point.
Spark is right, I am a very good contestant, hell I might even be the best but that still doesn't solve the one problem that has been nagging at me since the announcement. They expect me to kill a friend. It's easy enough to kill a stranger but to kill someone you know is another thing all together, you know the persons family and you have to watch them grieving knowing that you're responsible for their pain and that they will never forgive you.
And I'm not sure I am able to do that.
"But what about before the games, what about when they expect me to kill someone I know, someone I talk to everyday. What about that, Spark?" I ask him voicing my troubled thoughts, knowing that Spark is the only person who can help me with this because Spark always has an answer. Always.
"I don't know." He replies sadly and I am suddenly stricken by the thought that Spark doesn't know, surely that means there's no solution, "I guess you'll just have to do it."
He holds my gaze for a long time and I allow him to pull me back into a hug. I snuggled into his warm embrace, glad that he's here for me. It doesn't matter if no one else cared just as long as I had my Spark.
We stay like for some time, just clinging onto the other like a lifeline until eventually my trainer Caspian comes and brakes us apart.
"You've had your break Thistle, get back to training." He says harshly giving Spark a disaproving look for distracting me from my training.
"But that wasn't a break, sir; Spark and I were just talking." I say slightly annoyed at him for trying to take Spark away from me.
"Were you training?" Caspian asks.
"Well. Ugh." This is so unfair.
"Were you?" He asks again his voice tight.
"Well. No." I admit reluctantly.
"So if you weren't training, you must have been having your break." He says with finality before walking off.
I give Caspian another of my trade mark glares and have to hide my laugh with a cough as Spark makes a nasty face at him behind his back.
After one last smile with Spark as we share our silent joke I turn back to training.
Just as I go to pick up my favourite knife, Caspian calls back to me "Oh and Thistle try training with a weapon other than that knife, we both know your throw is beyond perfect perhaps use the bow for once."
With a sigh I put down my prized knife and turn to the dreaded bow. I don't like bows; they're a coward's weapon, you shoot from a distance and keep away from your opponent. I feel if you're going to kill someone at least have the respect to let them know they're about to die and give them a chance to defend themselves. Even if resisting is pointless.
I also don't like how a bow feels; it has no weight, feels as if not there. With a knife you have this beautiful weight in your hands making you feel powerful and strong but a bow just feels pointless.
Another thing about bows I don't like is I'm not the best at using them. I'm not bad, I can hit a person but not with as much accuracy as with throwing knifes, and I also for the life of me can't seem to hit any of the fake little animals they put up in the training area.
After a couple of hours of working with the bow and finding that while my aim with humans was improving, I can now mortally injure one of my enemies but I still can't seem to get a killing shot on any of the dummies.
By the time it is time to go home I am extremely frustrated and tired. I mean why, why can't I seem to master that god damned bow I have managed to become an expert in all weapons and yet I still can't get that arrow into one of the stupid dummies hearts.
I walk home from my last ever training session in my home district with Spark. We joked and talked but neither of us about what we were actually thinking about.
I had no more time to prepare.
Tomorrow was the reaping.
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A.N: Ooohhh... So do you like Spark. I personally think he's really cute...
