I just hate how I couldn't help her.
Day 15 pt 2 and Day 16: Ears
Finnick:
Why? How could she? After all I've been through for her, willing for her to come home? Why?
The cameras still aren't functional as the lenses been obviously scorched. I watch, my eyes burning with tears as a generic aerial view is shown and one can plainly see where the event occurred: the trees are blackened and the very tops still burn. The screen turns a hazy grey as the cameras start to come back and the images of two bodies come into view. I look away from the screen and to my right at the District Three mentors
"Oh no." Wiress gasps, pressing her hand to her open mouth. Beetee rubs her back soothingly, shaking his head with remorse.
"YEAH!" Gloss shouts at the same time that Barric and Aviva from District Nine sigh. Gloss and his sister Cashmere high five before returning to staring at the glowing screens in front of them.
I turn around as a familiar hand is placed on my forearm.
"Mags," I croak, turning to look at her. The last time I checked she was sound asleep, sleeping right through the nightmare I was living. A squishy thunk reverberates throughout the Mentoring Room and another cannon fires. One of the District One tributes must have just killed the male tribute from District 9. Subsequently, Aviva and Barric ready themselves to leave. I look to my right to watch Gloss and Cashmere's celebration and notice something shocking: Wiress and Beetee are gone.
"Two tributes have fallen in a shocking turn of events," Claudius Templesmith commentates. "Levila Dritan from District 3 and Omri Goren from District 9."
My head snaps to my left to look at Mags who smiles sadly at me.
"What?" I mouth at her.
Verina:
Blackness. Darkness. Total silence. Then there's light - an uncomfortable amount that stings all over. I'm not fully conscious of what my body is or who I am or what is going on, but I know that pain reverberates. Something salty and rusty hits my brain - a taste and suddenly I feel the cold and lapping touch of something liquid as I regain my senses.
The white light turns into an image: blackened, crumbling, burning trees surrounded by water. A couple yards away, a green, pure jungle awaits, beckoning. Water is up to my neck as a green tree marbled with black, angry scorch marks supports me. The first feelings I have associated with my body is the cold of the water - the next is burning.
Finnick:
Verina's expression turns to a horrified one as she lifts her right leg out of the water, feeling the angry burns on her leg as a good 5 inches of her pants have been burned off, some small sections fusing to her skin. Immediately, she plunges her leg back in the water to feel the relief but the cold almost makes it worse. Experimentally, she lifts the other leg up, which isn't nearly as damaged. The backs of her hands are red as well from protecting her face and there are holes in her jacket sleeves, likely from burning material falling on her. Shakily, her hand moves to the now blackened starfish pin in her hand and her eyes widen in disbelief as she sees it's pathetic state. It doesn't glitter as it used to. Frantically, she plunges the pin into the water attempting to scrub the soot off of the pin but it's no use. She groans in frustration and jams the pin back into her hair, which is singed in some spots and doesn't quite shine its deep red tone. The burns on her hand start to sting more and a look of agony crosses her face and she slaps her hands against the water in frustration.
Then she freezes and I notice that something is horribly wrong. Verina seems to notice the same thing as she quickly places her hands on her neck, feeling the bright red sticky blood that runs down both sides.
Verina:
I feel the hot liquid on my neck and pull my hands away to look at them. They are covered in my own blood. Frantically, I wash them in the water around me, tinging it orange. I cautiously touch my left ear, fearing the worst.
Nothing. Silence.
I grab a lock of my hair and rustle it.
Nothing.
The other side?
Nothing.
I am entirely defenseless without my hearing and I need to move away from the scene of the explosion. Using the tree as a crutch, I manage to stand up, gagging at the body of Levila laying in the water. It turns out my knife had killed her after all. She didn't even have the chance to throw the mine. 6 people have died because of me. I try my best to not cry out in pain, simply because I can't hear how loud it would be. It's just my luck that with an arena where you can so clearly hear people approaching (the water), I have lost my most valuable weapon. Using my trident as a makeshift crutch I try to hobble through the water as quickly and as soundlessly as I can to find shelter.
Haha, everything is soundless to me.
Finnick:
It cost me a night in bed in the future, but I managed to obtain enough burn medication for Verina to heal her burns with. It's just about midnight and Verina lies, tucked safely in a tree completely deaf.
I just hate how I couldn't help her.
The images of Levila Dritan and Omri Goren rise shining in the air and it's official. Verina has made it to her 8th day and only 8 tributes remain.
The silver parachute tinkles as it descends but Verina does hear it. I immediately cringe as I realize how she noticed it - she felt it. The parachute carrying the medicine landed right on her burns and she moans out in pain.
"Eugh!" Gloss shudders at the sight of her peeling the parachute from her skin. The feeling in my stomach is far worse than what Gloss is experiencing.
I am living through Verina. Every second of every day.