I woke up bright and early the next day. Before I woke the others I checked the Cornucopia, nothing seemed to be missing. I took a packet of crackers and a flask of water for breakfast. The others woke up soon after.
"So" I said "What's the plan for today?" I asked Cato.
"Well, I guess we'll just wait till dark to hunt" He answered. "So I guess we can just relax for the day."
"Cool!" I said satisfied with the decision. Though; the day was far from relaxing. Instead Neisse had figured out a plan to keep our food and supplies safe so we were breaking our back lifting packs of supplies and heavy weapons to make the shape of a pyramid. Neisse was from district 4, the district of technology so once we were finished stacking crates and baskets of stuff he got the discs in the arena and planted and remade them so that anyone who tried stealing the supplies would blow to smithereens. We were all a bit confused on why he was doing this at first until Neisse explained.
"Now the stuff is surrounded by bombs whoever comes and steps on it will blow up!" He said. "Though I made a sort of password so that we can get through but no other tributes." As soon as he finished he started doing a series of hops and jumps to the Pyramid.
"Tada!" he said taking an apple from the pile and hopping back to us.
"Good job!" Cato said happy with Neisse's work. After that we spent the rest of the day learning the complicated code again and again. The others were enthusiastic on learning more and having fun hopping back and forth. Instead I went back to the tent and had a nap.
Clove woke me up again that night for the hunt. I lazily gathered my stuff from the pyramid and followed them to the woods. We killed 5 more people and we almost got the girl called Rue while she was spying on us at the Cornucopia but she got away before I could shoot her. All I really wanted to do was settle down to sleep. The next day we actually got to relax. I spent the day sunbathing on the top of the Cornucopia while the others sharpened and cleaned their weapons. I got 3 sponsor gifts in that day containing a hair brush, some of the delicious district 2 cakes and blister cream. I guess my popularity was up. That night we took a weird track round the arena through swamp led by Cato.
"Why are we going through this mush?" I asked him.
"Because" was all he answered. I was going to whine some more before I heard someone scream. We all drew our swords and looked round but it was only Clove.
"There's a snake going up my leg!" She breathed. I quickly ran up and helped her carefully get it off. Cato just looked and kept walking. Once the snake was gone I asked her why Cato was acting so weird and angry.
"Oh it's nothing" she said quickly "I think he's just having a bad day that's all." I knew she wasn't telling me everything but I didn't say anything. Through the whole hunt Cato and Clove didn't say a word to each other at all. I knew something was wrong and I really hoped they'd stop holding a grudge against each other. Thanks to Cato we got lost and never found our way back to the Cornucopia so we had to camp out.
Clove shook me awake in the morning.
"Come on!" She shouted at me. I looked around me and saw mayhem. The gamekeepers had decided to set the place on fire! I jumped up and grabbed my bow and arrows before running away with the others. I left my bag behind so I run faster. We were fast enough to out run the huge wall of fire but the smoke soon got to us.
"Over there!" Marvel yelled and pointed to our right. I looked and saw a river about 100 meters away. We all turned course and headed full sprint towards it. We were about 50 meters away when something large and red hot came whizzing towards us. I swiftly ducked behind a tree before it hit me. I started running again but the but the fire balls kept coming. One of them landed right next to me burning my right hand. It was nothing serious but hurt like mad. Eventually I made it to the river. The others were already there bathing in the cool water. As far as I could see nobody was seriously injured. Just minor burns. We really wanted to keep resting but Cato insisted on continuing. The rest of us sighed and got to our feet. We walked across the rocks by the river with our weapons at the ready. It was a risk to be walking in a place so vulnerable. All of a sudden we heard footsteps and a loud splash from across the river. Cato took the lead and sprinted forward.
"There she is!" he called. I quickened my run till I was at the edge of the river. I was just in time to see Katniss's face before she disappeared into the woods. I crashed into the water and swam swiftly to the other side. I easily skipped through the forest until I could see her. It was easy to tell that she was seriously injured on the leg. A smile spread across my face; this was going to be easy. I grabbed an arrow from my sheath and placed it on the bow still running.
"We're coming!" I called menacingly. Katniss looked back at us. The obvious fear in her eye gave me motivation. I was just about to shoot her in the head when she did something unexpected. She made a sharp turn right and started climbing a tree. As soon as I reached her she was already so high.
"Get him Cato!" I encouraged as he too made his way up. Unfortunately he only got a few meters high before crashing back to the ground. He got up quickly and snarled at her. Katniss just smirked and climbed higher.
"I'll do it?" I said. They gave me a few words of encouragement as I gripped the branches and hoisted myself onto the first branch. I steadily got myself higher until the branches started thinning out. By then Katniss was wedged up in the really thin and weak branches. I would have kept going if the tree hadn't started making weird creaking noises. Carefully I started climbing down branch by branch. The others urged me to go higher but I continued going lower. On the last branch my foot slipped and I tumbled down to the ground. I fell flat on my back. A jarring pain went up my spine and winded me. Marvel immediately rushed over and knelt beside me. He tried to help me up but I pushed him away and got up myself. I grabbed my weapons and went back to look at Katniss.
"I'll try my bow!" I said. The careers parted so I could get a good aim. I let go of the string. I could tell she was scared. Unfortunately as the arrow came whizzing towards her Katniss ducked so it got lodged in a branch. I wouldn't have been so mad if she hadn't grabbed the arrow and started waving it teasingly in front of us. We all snarled up at her which just made her smile widen.
"I'll do it!" Cato said and took my bow. He clumsily positioned his weapons. I already knew he was going to miss before he even shot it. Katniss chuckled at his short tempered rage and hardly flinched when the arrow was shot. Clove stepped up and opened her jacket for her special throwing knives but Peeta stopped her.
"We'll just wait her out! She's got to come down some time!" He yelled. We all stared at him.
"What?" I mumbled.
"Fine!" Cato said. We all dumped our supplies and sat down. I followed Marvel to the lake with a few water skins. We walked in silence. I kicked the dirt and avoided eye contact. As soon as I saw the lake I ran over and splashed my face in the cool water. I started filling up the water skins and treating them with some sort of special liquid still not looking at marvel who was sitting next to me. I was on about my third when he cleared his throat for my attention.
"Err, um Glimmer?" He started awkwardly.
"Yes?" I replied still not looking at him. He didn't reply. "What!?" I said impatiently. I looked up and saw his face had gone red and he too was trying to avoid my eyes.
"I just wanted to say…" He trailed off into quiet mumbles.
"Marvel what!" I raised my voice.
"I loved you!" He almost shouted in reply. I looked right at him stunned and angry. He sighed and smiled happily.
"I love you" He repeated quietly.
"What the, Marvel!" I stuttered angrily. I rose up to my feet and he did too.
"Why would you say that?" I pretty much shouted.
"Because I do!" He said confused. He still had the dumb grin on his face which only infuriated me more.
"Well I don't!" I said. I gathered the water skins and half ran back to the tree.
"What?" Marvel replied. The smile disappeared from his face. He started to jog after me.
"Glimmer what's wrong?" He asked. He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face him. The sudden movement made me drop the water skins. Marvel let go of me and bent down to get them for me. Oh how I wish I had my bow and arrow right now. Instead of waiting for him a started running again. I could hear his confused calls behind my but didn't stop. I busted through the bushes back to our camp site. My head throbbed with exhaustion and anger. What was he thinking springing that on me? I knew I should've been used to it since so many boys have said that to me back in district 2 but this time it was different. A strange feeling rose in the pit of my stomach. The feeling made me want to smile and cry at the same time. I pushed it out of my mind and crawled into my sleeping bag. I was almost sleeping when somebody called my name.
"Hey glimmer" the voice said smoothly. I rolled over to see who it was.
"Hi Cato!" I sighed. He sat next to me and twirled his sword between his fingers. I closed my eyes again and relaxed my muscles. All of a sudden Cato wrapped his arm under my head and around my shoulder. My eyes flew open and I looked at him shocked. He just smiled calmly. I was sort of confused on why he didn't choose to sleep with Clove like he usually does but didn't bother asking. Suddenly I got a great idea. I looked up and searched the camp site. Sure enough Marvel was there sitting on a faraway log. I looked at him closer and smirked. He was trying his best not to look at us but just couldn't help but glance. His fists clenched when he saw me looking at him. I lay back smugly and cuddled into Cato's shoulder. Soon enough my joy turned into exhaustion and I fell asleep.
I woke up to shouts and screams. I was confused at first to what was happening. My head hit the ground as Cato took his arm away. All at once several sharp pains hit my arms. I got up defensively and grabbed my weapons. I soon realized what was happening. Katniss had dropped a nest of trackerjackers on our campsite causing chaos. Several other stings got into my neck and face. I yelled in pain and pulled them out. The trackerjackers were now swarming round me and blocked my vision. The crawled up my and legs stinging me all over. I screamed in pain and fell on my hands and knees. My voice broke into dry wheezes. I fell on my side and started squirming weakly. My breaths got short and painful. I knew I wasn't going to survive this. I think the trackerjackers knew that too. They retreated leaving me swollen and sore. I heard a noise near me. I couldn't turn my head to see who it was and my hearing was extremely damaged. A few seconds later Katniss staggered over to me. I could tell she was in a bad state too. I wanted to scream for the others to come and kill her but all that came out were small pathetic wheezes. She studied my face for a bit before getting to work. She started scratching and pulling at my fingers painfully. She was trying to get my bow! The worst part is all I could do was lie there worthlessly as she did it. All of a sudden I felt something hack at my hand. I realized she was trying to get my bow by breaking my fingers with a stone! She kept hacking away until they broke. What was wrong with her? Did she know the pain and agony she was putting me through!? I held my breath and waited for death to come. Once she got my bow she got to her feet and scrambled away. I counted the minutes waiting for something to happen. Soon enough somebody came stumbling back. At first I thought it was Katniss coming to take back more stuff but luckily it wasn't. Marvel ran over to me. He sat next to me and checked my pulse. He sighed and looked into my eyes. He drew a shaky breath and started to talk.
"Glimmer if you can hear me I just wanted to say… I love you" He sniffled and started stroking my face. The sad thing was my numb swollen cheeks couldn't feel a thing. He was so sweet and kind coming back here to comfort me. I bet neither Cato nor Couch would do that for me. A tear rolled down his cheek and fell on my face. Carefully and slowly he lent down and kissed me on the lips.
"I Love you" He whispered. More tears rolled down his cheeks and fell on my face. I love you too were my last thoughts before the peaceful darkness swept over me. I finally know. It was always Marvel. Never anyone else and I am grateful to finally know it.