"Chaff, it's okay. She is in a better place now." Seeder is crouching next to me, rubbing me back and comforting me. I have just witnessed my tribute for the 46th Hunger Games die. I can still hear the screaming and crunching of her bones breaking as the Careers tortured her. I feel the warm tears sliding down my cheeks, but I don't bother to wipe them away. I am stuck in my current position, sitting in my chair, hand on my controls, staring at the blank screen. It is my first year mentoring, and already, I wish I would have died in the arena. I see the Career slowly saw off her arms and legs with her huge sword, and I am flashed back into my arena, when I lost my forearm.
"Chaff! Stop it!" My ally, Kim, laughs as I tickle her. A deafening crash wipes the smiles off our faces and brings fear into our eyes. We look at each other. A sharp crack of a branch makes us jump. Then two huge, threatening Careers walk out from behind a cluster of trees.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Two lovebirds? Trey, do you think we should interrupt them?" He glances at his partner, and he nods. "Well then, I'll take the chick and you take the other one." He walks towards Kim and I step protectively in front of her.
"You aren't going to touch her." He scoffs and a smirk spreads across his face.
"Oh, I'm not? Well let's take a little inventory here. I am 18, 6 foot 8, 176 pounds, and I have three swords and a dozen knives. You are still 18, 5 foot 10, and probably 130 pounds soaking wet. Oh, and you don't have any weapons, so how are you going to defend yourself?" He cocks his head to the side and raises his eyebrows. I think for a second, then realize something. I have no weapons, but I can try and shield Kim with my body for as long as possible.
"I might not have any weapons, but I am going to protect her in any way I can, no matter how much pain you cause me." I try and stare at him defensively, but I know no matter how hard I try, I will never look threatening.
"Ok then. Well, let's see how that all lies out. Give me a second?" He steps back and cups his hands around his mouth. He gives a quick, but loud, shout. He stands there, waiting. A second later, I hear a response, the same call, just a bit quieter. He smirks and says, "My 'friends' are going to be here soon. Do you want me to start now, or when they come?" I open my mouth to answer, but he comes over and slaps me, and yells, "That wasn't meant for you to answer!" I can feel the anger rising in me, and I take some deep breaths to try and calm down. It doesn't work.
I ball my hands into fists and charge towards him. I catch him off guard and tackle him to the ground. I get in a few punches to the face, to his nose. The he pushes me off of him and kick me in the forehead. My vision turns blurry, and I am fighting to stay conscious. He pins me down on the soft floor of the jungle. The he takes one of his huge swords and teasingly traces right below my neck. I struggle to turn my head so the blade doesn't break skin. He laughs and brings the blade down to my right forearm, right below my elbow. He pushes the blade down and a thin line of blood forms. He cuts even deeper, almost to the bone, yet I don't scream. I don't want him to have that satisfaction. He sees I am not screaming, so he turns the blade so it cuts in a circular motion around my arm, as though he was trying to cut a thick stalk of corn. The ground below me is soaked with my blood. I start feeling light headed from all the blood I have lost.
He finally decides enough is enough; he wipes the sword on my shirt and stands up. I curl around my injured arm, trying to staunch the flow of blood. He grabs the back of my shirt and pulls me up. My head is jerked back as he grabs my hair to force me to look in Kim's direction. She is pinned down by three huge girls. One emerges from behind me with multiple knives and one of the guy's swords. She uses her knees to pin her arms, while she has another girl pin her legs. She takes out a regular dagger and starts carving shapes into her body. Her face, her chest, her arms, and her legs all get covered in bright red shapes. Then, after about an hour of this torture, she starts the real fun. She actually takes her knives and takes chunks or her skin out, one by one. And she does it slowly, so it causes her more pain.
When she has had enough, she takes her dagger and teasingly traces a smiley face into her forehead, then stabs her right through the eye. A single tears slips out of my eye and drops off my jaw, onto the blood stained ground. The guy holding me drops me to the ground and motions to his allies to move on out. I guess they are leaving me so I can die a slow and painful death. And I hope I do, because I couldn't save Kim. I couldn't save my best friend.
After a lot of coaxing from Seeder, I get up out of my seat and flop down in the corner of a plush couch. I bring my knees up to my chest and put my face in my one hand. My eyes are overflowing with tears and they fall down my cheeks and drip off my chin onto my pants. "Chaff, you can't act like this. You are the newest victor and the others need to see you as strong, not a nineteen year old who cries whenever his tributes get killed. It may sound harsh, but it's true." I nod slowly and wipe my face on a fluffy handkerchief Seeder has held out to me. I excuse myself to the bathroom so I can splash some cold water on my face. It is refreshing, and I feel more revived. I head back out into the Control Room, but when I do; my eyes go immediately to the blank screen labeled, "District Eleven Female". A fresh round of tears starts to flow. I turn around and walk straight to the elevator.
When the doors open, I press the button for the ground level with a shaky hand. I hope no one steps into the elevator with me, and thankfully, no one does. In the complete silence of the elevator, I can hear my own ragged breathing. In a matter of seconds, I am on the floor level and I step out of the elevator. I ask an Avox to call a car for me. He nods and rushes off to do so. I stand there, trying to calm down a bit. When the car comes, I rush out and into it so no one sees me in my current state. "Take me to the nearest bar." The driver looks in the rearview mirror and nods.
Five minutes later, we pull up in front of a bar called Aqueous. I wonder why it is called that until I am inside of it. It is like I was transported to District Four and forced to live underwater. I try and find the counter without success. I ask some woman dressed as a mermaid, and she points a finger straight towards the back. I follow her finger and spot the counter. When I go up there, I ask the bartender what the heaviest drink is. He tells me something, and I order two. He makes them and brings them to me, and I down them within a minute of each other. I order two more, and spend the night drinking myself into oblivion, trying to forget the look on the girl's face as she died.