Aston Shinjin, 14, District 6 Female

I don't like waking up with warm, tear-stained cheeks. I think it started the second night I was in the Capitol. Usually, I don't even remember why I'm crying, because it's always in my sleep. Pontiki asks me if I'm okay and I always say yes, I am, but something in my heart tells me there's a reason my subconscious is upset. Alysanne said one night that I could have been having a bad dream. She told me it was normal and that she had them a lot. At least I don't remember my dreams. I'm almost certain they have something to do with Father. Since I've been in the arena, my entire body has felt constantly flushed and tingly, even after I wake up from whatever was plaguing me.

"Do you feel sick?" Pontiki asks me as she strokes my hair. We're still laying underneath the rock by the water. The crashing waves are soothing.

"No," I mumble, which causes Pontiki to frown.

"Well, you're burning up. Let me see if I have anything that could help…"

She's rummaging through the bag, grunting in disapproval. I let my head drop to one side, facing her.

"What do you think it's like to die?" I ask. Pontiki freezes and gives me a sideways look.

"Why do you say that?" Her tone is slightly annoyed, as if I've brought up something she doesn't like to talk about rather than a morbid inevitability.

"Just because," I tell her, "I'm just curious about what's to come."

"Don't say that. We're both going to make it to the end and then we'll escape or something," Pontiki says in a hushed voice, trying to bypass the microphones. Like that'll do anything. The only way the Capitol wouldn't be able to hear was if we could talk to each other telepathically.

"Wishful thinking," I say, amused. I can't really remember the last time I've talked to someone this much. Father's mantra of 'don't speak unless you're spoken to' has been well-instilled in me even after only a year. Just talking at all makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong.

Father. I think about him often and hope that me being Reaped at least brought to light what he had been doing to me. He was protesting as I walked up on the stage, and later heard he had been detained for his contempt. Maybe a year ago I would have been sad about this, but part of me just feels numb about it. I don't hate him, but I also wouldn't mind if he got Avoxed, or flogged, or sent to Thirteen. Or all three.

Mother, on the other hand… I ask about death because I see it as a way to get to see her again. He never even let me say goodbye to her. My last image of Mother was her screaming as she was pulled out of the van by her shoulders. Then my vision went black and I never saw her again. At least she knows I'm safe from Father now, even if I'm not really safe.

Suddenly a flash of light appears somewhere distant in the ocean, as bright as the sun. Pontiki and I cover our eyes at the sight, which subsides after a few moments.

"What is-" Pontiki doesn't even have time to finish her sentence when another light beam invades our vision, before going dim again.

And then there she is. Mother, standing in the middle of the ocean. I feel bad for not remembering what she looked like because it takes a few moments for her features to become familiar again. The high cheek bones. Her flowing dark hair. The sprite-like way she always carries herself. Her smile… I've dreamt about finding my way back into her arms for a year now, at my lowest times when Father made my life unbearable. My happy place was in Mother's embrace. Now, with her arms opened in anticipation, I can't help but get up and go after what I've been longing for since that awful day one year ago.

I think I hear Pontiki calling after me as the water reaches my knees but I don't really make out what she is saying. The only thing on my mind is Mother.

Pontiki Aror, 16, District 5 Female

"Aston, please! Come back!"

It's like she's gone deaf. She doesn't even react to my calls, so she must have. I've never been a huge fan of water, and when it gets to my hips I start to shiver, not because it's cold but because I'm starting to get nervous of being swept away in the harsh waves.

It's almost like Aston is being pulled. I can't even see her legs moving, just her entire body moving forward towards whatever she is chasing. Part of me thinks she wouldn't just walk into the water for no reason. She must be hallucinating.

Crap, why do I always have to deal with the worst stuff?! I could just watch her drown to death, considering how she seems certain to doom herself to that fate. I'm around five paces behind her, so I have no chance of catching her and bringing her back to shore. But if I do stay behind, the bashing would almost certainly ensue.

"How cold hearted are you? Why didn't you save your friend? You just watched her die!"

If I go home, I can see people looking at me with disdain already. I truly cannot win in the world.

Yet, going any further in this ocean might invite me to my own ending, as well… screw it. If I go out, at least I go out a hero. Maybe Rula will have a few kind words to say about me at my funeral service.

"I didn't know Pontiki well… she was always a little mysterious… but the fact that she died trying to save her friend says enough. We all misjudged her terribly."

Wouldn't that be nice. Knowing my luck, however, it would probably go something more like this:

"Who was that girl again?"

The quiet, straight-A student who failed to turn herself into a likable person in time, not soon enough to get her out of the damned arena. What a pitiful story, and an even more pitiful end.

But at the moment, I try to push away those thoughts. Who cares what people think of me? At the very least, I would prefer for Aston not to die. I've been alone for far too long in my life. A little company would at least be comforting before I die.

I try to go further in the water as I notice it reach up to Aston's neck. She really is trying to drown.

"Aston! What are you doing?!" I shout at her, my voice trembling.

Then she disappears underneath the water.

"Crap…"

Aslan Dreadstorm, 18, District 4 Male

"It's coming from that way," I tell Coilee and Vinna, motioning past the weird kids playground area. Past it is a rather brush of skinny trees, then a prairie-like area that dips down to what looks to be a beach.

"What did you say it was again?" Coilee asks.

"It sounded like someone was shouting a name," I tell her. "Couldn't quite make it out."

"Whatever they're saying, they're an idiot," Vinna sneers as we continue to jog to the source of the sound.

It's a much longer walk than any of us expected. This arena has a habit of making everything look much closer than it really appears. We're a good half hour into the pursuit when our jogging downgrades to a quick, tense march, none of us loosening our grip on our weapons.

Finally, we make it past the seemingly endless prairie in which I find myself constantly having to fight off quite a few pink bunnies nibbling on my thigh. One dissolves into dust after I shove my trident through its body.

"Thank goodness we're through that," Coilee says as we finally see the beach in sight.

It's a pretty long stretch of sand, maybe around three miles long. However, the vantage point we have makes it easy to see across all of it and in no time I spot two tiny figures near the edge of the beach, near an enormous boulder straddling the cliff above them. One of the figures is walking into the water, towards nothing in particular.

Another is calling out to her, trying to coerce her into coming back. But the girl won't listen and keeps walking into the water until her entire head is submerged and vanished. The other girl keeps wading until no part of her friend remains above water. Then, she just stands there, her mouth dropped open in a state of shock.

But there was no cannon.

"I'll get her!" I tell the others, overtaking Coilee and Vinna as I make my way down towards the beach. I almost lose my footing but I manage to stay upright in the somewhat uneven ground below me, and the girl, who I seen recognize as the girl from 5, doesn't see me until I crash into the water, pushing against the resistance of the water but not swimming through it, since it was not deep enough. It had a strange purple tint, like the sand. I'm wondering if it's from the lighting of the sky or if everything in this arena just has this strange pastel hue.

She turns just in time for me to swing my trident into her chest. Her mouth starts to open and close like a fish until she falls forward when I pull my trident from her, her blood cleanly coating the spikes. She drops like a weight into the water, dying the lavender water bright red.

BOOM!

"Aslan?"

I can hear Coilee calling out after me. She's somewhere in the distance, although when I look out I can't see her. Another thing I can't see is the other girl. I keep dunking my head under water to try and find her, although I start to get drowsy if I'm submerged for too long. This water is definitely funky.

I spot the hovercraft descending to pick up the girl from 5's broken body, and I step away because it's starting to blow sand in my face. If there's one thing I've never been a huge fan of back when I worked near beaches on the docks, it's sand.

Back on the cliff, Coilee seems baffled.

"Where did that other girl go?" she questions. I just shrug. I'm not really sure how else to explain how I let another kill slip from my fingers, and frankly I don't want to.

"I didn't hear any cannon. Maybe she can hold her breath for a long time," Coilee guesses.

Both Vinna and I shoot her an annoyed look before turning on our heels, Coilee trailing a few steps behind.

Aemma Marsay, 7

Since it's Day 3, most of the people who were in the Control Centre for the beginning of the Games have gone home. Not me, though. I could stay here forever. Mama said I should go to sleep in my own room but I complained, and she let me stay. Mama is giving me what I want a lot these past few days! It's probably because she is so busy that she doesn't want to deal with me. I like getting away with so much.

The only mentor who is still in the Control Center and not in the area for sponsors is Merrilee, a pretty girl with light red hair from District 1 who is ten years older than me. She won the Hunger Games before, but I can't remember which one.

She has been crying a lot. At first I was confused why she was so sad but then I realized one of her tributes died, and it was Weaver's fault. He chopped the boy from 1's head off with a goose's beak. It was pretty nasty to look at, so I laughed a lot to get my tummy to feel normal again. People gave me weird looks.

Merrilee looks lonely. She's just sitting on a chair by herself, by a big screen. I can see the tears on her face because it's so bright.

While I've been next to Mama for most of the Games, always wanting to know what she is doing, I sort of want to go to Merrilee. She shouldn't be so sad. Tributes die. A lot. These are the Games, and she should be happy!

I walk off and Mama doesn't even notice because she is handling the death of Pontiki. I walk over to Merrilee on the other side of the Control Centre and she doesn't even see me until I sit next to her.

She looks at me and smiles, but it's a sad smile.

"You're Merrilee," I tell her. "You're seventeen."

Her eyes go sparkly. "How did you know?"

"I know things," I say to her, scooting closer. She doesn't complain about me being next to her so she must be okay with it.

We watch the screen for a while. The Career kids are talking about something though I can't hear it well. On another screen, Indy, Altaïr, and Esther are gathered in a mattress fort, eating some kind of food bars. It's starting to become nighttime, and the sky looks very beautiful because it's dusk, which means the same thing as sunset.

Salalai from 10, on another screen, is sleeping in a cave. Andrew from 11 is hiding near the ocean that Aslan caught Pontiki in. He actually came super close to being caught by the Careers. He's very lucky they didn't notice him hiding.

On another screen, Aston is washed up on a rock in the middle of the ocean. I frown. She's right near the force field. If she swam a little bit further, she'd be zapped. That's how far away she is from everything.

The boy from 10, Ryker, is at the base of the caves Salalai is sleeping in. He's petting the forehead of Lilac as she sleeps, too. I hope she and Salalai are having sweet dreams.

"What do you think they dream about?" I ask Merrilee. She turns to me, looking confused.

"The tributes?" she asks me. I nod up and down.

"Well…" Merrilee crosses her arms and looks like she is thinking hard. "I can't speak for them, but when I was in the arena all I dreamed about was being at home. I would suddenly be back in my own bed. I thought that the Games were all nothing but a dream. But when I woke up, I was reminded that what was happening was real. It almost made me cry a few times." Merrilee looks serious.

I turn to her. "Why did you cry? Wouldn't you be happy that your dream was coming true?"

She gives me another sad smile. "You'd think finally being in the Games after so many years of training would be a dream come true. But it kind of isn't. It's more of a nightmare."

Merrilee turns back to the screen. "But don't tell your mother I said that."

15th: Pontiki Aror, District 5 Female: Trident to the chest from Aslan

I really sympathized with Pontiki, I saw a lot of her in myself, so I kind of loved her from the beginning. I had an awesome victory arc set up for her that, in a perfect world, she should have been able to live out, but we don't live in a perfect world, and realistic things need to happen like someone's story being cut short before they reach their prime. Thank you Lexi for her, she was one of my favorites for sure!

Kills

Vinna (2): Sixtine (assist), Garrett

Coilee (1): Ethan

Azure (1): Nerezza

Aslan (2): Sixtine, Sophia, Pontiki

DW (1): Armahni

Tributes remaining:

Vinna (1F), Coilee (2F), Albert (3M), Azure (4F), Aslan (4M), Aston (6F), Indy (6M), Magnolia (7F), Esther (8F), Altaïr (9M), Salalai (10F), Ryker (10M), Andrew (11M), Lilac (12F)

Typo in the last chapter, whoops. Damon is not from District 1.