Chapter 30- Iry Coppersmith

Two cannons fired today, so that means there's fourteen tributes still left in the arena. Including me! I don't know who the cannons fired for, but it doesn't really matter, does it? Maybe it was a Career. I don't like to think of anyone dying, but it's probably better for me if it was a Career.

This morning I ate the last of my stew and the other half of my roll; drank some of the water that Terra sent me, and folded up my new dark green blanket. The food was delicious; I'm still full. I left my makeshift shelter a few hours after the sun rose, and ever since then, I've been wandering along the beach. I need to find a better place to hide out while I wait for the Games to be over.

Off to my left, in the water, some shimmering grey animal jumps out of the water over and over again. Maybe it's a mutt; I don't know, but it looks happy. I think if I had to be an animal, I'd like to be that one, just because it radiates joy.

I'm just so happy that Terra didn't forget about me, and neither did Shuttle and Woven and Woof. It rained last night, but I huddled underneath my new blanket, which is plastic on one side, and I didn't get very wet. I didn't sleep well, just because the jungle was scary at night, but I was warm and dry. And it's all thanks to my family. Shuttle, Woven, and Woof are practically family, you know.

"Wow," I say, looking up. The rainforest rises up above the beach, until it's a cliff right above me. The sand I'm standing on is scattered with small white stones; I pick one up and turn it over and over in my hand. It's smooth and shiny. I think I'll keep it. After stowing it away safely in my pants pocket, I keep looking up at the cliff. It's so high up; I'm glad I'm down here. I'm not really fond of heights, I don't think.

When I listen carefully, I can hear water running somewhere, and it's not coming from the waves washing up on the beach. There's water around here!

I don't have to go far to find it, either; just a few feet away I find the end of a waterfall that cascades down the cliff side and runs into the ocean. I know from Training that running water is better than still water, but I should still purify it before drinking. Problem is, I don't have anything to purify it with. As I'm debating my problem in my head, a parachute floats down from the sky and lands next to me.

"Thank you!" I whisper, opening it. A small bottle of iodine is inside, which solves my problem. They're wonderful, taking care of me! Terra always keeps her promises. I read the side of the bottle for the instructions, then hold my water bottle underneath the waterfall to fill it up. After putting the right number of drops into the bottle, I close it up tight to wait the half hour before I can drink it. That's okay; I can stay right here and watch the ocean.

I knew I would be scared in the arena, but I wasn't expecting the uneasiness that comes from being in here. It's like the world's scariest hide and seek game. Somebody could be anywhere, just waiting to find me. And as much as I'd like to play on the beach, I know I can't. Not really. Somebody could see me, somebody with weapons, and then there would be nothing Terra could do to help me.

The sun's hot out here on the sand, but I don't want to go into the jungle. There're too many things in there that could be hiding. What I'd really like to do is go home and play with Ribbons on the carpet in my room, but I have to be really good at hiding first. I have to win this game of hide and seek.

While I sit, my back against the cliff wall, the waterfall trickling down beside me, I hold onto my mother's ring on the chain around my neck. My mother. My father gave it to me first when I was little; to remember her by. I don't remember anything about her, though. Everything I know about my mother I've been told by my father and Terra; the only tangible things I have of her are her ring; an old hairbrush that sits on the bathroom counter at home, rarely used now that we have a new one; and the headstone I visit every week.

That's how I know my mother. She is a marble headstone on a hill, a few feet away from my father, who I did know and love. My mother is sometimes real to me, other times she's a story that might never have existed. Sometimes I can only believe she was real because of the ring she wore.

I gave this ring to Terra before she left for her own Games five years ago. It's a smooth gold band, hanging on a similarly colored chain. Maybe it does have magic powers; it brought Terra home to me, and now I hope it will bring me home to her. In any case, it reminds me of District 8 and my home.

"Finally," someone mutters from around the corner; I can hear footsteps crunching on the sand. I freeze; what do I do? Where do I go? I don't want to go up the cliff; they'll see me! I'm scared, so scared but I have to keep my head. Or I might lose my head, if you know what I mean. The voice came from my left, so I run right, holding my blanket and the parachute in one hand, my water bottle and the iodine in the other. I can't leave these behind; she'll know I was here if she finds them.

I manage to duck into the trees and into a bunch of flowers, all reds and pinks and yellows. I'd like to look at them closer, but later. Now I have to hide; this is the game of hide and seek, and I'm not It right now.

Through the leaves and ferns and flowers I can see a girl come around the corner and stop at the waterfall, like I did. I can only see half of her, and her straight black hair. I'm trying to think of who she might be by the color of her hair when she appears around the corner of the waterfall and I'm able to see her face. It's Celosia, the girl from District 12.

"They're keeping the water to themselves this year," she mutters, holding a bottle underneath the stream like I did. She's one of the tributes who went to the Cornucopia, apparently, judging by the axe at her feet. I can't remember if she was good at them or not in Training, but it doesn't really matter, does it? She's armed, I'm not, and if she finds me, she could put that axe through my skull.

I don't like that ending for me. I want to die happy in my bed in District 8, surrounded by cats.

Celosia sinks to her knees beside the stream and drinks from her water bottle. At the angle she's at now, I can see a long slash in her jacket, and then underneath it a glimpse of red skin. She must have gotten hurt while getting her supplies. She doesn't have a mentor like most of us do in here, so I guess she's having to live by her wits.

She's going to have to be very smart to get out of here; District 12 hasn't had a victor in over thirty years.

While she drinks, I shakily run my fingers over the ring around my neck. Please take me home, I think. The ring can't hear me, but maybe somebody out there can. I don't like hiding like this. Celosia could see me at any moment. I'm so scared.

Celosia doesn't seem like she wants to move any time soon; she leans herself against the cliff on an angle, keeping her arm away from the rocks. She doesn't relax at all; I can see that she's keeping herself tense. Maybe to run away fast if she needs to?

All I know is that as long as she's sitting there, I'm trapped.

I hope she doesn't stay long.