Chapter 29:
-Savannah: Day 8 of the Hunger Games-
I'm supposed to be all okay.
Darkness thumped in and out around like the anxious beating of my own heart. Against the mandate of nature, the roses around me still opened their lips to the night, refusing to shut as the day came to a close. They smelled so pretty. So pretty. I fell to my knees.
I'm supposed to be happy now.
And yet, why am I not happy? Holding it up the shining of the moon, I presented the heart pendent and broken necklace I had done everything to obtain.
He took this from me, but now I have it. I have it, so why am I not better?
Why?
When I had it, I was fine. Jon took it away; he made like this. But I have it now, why isn't everything okay?
I silently screamed.
What did I do to deserve this? All these bad things are happening to me. I never hurt anyone. I've always been hurt worse. Why can't I be happy? Why is everything around me so dark?
I brought the cold silver heart to own. I wanted it to all go away. Everything to just go away.
"Leave me alone," I whispered. My only companion, the steel knife beside me, blood caked and motionless, didn't respond. "So close." I whispered again. "The voices in the sky say there are only four shadows left here. Only four. It will all be better soon. Soon."
The air around me seemed heavy, pressing into my chest, and I struggled to breathe. Chills ran up my body. Everything felt cold.
I slapped myself, just to make sure my body still worked. "It's okay, Savannah. You only have to hold on a little bit more. A little bit more. It's almost over."
I wanted to surrender to it, to let it take me away from here, but I dragged the knife from the ground, stood up, and continued to shamble forward to an ending I only hoped would come.
-Mia: Day 8 of the Hunger Games-
"Lalalalalalala!" What started out as a soft hum broke out into a full song. Quiet is so boring, it really needed some singing to cheer it up. I reached a crescendo, causing a flock of birds to fly out of the trees in what I like to think was joy.
I inhaled the crisp night air and the lingering scent of chemically enhancing biological experiments. I skipped forward into a bed of pseudo-roses. As I was about to pick one up, to sample its delightful odor, one of the birds that I heard my song swooped down in front of me.
"What? Aren't I a great singer? What are you? Just a jealous jabberjay?" I laughed.
"Don't stop and smell the roses."
A grin grew across my face. "Andrew? Is that you?" The bird fluttered at the name, but had no inclination to respond. "Aw. That's real cute. Something finally paid attention to your silly ramblings. That's cute. Just freaking adorable." My voice rose in volume with each word. "But you what? I don't care!" A ripple of satisfaction ran across my spine as I said that delightful sentence, so I said it again. "I don't care. Not even a little bit." The grin only grew as I continued to talk with Andrew. "Not even a little bit. Nope. Nope. Nope." Arms outstretched, I spun around, enjoying the light breeze of the night air. "So," I stopped spinning and bent down to the ground, plucking a single rose from the bed, "I'm going to actively ignore you." I brought the rose to my face.
Andrew repeated himself: "Don't stop and smell the roses."
I glared him. "You can't tell me what to do." I brought the rose to my nose and inhaled deeply.
Nothing happened at firs; simply continued silence and Andrew staring. But the rush came within a few more seconds and didn't disappoint. The powerful chemicals infected my auditory, visual, and memory bastions of my brain, causing dizziness and (for me at least) a sensation of euphoria.
I pulled the rose from my face and fell to the ground in delight. Andrew sat there judging me.
I crossed my arms and pouted. "What? What's the big deal?"
He didn't say anything.
The darkness pumped in and out around me, and I struggled to stay conscious. "Hey! I know what I'm doing with these. Any idiot who isn't completely crazy can obviously see that these are biologically mutated monstrosities of nature created by the Capitol which produce pheromones capable of disarming the human system by degrading the neural pathways between the areas of fear, memories, and the senses, allowing an altered experience of reality wherein one's conscience determines the outcome." I took a breath.
"Duh." I sneered at Andrew.
He shook his head.
"Oh, you're such a downer. Go die again." I pulled out a dagger from my waist and threw it at him. The bird screeched for an instant, but was quickly silenced by the specter of death.
"Damn it, Andrew. Look what you made me do. Poor thing." I picked the bird up from the ground, carried it to small dip in the ground, and covered it with some brush.
Leaving the bird in its shallow grave, I walked back to the murder site and picked up the dagger from the ground. As I wiped the blood from the blade, I hummed. "Pointy pointy dagger. Pointy pointy dagger. Why are you so exquisite? Is it your red shiny coat? Or your sharp wit, is it?" I giggled.
"The careers just left you, pointy friend." I put it back in place with all its brothers and sisters in my hiding spot. "They left you guys all alone. Unguarded. Unprotected. You must be glad I picked you guys from their mountain of supplies before I burned the whole stack to the ground with their own matches. It would have been a waste to lose you all. If their stupid," I whispered to them, "(which they totally are) they probably think it was the fire that had spreading that destroyed their stuff, so let's just keep that our little secret." I shushed the variety and abundance of knives I had and closed them away.
"Hahahahaha!" I laughed, causing an echo to ring across the night. In the distance, I finally got a response, for which I had waited so long. I girl screamed.
This is going to be fun!
-Savannah: Day 8 of the Hunger Games-
I cupped my hands to mouth.
What did you just do? You were so close to going by unnoticed. Idiot.
But that laugh... I've heard it before.
I closed my eyes, trying to clear my head of a pink fog that had begun to take over. That night. The night when I was supposed to become okay again. She laughed and then I…
I shook my head and tried not to think of what had happened next.
It…It doesn't matter. What matters is now. So, did she hear me?
I waited in the darkness, trying to clear my mind and listen, but the silence was deafening. As I was about to give up, a calm voice pierced my ears.
"Hello? Are you still there?"
Gripping the two companions I still had left, I grasped my knife in one hand, the necklace in the other and sprinted in the opposite direction. Though my eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness, the dizzying pink fog in my mind made every step I challenge to avoid the hazards around me.
A distance behind me, the quite chipper voice spoke again. "Hello, friend! I see you."
Ignore her. Keep running. Just keep running.
"Hehehe. Target acquired. Firing!"
For a moment, I slowed down to process what she had said. As I looked up, a knife whizzed past my ear and embedded itself into the bark of tree. I continued to flee. Was running the only thing I was good for?
The noises of footsteps slashing across dead grass grew closer and closer behind me.
"There you are!" Another knife flew past me.
What else could I do, but run? Stop? Fight her? Face what I feared? Maybe. Maybe. Sometimes, it's easier to keep running. Running away.
I knife pierced my leg, sending me tumbling to the ground. At least one rib cracked as I smacked a rock on the ground. I screamed as loud and as hard as I could to release the demons that were causing such powerful pain inside of me.
"Are you serious?" The girl's voice came closer as her footsteps scraped against gravel near my face. She rolled me over, but all I could do was shut my eyes and scream.
"Oh, shut up." Her voice grew close to me until she was inches from my face. She cupped her hands on my mouth. I heard her mumble something and felt the tickle of petals against my nose. I inhaled a sweet scent and, suddenly, the pain dulled.
She stared at me frustrated. "What was that? You barely put up any resistance. That was pathetic."
Blood was dripping out of too many places at once for me to think properly, but I tried to respond. "You're a monster."
"Am I?" She laughed. "Because for the last few days, I've had nightmares of your form rising from the darkness and stabbing a guy in front of me. That sounds like you're the monster for me."
My body was both cold and warm at the same time as blood leaked from some places and left others. "You're crazy."
Again she laughed. "Crazy is relative. In my own opinion, I've got it all figured out. But then again, isn't everyone a bit crazy?" She scanned my body, kicked the knife from my useless hands, and rested her gaze upon my other hand. "Oh, what this?" She plucked the necklace from my right hand. "How pretty."
I spat out blood. "Give it back."
She smiled at me. "Why?"
I couldn't respond to her.
"Have it back anyway. I don't care. I'll trade you for that rose." She picked the rose from my face and placed it in her hair. As the scent left me, pain flooded my body. "Well, time to say goodbye." She waved. "Things are wrapping up, and between you me," she whispered, "the end is coming, and it's going to be so fun." She laughed once again. "Byebye."
I closed my eyes. Hopefully, where I'm going is better than this hell. Hopefully. Otherwise, what was the point?
