Lilith Sparkes- District Five female
I didn't want my little sister to see me die.
Kayla was watching me at home. I told her not to, but I knew she was watching. She was wondering if she was about to see her big sister die.
There was a backpack right in front of me. It was so close, but I didn't dare. I couldn't run closer to death, not when Kayla was watching. When the Games started, I jumped into the water and swam as fast as I could. People died all around me, but I slipped through. I hauled myself onto the beach and ran into the trees.
I wedged myself between two big rocks, out of sight in a little crevice underneath. Water dripped down the rocks and I licked it to stay alive. It tasted like moss and bits of insects, but I couldn't risk going out.
The next day, I went out to find food. I stayed close to my shelter, even though I wouldn't be able to scramble back in fast enough if a Career came by. I was right next to a coconut tree, and I managed to open one by smashing it against the rocks. I hid the shell in my crevice so no one would know a Tribute was around.
Two days later, I was eating a banana when the faintest sound came from the trees. I bolted up and moved just as Mako's spear hit the tree I'd been leaning against. The undergrowth rustled as he ran after me. I was gaining some distance, but then I saw movement in front of me and knew it was a trap.
No. No. I have to get away. I stopped dead and frantically looked around. There was another palm tree a few steps in front of me. I sprinted to it and tried to shimmy up. I slid back down and started to panic. Not in front of Kayla. I won't let her watch me die. I desperately launched myself up, digging my fingers into the soft bark. I clawed my way up the trunk, a nail bending back and peeling off in my frenzy. Mako's spear hit the trunk under me, and I pushed off it with one foot. Then I was looking down at him and Arielle, wedged between two branches and panting.
Mako tried to follow me, but he slid down the skinny trunk. Arielle jeered, then failed as well. Neither of us had much experience with trees, but Mako and Arielle didn't have my motivation. After lurking for a while, they realized I had both food and coconut water. Mako tried cutting the tree down, but grew impatient and left with Arielle.
I saw no reason to come down after that. I spent the next week in the tree, eating and drinking coconuts. It messed up my stomach pretty bad, and I knew my safety wouldn't last forever. I was losing water almost as fast as I drank it, what with my intestinal distress. I also feared that I would tumble out while I was sleeping, and the exhaustion was weakening me. All night I tormented myself with thoughts of falling asleep and Kayla screaming at me to wake up as I slumped closer to the edge.
I was half-fainted when another cannon went off. Blearily, I realized it meant it was just me and one other Tribute. I knew the Gamemakers would draw us together, and I could only pray they moved the other person and not me.
It rained for the next three days. Even though I couldn't see the beach, I knew the water was rising. They were flooding out the other islands, flushing the other Tribute toward me, since I was on the biggest one. I drank the pure water, grateful for how easy it sat in my stomach.
I woke from a fitful nap. I looked down, and there was someone there. It was the girl from One. I recognized her pink bracelet. She was leaning against my tree, idly eating a coconut. She didn't see me in all the leaves. When she did, it would be over. With nothing else to do and only me left to kill, she'd stay as long as it took to cut down my tree.
But it doesn't have to end that way. I looked at the branches around me, covered in coconuts. They were heavy, solid fruits. I knew what I could do. It was a horrible, sinful thing. I'd never thought of doing anything like it. I hated it. But I thought of Kayla.
I won't let her watch me die.
I picked a coconut, slowly, so it wouldn't make noise. I held its heavy weight in my hands and quietly moved myself over Chantal's head. It slipped through my hands so easily when I moved them apart. Kayla watched me kill her.