I don't want to say much in this intro, just please please review! I hope you like it.
Haden Saen
We're moving again. Thanks to that idiot Piston, we know the careers know where we are. We abandoned our old camp and moved across the pond to a different location. Satisfied, Blake drops his back pack and begins to build a fire. Its only 5 o'clock so the smoke won't give us away. I put my hands in my pockets and lean against a birch tree avoiding joining the conversation. Ever since I talked to Samantha I feel vulnerable, a feeling I'm not used to. I try to avoid making eye contact, even with Meg. When her eyes finally find mine, the light is gone from them and they seem smoky. I know she's confused at my sudden withdrawal but I don't feel the urge to explain myself.
I remain silent through diner and instead focus my attention on any approaching tributes. After yet another bland meal, Sam asks Blake to help her with a certain knife. She's been getting really frustrated with this particular knife because she can't throw it. As kind and outgoing as she is, the girl can't stand to be bad at something. I watch them for a while before growing bored and becoming fidgety. I decide to go for a quiet walk by the water to help calm myself. I step carefully on the sharp rocks as I lap the crystal pool a few times. I thought having space to think would do me good, but there's nothing really to think about. I'm lost, confused, grief-striken, lonely, angry. I am so many different things I'm not sure the old Haden is underneath it all. I can hear footsteps behind me and I don't even have to look to know that's its Meg. I am irritated that she followed me here because I obviously wanted to be alone but I push the rude thoughts from my mind and greet her with a smile.
She wraps her thin arms around me and leans into my chest. Even though she's older than I am, I feel like we are exactly the same. I don't touch her hair like I've seen Blake do with Samantha, instead, I stand. I close my eyes and rest my head on her shoulder and wait for her to say something. But she doesn't and I don't have a problem with it. The subtle waves in the pond wash over my toes gently, calming some of my thoughts and allowing me to focus on the moment. She leans back to face me and I fake a smile. Something I've gotten rather good at lately. She opens her pale lips to say something when a noise stops us dead in our tracks. There's a loud crunching noise behind me and I don't bother to turn around before sprint full speed back to camp. Meg has had the same idea. I trail behind her as we sprint desperately back to the safety of weapons and Sam and Blake.
We crash loudly through the bushes into camp screaming our heads off to warn Sam and Blake. Sam looks confused at first but I watch as her eyes widen in fear and she tears her knife from a nearby tree. I figure I must be fairly far ahead so I turn around to see who we're facing. Its fairly dark now and I'm having trouble seeing the faces of our pursuers, but I don't need to. I know it's the careers. I have just enough time to wrench a sword from the ground before something heavy slams me to the ground. I howl angrily and swipe my sword's sharp blade across the back of my attacker. The large boy screams in pain and frustration and I'm able to shove him off of me. I stand up and quickly observe the scene before deciding what to do. I see a boy and girl figure standing in the center of the fight and I see the district 2 girl holding a particularly grim knife above Blake's head. I raise my sword and prepare to fight her, but without a moment's hesitation Sam sends a gleaming knife into the girls heart. The small but strong girl slumps to the ground with the knife still embedded in her chest. A flash of regret fills me just like every other time I've seen someone die in the games. Sam is helping the knife-wounded Blake up so I turn my attention to the 2 figures. Both are running in the opposite direction so I figure we're safe. A surge of dread pumps through my body as I immediately remember the giant who tackled me. I turn in horror and see that the district 1 boy has Meg by the neck against a tree.
"LET HER GO!" I scream trying not to let my panic show in my voice. The boy grins and clamps down harder on Meg's thin neck.
"I SAID LET GO!" I howl at the defiant boy angrily. The boy turns towards me slowly, with a hand still on Meg's neck and smiles. Before I realize what's happening, I see the boy run something over Meg's neck and she tumbles to the ground. Before the boy even has a chance to exhale, my sword, Sam's good knife, and Blake's arrow pierce his thick body and he too falls. I stumble towards Meg blindly vaguely aware that I'm screaming loudly. AS I draw nearer I see the severity of her situation. The boy's sword cut deeply into a large blood vessel in her neck. Without thinking, I tear a piece of my black shirt and apply pressure to her wound. Her eyes flutter and she looks at me and raises a shaky hand to her neck. Her eyebrows crease in confusion, she must've blacked out when he was holding her against the tree. Her warm and sticky blood soaks through the t-shirt scrap dangerously fast. I reach up and tear another scrap off and continue to apply pressure. The piece soaks on contact and as I go for another chunk, a hand stops me.
I whirl around and see Blake standing over me holding my hand back, looking stern.
"Stop," he commands me, "you're going to ruin your shirt, theres nothing you can do now." He says apologetically. I ignore him and try again to tear another section before I feel pressure again on my left hand. I whip around and send a punch in Blake's direction. I feel my fist make contact with his cheek and he stumbles to the ground. I ignore my fallen ally and return my attention to meg. I realize that her eyes are no longer moving, Panic fills my body and I shout at her to wake up.
"c'mon c'mon…" I mumble under my breath trying desperately to wake her up. Suddenly there is a squeeze in my right hand and I look down, Meg is holding my hand. She opens her thin lips and whispers something I almost don't catch.
"Thank you. Tell me family-." She stops mid-sentence and I watch in anticipation for her to finish. The would in her neck stops pulsing and her eyes flutter close.
"Meg….Meg?...Meg?" oh my god. Oh. My. God. "HELP, DO SOMETHING!" I scream at Blake and Meg who stand frozen a few feet behind me. "MEG!" I scream frantically trying to think back to health class but no remedy comes to mind.
I feel a pair of strong hands pulling me backwards away from a deathly white Meg. I flail frantically and kick and swing my arms around desperate to escape. Meg and Blake force me to my feet and block me from the dead girl. I try to slip between them as tears start streaming down my face.
"You don't understand!" I sob loudly tearing at their clothes and trying to reach the beautiful blonde girl lying against the tree. "We can help!" I scream, desperate now. Blake looks and me with true sympathy in his eyes and tries to calm me.
"Come on Haden," he says softly, "we can't help her-"
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" I scream at him hysterically until I think my throat may collapse and I slide to the ground. Blake crouches next to me and I watch Sam zip up Meg's jacket and lay her cold body down. Somehow the 16 year old's gentle touch only makes me more angry so I stand and walk quickly back to camp. I grab my fleece blanket and my bag and jog quickly towards the edge of the woods.
"hey…HEY!" I can hear Blake shouting behind me but I don't stop. I'll never stop. "HADEN STOP!" he yells more desperate this time. I twist around in his direction and walk briskly towards the boy who used to be my friend.
"NO. SHE DIED WHILE YOU SAT ON YOUR ASS AND DID NOTHING! SHE DIED! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THAT?" I shriek at him in a dizzying rage.
"I CAN'T SAVE EVERYONE OK?" he shouts back equally angry, "DO YOU THINK I WANTED HER TO DIE? OF COURSE I DIDN'T! SHE'S LIKE MY SISTER" he cries impatiently. His final statement sets my decision in stone and I duck out of the clearing and as far away as possible from the people who let the girl I loved die. I race hurriedly past the pond and back into the cover of the trees. I'll never know what she wanted me to tell her family.