Welcome to the Games! Let me know what you think of them, and what you hope happens! Enjoy.

Chapter 25- Catalina Nightwind

Where am I? Where am I? The sun is so bright I can't see, and it's so hot.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let the 36th Hunger Games begin!" Caius Glorystream says over some sort of speaker. Sixty seconds. I have to wait sixty seconds before I can run and find Summer.

Slowly, my eyes adjust to my surroundings. I'm standing on my pedestal facing the very front of the gold Cornucopia, piled high with supplies and weapons. Standing on the pedestal to my right is the District 4 boy, to my left is the dark-haired girl from 12.

Where is Summer? After looking around a little, I spot her five pedestals to my left, hair pulled back into a long blonde braid. Next to her is the girl from 2, who's looking intently at the mouth of the Cornucopia, and on the other side is the girl tribute from 6, Dove. As far as I can see, the tributes go around the Cornucopia in a ring.

Thirty seconds to go. Where am I? What is this arena? I look over my shoulder and see a beautiful lake with palm trees; the only pool of water I can see for miles. To my right and back there's a river, to the right and up there's a mountain face of craggy rocks. The left holds large triangular buildings and, further down, what appears to be a cliff.

It's a desert. I've never seen one, but I think my father described it to me once.

Breathe, Catalina. At least it's not tundra, like I feared. But now, seeing all the other tributes around me, my terror goes into overdrive. I want my mother! I want to go home!

Five, four, three, two, one…

The gong sounds, and everyone around me is running, some towards the Cornucopia, others away. I see Summer take off towards the cliff face, as well as the boy from 12. Already there's screaming, and I'm frozen, frozen to my pedestal. I can't move.

I watch the boy from 1 stab the girl from 10, see her topple; the girl from 2 kills Copper from 3; dead tributes lie in the grass, eyes staring but not seeing.

I have to run, I have to run! But my legs won't move! I'm too scared to do anything.

The girl from 12 who was on my left gets stabbed brutally in the stomach and she collapses by the boy from 7, Branch, who was so nervous in the interviews last night.

The girl from 2, Dexsia, is at the mouth of the Cornucopia with the girl from 1, looking through the supplies already. There's blood everywhere, and tributes are escaping with their treasures all over the place. A few still fight for supplies, only to be killed by the girl from 4 and the other Careers.

The boy from 10 falls while I watch, still stuck in place, and then Dexsia turns, locking eyes on me. She smiles, a horrible, mean smile, and now my feet are unstuck, and I'm running, I'm running, but it doesn't matter.

I scream as she grabs the back of my jacket and hauls me to the ground.

Challah! Lavender! Edel! Someone, save me! I don't want to die!

"Where do you think you're going, little miss?" Dexsia says, holding me down with one arm, the other holding a sword that glints in the hot sunlight.

"Please let me go!" I beg, trying to get free, but I'm weak and she's stronger than me. Marcus said I could hide in mouse holes, but I didn't even get the chance to hide.

"I've kept my eye out for you. How come you didn't run?" she asks.

"I'm scared! Please let me go!" I say, and I'm crying. I can't help it. Someone, kill her before she kills me! I struggle, but she's got a firm grip on me, still looking at me fiercely.

My parents are watching, my whole family is watching, and I know they're crying as hard as I am. I promised I would go home! I promised!

"Let me go!" I scream, finally finding some strength, and I kick Dexsia in the stomach. She winces and loosens her grip on me slightly, enough for me to wriggle out from under her and start running again, tripping over the shifting sand.

"Treasure!" Dexsia yells behind me. "We've got a runner!"

"Let her go! She won't last long out there!"

"I want her dead!" Dexsia yells, and then I hear her footsteps coming after me, and I'm trying to get to the river, maybe that could be my chance, but she's too big and too tall and too fast, and she has me again.

I kick and flail and try to get away, but it doesn't matter when she drives her sword through my back.

"I've wanted you dead since I saw you the first time. You were never a contender. Be glad I did it this way," Dexsia says, standing over me after she pulls her blade out. It's still sparkling, covered in blood. My blood. Shocked and in pain, I fall to my knees and keel over into the sand.

I want to say something, but I can't. Dexsia looks at me for a little longer, then she runs off back to the Cornucopia, leaving me behind. Leaving me to die.

The sun is hot above me, and the sand is hot under me. "Mum," I manage, gasping out my words. "Father, Challah. Lav. Edel." I promised them I would come home. I want to go home so badly! And in the Capitol? Will Ripple be sad to see me dead so soon? Is he disappointed I didn't run? I wish I had been able to run.

Around me the sand is turning red, and my vision is narrowing. The sky is so, so blue. As blue as the bracelet Challah gave me. I pull it off, holding it in front of my eyes to see it one last time. I hope they give it back to Challah. My sisters. Is this how they will remember me? Tears stream out of my eyes; the sand is hot underneath my cheek. I've fallen half on my side, half on my stomach.

I keep my eyes locked on the bracelet, my last bit of home, for a long time. A cool breeze comes by and ruffles my hair, stirring the sand up around me. My hand falls back into the sand, and I can't move anymore. My stomach hurts, it hurts. I want to go home.

I want to go home.

I can hear screaming behind me, but it's distant now, almost muffled. Where's my mother? Why can't I find her? I try to search for her with my fingers, but it's too difficult. Why doesn't she come for me? My thoughts are blurry, as blurry as my vision is.

The black around the edges of my vision creeps in closer and closer, until I can't see the sky anymore. I can't see anything anymore.

I want to go home.

There's the last bit of sound before my ears cut it off. Some sort of bird whistle. A song.

Then there's nothing but the dark.