Hello, my pita-chips! How are you? Are you ready for the second day of the Games? :x
There will be five POVs today, as will the majority of the Games chapters, unless it's a very important chapter that needs more POVs…
The song for this chapter is Tomorrow Never Knows by Carla Azar and Alison Mosshart.
Unfortunately, I started school. I probably won't have a horribly insane amount of homework for a while, however. :D
Writing time!
District Seven
Luciana Sage's POV
I wake up heavily strapped into a swing. Skandar and I spent the night at this odd, large swingset. I am not entirely sure if I can even call it that, however, as there is a humongous cylinder metal thing holding all of the swings around it. It looks to be something from before Panem, as I can't recognize it…
Around three in the morning, Skandar awkwardly asked if I could move him a bit farther away from me, most likely due to my excessive sobbing. I was numb and far beyond tears for the majority of the night, but eventually I started to cry and couldn't stop.
Now my eyes are dry.
I just want to turn off my mind, if that's possible. It would be so much less painful, so much less horrifically real, if that was possible…
"Luci?" Skandar's voice interrupts my thoughts. "Are you awake?"
It takes me a moment to find my voice, which has been lost for quite a while now. "Y-yes…"
Skandar hesitates before speaking again.
"I'm sorry, Luciana, I really am…"
"It's alright…"
Skandar doesn't respond, but grabs hold of the chain attached to his swing, keeping it in a strong grip. "Can you…uh, if it isn't too much trouble, I mean…" he trails off. Before he can attempt to finish, I quickly unbuckle him from his swing and help him up. "Thanks," he says with a small laugh. I try to force a smile, but swallow it when I realize it's futile.
The seriousness in the air reaches its peak. "It helps to try to accept it." Skandar says softly, blinking his sightless eyes a few times. "What?" I ask.
"When this happened," Skandar reaches his fingers up to his eyes, gently tapping his eyelid, "I just accepted it. I didn't want to be angry. I didn't care about pain or sorrow or anything, I just wanted to be happy."
I don't respond. Skandar continues. "Let's just remember him for who he was, what a fantastic person he was."
"Yeah." It takes me a moment to regain my voice, but when I do I can only agree with him.
I softly kick my foot into the other, staring at the ground. Suddenly, I remember when I first talked to Ren. The second day of Training, and he had been following Skandar and me. He did the exact same thing, though much more nervously.
I guess we'll just have to adjust.
District Ten
Mackenzie "Mack" Taner's POV
Some may find the miraculous goodness inside others, but unfortunately, I lack that trait.
I simply cannot find anything good inside Willow Lockett. She killed her district partner, rather brutally, and she seems perfectly fine being alone. No thirteen-year-old girl should be completely content with being alone in the Hunger Games.
I am following her from afar, just because I suppose she's interesting. I don't have much else to do, now that Jordan's dead. But I don't want to think about that until I have to…
At the moment, Willow is tapping her pale fingers onto the humongous slingshot-esque contraption in front of her. I've already figured out the arena; and I am sure Willow has. She's smart, I'll give her that. Come to think of it, the best villains are usually geniuses.
That's when I trip, falling face-first into the ground and groaning once as the air is shoved out of my lungs.
Once my eyes have opened once more, Willow is standing over me, an eerie smile painted on her face. I leap up, stepping back nervously as the girl, nearly a foot shorter than me, comes closer.
"Hello." Her voice is a flat line, the emotion drained out of it.
I've never spoken to her before, so I don't know if it's always been like this or if she has had a sudden change.
"Choose your last words." Willow says calmly, the smile remaining. I furrow my eyebrows together, irritated at her apparent overconfidence. Once the silence grows too loud, she steps closer, sighing.
"This is the last time. Because you and I… we were born to die." The last part is hissed, sounding like something out of a snake. The girl's fingernail's lunge for my throat, and she manages to knock me to the ground, one of her nails cutting my cheek, before I kick her in the stomach, sending her small body flying off. Doing a flip of some sort in the air, Willow lands, perfectly balanced, and wastes no time before running towards me again.
Though it takes much of me, I smack Willow's chin upwards. I can hear the crack of a tooth or something along those lines as her teeth collide with each other. I slowly back away as she coughs up dark blood.
Now turning into a full-on sprint, I stop immediately when I hear footsteps. I turn around, fists ready, though I slightly lower them when I see Jace, Viktor, and River approaching. "Hi." I greet them, slightly casually.
"Hey, Mack," Jace says, the ghost of a smile appearing onto his lips. "So, we were kinda looking for you to see if you wanted to – ''
"Yes." I blurt out before I can stop myself. "And, listen, I'm really sorry for not… you know, accepting earlier, but I wanted to take care of Jordan…"
River nods. "She was a nice girl."
She was a nice girl. Is that all anyone thinks? Does anybody think of her as more than a bloodbath that was rather friendly? Because I do. I think of her as so, so much more… But unanswered questions, questions and progress, will always somehow speak louder than me.
District Five
Jace Leighton's POV
"…Well, I got used to it. It was miserable for a year, but I decided to suck it up. They were people all around me… all over that town. Even without the pressure and anxiety, I still didn't talk to them. It… it's difficult to understand." Viktor says, ending his life story rather bluntly. River nods sympathetically, whereas Mack seems fascinating by the plain dirt underneath our shuffling feet.
"What about you, Jace?"
Almost like a reflex, I reply, "Nothing."
River is about to question me again when Viktor laughs wholeheartedly. "Doesn't look like we're getting anything out of him today, River." He says, half-smiling at me.
While River and Viktor laugh hysterically, Mack drops his voice to a whisper. "Are they always like this?"
I am about to respond when I see the faint outline of another ride. We have only seen one so far; a slingshot-ish thing. It didn't look very safe, with thin strings being the only support for two people.
"What's that?" I turn to glance at River, who stares at the long, slinky outline of the… thing.
"I'm not sure. Let's go find out, I suppose." I say, leading my allies towards the figure. Mack follows right behind me while River and Viktor slowly tag along, whispering to each other the entire way there. I don't know how they get along so well and talk so much when they're both relatively quiet people. Me, I'm quiet all the time. My thoughts float around my head until some sharp objects pops them like a balloon.
After about twenty minutes, we are standing, frozen, in front of a massive ride. It has tracks like a train, though a colorful car rests inside a shack of some sort.
"A rollercoaster." Mack is the first to speak up. "That's what it is."
Once he utters the practically foreign word, I remember learning about those rather unsafe sources of amusement in history class. It's strange to think that humans, just like us, went on these death traps for fun…
"Can we look around it?" River asks, staring at the thing with adoring eyes.
"Oh, sure," I mutter, grabbing a blade from River before walking off, rather happy to get some alone-time. Though I don't particularly dislike any of my allies, I still need my daily minutes of peace and silence. The greatest tragedies lie in the silence, though the end of an awful storm lies in it as well.
I bury myself deep into the rollercoaster tracks, the intensity of it all so real. My senses flare when I hear the pang of flesh against metal. Instinctively, I narrow my eyes to enhance my vision and slowly turn around, not catching sight of anything or anyone.
"Show yourself." That's odd. I sound a lot braver on the outside than I feel on the inside.
My body stiffens once Stone Walcott quietly steps into view. He smirks once he sees me, as I am smaller than him and a bit scrawnier. He doesn't seem worried at all. "You're the guy from Five… right?" Stone asks, tilting his head to the side curiously. I nod curtly, quite aware that his name is Stone and he is the male from District Two.
"What brings you to these parts of the arena?" Stone asks casually, tapping the tracks. I narrow my eyes.
"Get to the point," I snap. Stone fixes his eyes on me, laughing a bit.
"You're different, I suppose. You're much different than your district partner… poor wittle Solstice." Stone says this mockingly, cackling afterwards.
The puzzle pieces mend together. "You killed Solstice?"
"Yeah, I did. You got a problem wi – '' My blade is buried into his throat before he can finish his snotty sentence, the blood spurting out in different directions.
All I can do is watch in a cold shock of what just happened. Once the cannon booms, my thought is clear.
That was for you, Solstice.
District Nine
Lace Chandler's POV
I am fully aware that the sun is setting, it is the second day of the Games, and I am alone.
I tripped while running behind Arlin, and I suppose I knocked myself out. Somebody carried me. I don't have the slightest clue who but if I ever find out, I will owe them greatly…
My footsteps are nimble and practically silent, to my relief. I lean against the cool surface of the pearly white horse, which isn't real, of course. It is simply a part of the carousel I'm in.
The arena was easy, seeing as I was dropped off in the carousel. My mother always loved telling me about the times before Panem, and as a child I was very interested in the idea of a place to go just for fun. It was strange how they were terrified of the rides, yet they still went on them time after time.
It made me happy when I first realized the arena was an amusement park. But after a rather long hour of thinking, I was scared stiff by the idea of how deadly the Gamemakers could make the amusement park.
People already died by accident on the rides… these times it will be on purpose.
I pet the horse, wishing it was real so I could feel the warmth of another creature. I wish I was anywhere but here, away from the people who want to burn the paper hearts of children…
My eyes widen in surprise when somebody grabs my hair.
They yank me down onto the ground and pin me there. I attempt to scream when I see that it's Max, but I am unable to.
Max seems to be thinking very hard, his hands tightening around my arms. I just watch, positive that I look like a frightened doe, with my wide eyes and such. I begin going over my will, hoping that my family will be able to know what I want them to have.
My mouth widens when Max loosens his grip on my wrists and stands up. "Go," he says, looking away. I slowly back away, one step at a time, not actually running until he screams, "Just go already!"
I run away. I run as fast as I can in the darkness, freezing when I hear the faint shouting of someone.
"Lace?"
District Three
Amanda Leigh's POV
Once upon a time, somebody ran. Somebody ran away singing, "Fast as I can!" They had to go. They had to go… They just wanted to feel okay being different. They didn't want their own mother to treat them like a disease. They just wanted to be normal.
They were a baby pit-bull butterfly, lost in the wind…
I've gotten off track again. I always get off track… I can't help it! It just happens!
Follow me down the rabbit hole! We can have a tea party with Alice and know that the best types of people are the crazy ones! Oh, but I have nobody to go with…
"Haiti, mon pays! Throw my ashesinto the sea!" I sing, only stopping once the bright kahuna of the Capitol shows up in the sky.
Underneath the moon, underneath the stars, here's a little heart for you! I would say it out loud, but I don't want Stone to hear. He's up in the sky now, fading off once my thought process drifts off. He was a naughty kitty cat! He was nice and fat. He had cocoa on his whiskers… naughty kitty cat!
I suppose I shall stretch for my dance competition tomorrow! I touch my toes with my hands. Ee!
"Amanda?" I turn around in the darkness, and put my hands on a person's face. Feeling his features, I gasp in surprise. "Toaster-Stroodle! You're back!"
"Unfortunately," Toaster-Stroodle mumbles before flashing me a bright smile. "Kaya died, and I don't want to be alone, so…"
"We're best friends forever; Gogo and me!" I shriek happily. Toaster-Stroodle puts his hand over my mouth, which I bite. "Oh, God, Amanda, you can't be so loud, okay?" he whispers patting his hand. I nod.
"What would it take for things to be quiet… quiet like the snow?" I whisper-sing.
"Oh dear God…" Toaster-Stroodle mutters as I continue singing.
"Are we meant to be empty-handed?!" I whisper-sing again, taking Toaster-Stroodle's hands and shaking them back and forth.
"Hey, did you know that some nights I stay up cashing in my bad luck?" I ask Toaster-Stroodle casually. He blinks once before getting a sympathetic look in his eyes.
"Amanda… do you have any idea what's going on right now?" he whispers.
I glance downwards. "Sorta…"
"Well, you see," Toaster-Stroodle says, "We're in a game called the Hunger Games. Twenty-four kids are picked for it every year. Twenty-three of them die, and eight of them already have."
My voice is dry as I except the grave situation. "Oh."
Stone Walcott
Ah! I'm done with the second day of the Games!
Did any of you feel sad about Stone dying? I mean, almost everyone hated him after the blood-fest with Solstice so… XD
I started school. Ew, it's weird. My summer went by way too fast…
I don't want to get sued or anything, though I doubt I will, but alas, I must say the songs that Amanda sang in this chapter: Princess of China by Coldplay, The Undertaker by CocoRosie, Haiti by Arcade Fire, Don't Let Me Fall by Lenka, Louder Than Thunder by The Devil Wears Prada, and Some Nights by Fun.
If you go on the blog, there are new things like allies and such… just so you know…
Aaand I'm gonna start babbling soon. Okay, I hope you liked this chapter!
Review, my lovelies!
~Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream. It is not dying, it is not dying~
Tomorrow Never Knows by Carla Azar and Allison Mosshart