Mazes on the Edge (Day One): Caladium Velius, District 9 Female Tribute


I was in a maze. I was hiding in a corner. It was a small space. I was trying to make myself small so that I could hide. I was hiding because I needed to wait. I was waiting for my allies. Where were my allies?

"Cala! Cala! Where are you! It's me, Lina!"

I couldn't see anyone else in the maze. There wasn't anyone else. So who was it that was talking? She said that she was Lina. Was Lina one of my allies?

"Cala!" Whoever she was, she ran over to me. She wasn't trying to kill me. But what was it that was so urgent that she had to run? Why were we in a maze? "Here, Cala, come with me. Ondrew's not going to be coming with us anymore, okay? It's just us now."

I followed her and we ran out of the "maze". Running was fast. The train to the Capitol had been a fast ride. Were we in the Capitol? Where was the train?

Lina kept running until we got to a very woodsy area. There were woods at home. They were used for hunting. You had to hunt down the other tributes. Who were all of the other tribues? Was I a tribute? What was I a tribute to?

Then we started walking, like how I'd walk to school. But I didn't see my school. Maybe we were just really lost. Yes, that had to be it. I decided to ask Kane where we were.

You're in the arena, Cala. Welcome to the Games.

I followed Lina. There were a lot of rules to follow. And instructions. Like when Lina told me what to do. Keep walking, stay quiet, just follow me. I wished that Kane would "stay quiet". He was being annoying with all of the dramatic taking. It was annoying to be in the Capitol.

Finally, Lina stopped. "Cala, we're going to make camp here, okay?" she asked. "There's a nice little cave up ahead."

Cave? Didn't things "cave" in? Wasn't that bad? I still just followed her. Kane told me to.

Lina grabbed my hand and dragged me along with her to the edge of this place that was dark. I guessed that that was the cave. She told me to climb the nearest tree (there were a lot of them) and stay up high in them, and be quiet until she told me what to do. That was what I was supposed to do, right? Climbing trees was good. I climbed the nearest tree. It was tall. There were tall trees back home, too.

I watched her. She took off her backpack and started to empty it. The cave should've been empty. If there was anything in it, that was bad. If there was anything in the bag, that was good. Or was it the other way around...?

Lina took out a roll of tape, a package of food, and a spearhead. I wondered what they were for. "Cala!" she called up to me. "Cala! Come back down again! We're... we're going to go on an adventure!"

Adventures were good. Unless they were bad. This wasn't going to be bad. Lina was here. Lina was supposed to be trying to kill me. Why wasn't she killing me? Why wasn't I killing her? I was very confused. People got confused a lot because life was confusing. The Games were confusing.

I followed her. I was supposed to follow the rules here. I didn't know where I was. I didn't know where "here" was, either. What where the rules here?

Kill or be killed. That is the only rule. Stay alive.

I kept following Lina. She seemed to be searching for something. I didn't know what. She didn't tell me. Didn't say anything, really. I wasn't supposed to say anything. I was supposed to be quiet. That was what I knew. So I did know something. Or did I?

We kept moving until Lina turned around abruptly and started walking back where we came from. That seemed sort of stupid. We were just there, stupid, I thought. There's nothing back there.

But she kept walking, and so did I. Wasn't there a weird saying about that? Just keep moving, or something like that. Go onwards. I repeated it to myself as we walked, even though Lina told me to be quiet. I was. I was saying it quietly, telling Kane about it. "Just keep walking, just keep walking, just keep walking..."

Lina still seemed frustrated as we walked. I thought I recognized where we were now. It looked familiar. Was this where we had just been?

Yes.

Lina led me in to the cave. "Cala, it's going to get really dark in here at night. So we're going to have to be careful, okay? We have to be ready to sleep at sunset and ready to get up at dawn. We have to be prepared. Do you understand me?"

Sure, I thought. She acted like she hadn't heard me. Why hadn't she heard me? I gave up.

I just did what Lina told me after that-but I knew that she was still frustrated because we couldn't find something. Water, maybe? Couldn't you just get some water from the sink? Mother always did that. Maybe mother was just smarter than Lina was. And father, too.

Maybe they were smarter than us all. Wasn't the Capitol supposed to be the smartest of us all?

Except for me, Kane taunted.

"Shut up, Kane."

The only response I got was Lina's sigh.