Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games no matter how much I would like to.

Pain shot through my arm as her knife was plunged into my thigh and blood began to gush down my leg and started to mix with the water below. Her nails clawed at my hands but no matter what she did I held her steady under the water. It took 2 minutes before her attacks subsided and her hands fell back into the water and her body went limp.

I crawled backwards away from her sobbing, her lifeless eyes still staring at me from the deep. I squeezed my eyes shut again in hopes of stopping the staring by they were burned in my mind. I curled up in a ball on the floor sick at what I'd just done. I shook my head; it's her or you I told myself. It was her or you. The cannon sounded and I knew then she was dead, it wasn't like when I'd killed that girl from 6 that was quick, she died immediately but this was slow and tortuous I made her suffer.
It was her or you.

'BLONDIE! BLONDIE! JAY! JAY! JUNIPER!' I pulled my head out of my hands and looked up as Thresh came crashing through the clearing screaming my name swinging the axe in his arms. He dropped his weapon when he saw me lying there in a pool of my own blood. In a second he was by my side cupping my face in his hands.
'What happened? Who did this? Who's dead?' He was speaking quickly and was out of breath so I barely understood what he was saying. I pointed to the lake and he stood up and walked over cringing when he glanced at the water.
'Come on we need to move so the hovercraft can come.' He scooped me up in his arms and carried me into the cave, I felt so safe in his arms and I could feel his heart beating quickly against his chest. He placed me on top of the blankets and began to examine the wound.
'It's not that bad, it could've been worse. I'll need some supplies if I want to fix this.'

As the sound of the hovercraft disappeared a parachute fell at the entrance of the cave carrying a heavy, metal container. He practically pounced on it and brought it back to me. It was a simple first-aid kit containing some bandages, medical cream, pills that brought down fever, tweezers, a needle, and some thread.
'This is going to hurt okay.' He cut off the leg of my pants and placed one hand on the handle of the blade and held my hand tightly on the other.
'On the count of 3 okay?'
I nodded; I had yet to regain my voice. I was afraid to speak because I knew my voice would betray me and make me sound weak. I already looked so weak right now; I couldn't afford to look worse.

I bit my lip hard to keep from screaming as Thresh slowly worked the knife out of my leg. My nails dug into his hand and into the floor of the cave. A pained look flashed across Thresh's face and I could he was trying hard not to react to the pain I was causing him; he was trying to be strong for me. The blade of the knife was bright red when it was finally pulled free, dripping in my blood. Thresh poured water over the wound to clean it out, he wadded up some bandages and made a compress.
'Hold that there, I'm going to find some herbs to put on that, it isn't that deep so it doesn't need stiches.'
When he returned he crushed the herbs he brought back under a rock, mixing them with water to make a thick green paste before spreading it over my cut and kneading it into my flesh. I let out a scream as it made contact with my skin; it stung more than actually being stabbed did.

Once he had finished binding my leg he placed some fever pills in my hand, making sure I took them and then picked me up and placed me in the sleeping bag wrapping me tightly in the blankets.
'Go to sleep, you need to rest okay.' I nodded and drifted off immediately.

She haunted my dreams, the girl from 7. Her eyes dead and white, boring into my soul. They started to melt and pool around my feet, the liquid began to wrap around my ankles and spread over my body, covering me and wrapping around my neck choking me to death. I fell to my knees begging, pleading with her to stop. But the girl from 7 was gone, in her place was Rue looking burned and bloody. She shook her head as tears streamed down her face.
'Why didn't you save me?'

I sat bolt upright sweat dripping down my face, my heart beating out of my chest. Rain was pounding outside, dripping through the cracks in the ceiling. Thresh was sitting at the mouth of the cave watching the water fall.
'How long was I asleep?' He looks up at me and his eyes fill with a look of relief, I think he doubted if I would ever wake up.
'A whole day, it's afternoon now.'
'Did I miss much?'
'Girls from 1 and 7.'
'Shit, but 1's supposed to be the best district.'
'You could say that, but I'm liking 4 more and more each day.' A smile creeps across his lips and I shove him in the arm as I sit down next to him. He hands me an apple and I bite into the fruit starving.

We sit and watch the rain as it falls filling our lake to the point of over flowing.
'I love the rain.'
'Not me in my district when it rained it meant we lost a day of work and it caused the peacekeepers to become grouchy. Sometimes we were even forced to work in it especially if it was harvest season.'
'But the rain is beautiful, are you telling me you've never gone out and just danced in the rain and felt it run free and completely take over your body?'
'No because that sounds crazy.'
'Crazy my ass. Come on.' I stand and strip down to my underwear and he looks at me like I was insane.
'What are you doing?'
'I told you, I'm going to have some fun.'

I ran out into the pouring rain his eyes watching me the whole time. I began to dance and spun round and round as the rain soaked through my bones. It felt just like home swimming the ocean, standing under a waterfall and letting the water take me.
'You know, you shouldn't get your bandage wet.'
I gave him the finger and kept dancing feeling better than I had since I was reaped.
'Come inside before you catch a cold and die.'
I rolled my eyes and walked back into the cave dripping, Thresh stood waiting holding out a blanket for me. He wrapped it around my shoulders as my teeth chattered.
'See you're going to get sick.'
I rolled my eys at him again and he wrapped the blanket more tightly around me. Our eyes locked and out of nowhere he covered my mouth with his in a hungry kiss. My eyes widen in surprise, his mouth was so warm, the caress of his lips softer than I could have ever imagined. He sent warmth through my frozen body and I didn't want it to stop. Suddenly, Thresh pushed away as if he'd been burned, he stumbled backwards.
'I... I... I... have to go.'
He sprinted out into the rain and I stood stuck in the same spot stuck in that moment. I couldn't help but wonder if Thresh's heart was beating as fast as mine, or if he was feeling anything even close to the burning fire of desire that had taken me over.