"Tonight, there will be a Feast held at the hill. But there will not be food, but one item only. This item may be whatever you need. It can be medicine, food or whatever you choose it to be. It will also be accompanied with something from your home, something that is precious to you. The item will appear before sunset when a lightning strikes in the forest. But be quick, because it will disappear after a while if no one claims it, when a second lightning strikes. That is all, and may the odds be ever in your favor"
Claudius Templesmith's voice sounds as loud and clear as if it was inside my head. It takes a while for me to realize what he said. When I look up at the rest it seems like they understood faster than I did, because they are looking around at each other, confused by what to do.
No one says anything for a while. If they're like me, they're afraid to say anything because they don't want to start an argument, which could lead to a fight, which could lead to someone dying. We all heard what Claudius said. One item only. One item that will be whatever we want it to be, so of course we all want it. As well as the precious item from home. Who wouldn't want that? Maybe I could get a picture of mom, dad and Andrew. In case I don't win this, just so I get to see them one last time. I could kill just to see them one more time. Huh, that's ironic.
"So… One item…" Coral finally says to break the awkward silence in the house.
"We all obviously want it. What are we going to do?" Amber adds and peaks out over the back of the couch, which is turned towards us.
"We could go to the hill, and then we all try to take the item by ourselves. But we don't try to kill each other. And then we meet back here." Jonathan suggests.
I release myself from Jonathan's warming hug and try to wipe my cheeks dry, without success, since my hands are still a bit wet from the rain.
"It's a good plan in theory, but it's also dangerous to run out there alone. There's no place to hide on the hill, it's an open field. The only place you can hide is by the edge of the hill, where the woods surround it." Coral explains.
"Also, it's raining. If it stay's like this, we'll barely see anything, and it'll be harder to run" Amber adds, and lays back down on the couch. "I don't really need to have whatever it is, so you decide what to do."
I sigh. "Well, if you don't want it, you can at least come with us and cover us." I suggest.
"Yeah, you get a chance to show us your spear-skills" Jonathan says, clearly just to make her agree.
Amber looks up behind the couch again, now her face is covered in a big smile. But then her smile fades, probably just because she doesn't want to show how excited she is. "I don't know… You know, I'll risk my life even if I'm just there to cover you."
"Oh, come on! We know you want to join, stop playing hard to get" Coral says, and Amber starts to smile again.
"So, we're going tonight then?" I ask and exchange looks with Jonathan.
"Hey, wait a minute! You're siblings, so if anyone of you gets it, you'll both get the benefits from the thing from home. So you're kind of on the same team, while I'm all alone. That's not fair, is it?" Coral complains and crosses her arms in front of her chest and stares at me and Jonathan.
"Is anything in the Games really fair? Yeah, maybe the thing from home fits us both, but that's probably the only benefit we get from being in here as siblings. It's not that fun knowing that if one of us wins, the other will be dead. That's not fair." I explain, a bit angry, because she doesn't understand. I feel the tears coming again, but I force them back.
Coral just sighs in response. I don't know if it's because she feels sorry for us, or because she's sick of me feeling sorry for us, or because she's in a relationship that I don't understand with Jonathan and therefor feels the same way that I just explained, but I really hope it's because she feels sorry for us. I don't want to argue with her about this.
"So…?" Jonathan asks and looks pleading at Coral.
"Fine, whatever" Coral sighs, a bit annoyed. I'm guessing she's sick of me feeling sorry for us.
"Do you think it's going to rain during the Feast?" I quietly ask Jonathan and rest my head on his chest. It all reminds me of when I was little, and it feels like I'm 8 again, seeking comfort with my big brother, who I thought was so much wiser and had seen so much more, even if he was only 11 at the time.
"I don't know. Maybe they're gonna make it rain so it'll be harder for us." Jonathan answer, and the tone in his voice again reminds me of his comforting words when I was little.
"Well, I'm bored. I'm going hunting" Coral says and head straight for the door.
"It's raining" Jonathan says, as if she didn't already know.
"Then I'll go into the forest and pick some berries or something" she says.
Jonathan sighs and walks over to Coral and stops her before she can exit the house. "You can't go out by yourself"
"I'll join!" Amber says excited and bounces off the couch and runs over to the door.
"Fine" Coral says reluctantly and walks past Jonathan without looking at him again, and Amber follows right after.
After they have gone Jonathan sits in the couch while I stay on the table. I lean back and lay down to look up in the ceiling, which looks like it could fall apart any second.
The rain doesn't seem to cease. If anything at all, it seems like it's raining even more after an hour. It doesn't seem possible, but it does.
After another hour or so, Coral and Amber come back. They have almost filled Coral's entire backpack with different berries, and they're both soaked, while me and Jonathan just have dried.
"I was starting to get worried for you" Jonathan says as soon as they walk through the door. He walks over and hugs Coral, despite her extremely wet… everything, and then kisses her.
"We had to walk quite far until we found anything" Coral explains and puts down the backpack on the floor. She walks over to the couch and shivers a bit on the way, but you can tell she tries to hide it.
"Oh, honey, you're freezing" Jonathan says and follows her. He sits down beside her and starts to rub her arms warm.
"No, I'm fine" Coral argues and pushes away Jonathan.
"Coral" Jonathan says and looks her in the eye. "You're cold and wet. Let me help you"
Coral sighs and lets Jonathan try to warm her up, while I sit and almost puke because of their extreme cheesiness.
"I'm fine, thank you for asking" Amber says loud and sits down on the floor by the door.
Right when she has sat down, I hear a beeping sound coming from outside.
"Guys" I say, and everyone quiets down. Well, everyone that was making any noise, which are Jonathan and Coral. "Do you hear that?"
"Yay, sponsor gift!" Amber calls out and rushes out the door. When she comes back she is holding a metal cylinder that looks exactly like the ones Amber had bread and berries in, only slightly bigger.
She takes it to the table where I'm sitting and opens it. Inside are two sets of neatly folded clothes, that look exactly like the ones we are wearing.
"Coral, we got clothes" Amber says and throws one set towards Coral.
"Hey! How come we didn't get clothes earlier?" I ask while watching Amber as she walks up the small staircase.
"Maybe because you were outside for a minute, and we were just out for about two hours." Amber explains before she disappears on the second floor.
After a couple of minutes she comes back down, dressed in dry clothes this time.
"I'm just gonna go change" Coral says and kisses Jonathan lightly before she leaves upstairs, and then she, as well, have her dry clothes on.
She goes back to her spot next to Jonathan on the couch, and he continues to rub her arms warm. After a while he hugs her instead. Again, I'm about to puke from all the cheesiness.
I can't stand watching them cuddle in the couch, so I walk upstairs to look for… Well, anything.
The first room I walk into looks like a girl's bedroom. It looks very fresh and new, if you compare with the rest of the house that could fall apart at any time. The walls are painted white with butterflies on, and the room is filled with stuffed animals and dolls. The bed is made with pink sheets, and above it hangs a white silky canopy that drapes down around the bed.
One wall is almost completely filled with drawings and pictures. I walk closer to look at the images, and I almost immediately find a picture of a family. A happy family, with a mother, a father and three smiling kids. It brings my thoughts to my own family. Mom, dad and Andrew back home. It was little over a week since I saw them.
I wish I knew how they feel. What they're doing. I wish I could see them or just talk to them one last time.
I need to get the item at the Feast tonight. I want something that will remind me of them. I'm fine with just a picture of them, so that I can at least see them. I'm fine with some useless thing from the house, because it will smell like home. I want something that will feel like home.
A tear runs down my check, but I quickly wipe it off and turn away from the wall and the picture. I walk over to the neatly made bed and lay down on top of the sheets, and before I know it, I have fallen asleep.
When I wake up it is still raining outside. At first, I think everything looks the same as when I fell asleep, but then I realize that Jonathan is sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Have you been watching me when I was sleeping?" I ask him and turn to lie on my back.
He smiles at me. "No, I just came here"
"Yeah, right" I say and kick him lightly on his leg. "Creep"
He laughs at me and I sit up next to him.
"Have you realized we have a lot of these moments?" I say and look up at him.
"I know. But it's just because I want to spend time with you" he says and puts his arm around my shoulders.
I rest my head on his shoulder and sigh. "Do we really have to spend time by sitting next to each other and talk dramatically about the Games and our family? It's sad..."
"Well, do you have any other suggestions on what we could do then?"
I stay silent for a moment. He's right. There's not much to do to spend time in the arena. If you're not the kind of siblings who likes to go kill kids together.
"No" I finally say. "But you know what? I can't do this. I'm getting depressed by just sitting here. We could at least talk about something happy. Something to get our minds off of this." I stand from the bed and look at him, but he just smiles at me as if I'm joking, and I can't help but to smile back.
When he doesn't say anything for a while, I drag him off the bed and down the stairs.
"Sit" I tell him and point on the floor, and he does.
I get the back pack with berries and set it in front of him, and then I sit on the other side of it.
I pick a berry and throw it straight up in the air and try to catch it with my mouth, but when I fail miserably Jonathan laughs at me.
"You try then!" I say to him and look at him when he throws a berry higher than I did and, of course, catches it. He gives me a teasing smile and I try again. And agin. And again.
Every time I fail he laughs at me, and the very few times he misses, I laugh at him. It's a happy moment, despite our surroundings. For a while, we actually forget where we are and what we're supposed to do, and we have a good time. Probably one of the last good times we'll have together.
Soo… That's it. A little boring, but for now I kind of just struggle my way through the days…
I start school on Wednesday, so at first I might be a little slow on the updates because I need to get used to school again (How about some reviews to make me happy despite school? :)), but then I'll continue updating every week, yay!
Benji99: You're probably the only one I know who likes Amber. All of my friends hate her x) But I'm glad someone likes her, she needs support too :)
MissBunburyHope: Maybe you got an idea of what the Gamemakers are thinking in this chapter ;) I want them both to go home too, it's really sad :(
Denim: But, hey! I'm the writer, I'm the one who gives sponsor gifts, and I never gave you a computer! :(
Hope you liked it, please review, give me ideas of what to happen next and constructive criticism is always appreciated! :)
Also, I have now put up the first chapter of my SYOT, A Bird's Nest! Well, it's not really a chapter, it's kind of a prologue-thing, and the Tribute Form. Make sure to check it out! :)