Lacey Weaver- District Eight female (18)

It still hurt. I hadn't known it was possible to kick someone so hard it hit their guts. That had to have been what happened. When Flint stomped on my stomach it felt like he'd just stomped right through me to the floor. It rippled through my body like a shockwave and totally stopped my ability to breathe. Then when he kicked me in the back there was an gutting pain like an explosion of knives. It was like my brain just shut down. I couldn't talk or move or even think. I didn't even remember most of the battle. I opened my eyes and Alysanne was making sure Flint was dead and the twins were gone.

Alysanne ran over to me. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Not really," I gasped, my voice still cracking and hitching in sobs.

"Where does it hurt?" Alysanne asked. She looked me over, hesitantly waving her arms above me trying to help without making it worse.

Everywhere! I didn't have to say it. I concentrated on my breathing. I could breathe again, so that was nice. I wasn't bleeding, so that was nice. I stayed on my side just breathing and letting the breaths get bigger and deeper as the pain lessened. It wasn't going to go away anytime soon but in a few minutes I was able to sit up so Alysanne knew I was all right.

"That's it?" I asked, looking at Flint's fallen body. Five people and only one died?

"Oaken got his shoulder popped out and Flint tore half of Clair's cheek out," Alysanne said. Only then was I alert enough to notice how funny her voice sounded. No doubt it was from the blood caked on her crooked nose.

She saw me looking and put a hand on it. "Yeah, if it wasn't broken before it is now," she said. Her breath whistled around the swollen tissue and blood-clogs.

"Oh, gross," I said, noticing the blood pooled around Flint's crotch. "What happened there?"

"Clair bit... she bit it off," Alysanne said with a vague hand gesture to describe "it".

"Hardcore," I said. "I'm going to try to get up." I gingerly got to my hands and knees and Alysanne helped me stand, carefully leaning to one side.

"On the bright side..." Alysanne pointed to the fake feast table.

Alysanne Audren- District Six female (15)

"On the bright side..." I pointed to our fake feast table that we'd covered in supplies we'd scrounged from the kitchen and nearby rooms. Someone had taken the first aid kid in the kitchen but we'd found another one in a random office, probably because building code required so many per floor or whatever. Gotta make sure your Arena isn't unsafe. We limped to the table and sat down with the kit.

"Oh boy, antiseptic," I said. I unwrapped a wipe and swiped it all over my wound, wincing at the sting, while Lacey unwound some bandages. I wrapped some bandages around the wound and taped it in place.

"Any antibiotics in there?" I asked as Lacey dug through the kit.

"Doesn't look like it," she said. "But here you go." She handed me a bottle of pills. I flipped them over and read the label. They were decongestants.

I gave Lacey an unimpressed look. "I don't think they work on blood," I said, but she was already giggling. It was kind of funny, so I started giggling too, struggling to breathe and laugh at the same time as Lacey held her stomach so she could laugh.

"Well I'm definitely taking one of these," Lacey said, opening another pill bottle. "Want one?" She handed me the bottle and I saw it was the kind you take for headaches or period cramps.

"I guess this counts as a headache," I said as I tapped out a pill.

"I have a huge headache," Lacey said. I hoped the pills worked- Lacey was talking and joking but she was still in visibly severe pain. "I have an everything ache."

"Let's just not move for a while," I said. We sat for maybe ten minutes regaining our breath and staring awkwardly at Flint's body since the Gamemakers wouldn't take it until we left.

"All that's left now are the twins," I mused. There was a weirdly long pause.

"Kind of them dirty leaving us like that," she said, and leaned her head on my shoulder.

"I wish I could be madder. I am mad but not as mad as I want to be. It's just the Games," I said.

Lacey slumped to the floor.

Lacey Weaver- District Eight female (18)

Alysanne was trying to find me. That was strange- I didn't remember leaving her. And she was sitting right above me. Strange she sounded so far away.

"Lacey! What's wrong?"

The words slowly came together in my head. I was lying on the floor looking up at Alysanne, who was still speaking rapidly.

"What's wrong? What do you need?" She held up the first aid kit to me. I could hardly focus on it. The room was spinning and fading in and out.

A feeling of foreboding came over me. "I think I'm dying," I slurred.

"Why? What's wrong?" Alysanne begged. My headache was worse than ever and my stomachache was even worse than that. I was so tired. I couldn't focus on Alysanne or talk to her. It took so much energy just to breathe.

Something fell onto my chest as Alysanne tore through the first aid kit. The floor felt more comfortable every second. It was like my bed back home. Back home. With Via. The world around me blurred. Alysanne drifted away from me like I was floating down a river. The Arena was drifting away and home was drifting closer.

4th place: Lacey Weaver- Ruptured internal organs caused by Flint

It WAS odd that a five-way fight would end with only one death. But death isn't always immediate... Lacey was one of the ones I thought might win and that's evident in her placing. She had a very mundane story but that's not bad, it's just normal. Average people have inner lives and dreams and hidden depths like anyone else. Lacey didn't need bells and whistles to be strong and worthy of winning, so thanks Willuna for showing that.