The Feast

It´s the middle of the night and I´m alone with many things to think about. While I´m stuck in this hell, my family and my friends have to watch me. Again my thougths wander to their opinion of me. I murdered Julia and I´ll probably have to kill other tributes as well to survive. Do they think I´m a monster?

Probably. I myself think that, so why shouldn´t they too?

Maybe it would be better to just die. I don´t know if I were able to live with this guilt, I barely manage to think about anything else but Julia and she´s just one person with probably a lot more to come.

Who especially worries me is Leslie. She´s still so young and shouldn´t have to see me like this. I whish she isn´t be watching me but I know that this hope is illusion, everyone in Panem has to watch this sick show, when they refuse they´re whipped or worse.

I sigh and try to think about something nicer like the ocean, the calming waves and the sun shining brightly but when I manage to imagin that for just a second the pictures of Julia and Camille come back into my head.

Soon enough it´s time to wake Robert, so I go over to him and shake him slightly.

"What´s up?", he asks tiredly.

"It´s your turn", I reply.

He just nods, gets up and I´m alone again.

I lay down worrying about tomorrow and my family, then I drift off to sleep.

The next morning I awake with the sunrise and walk over to Robert who just sits on a rock staring into nothing. I sit down next to him, staring at the landscape as well. For a couple of minutes nobody of us says anything, we just sit there next to each other and think about today. Then I break the silence.

"Morning"

He nods in response to show that he heard me, then he sighs and turns his head towards me.

"Ready for today?", he asks.

"Well, I have to be", I reply, "Are you nervous?"

"Yes", he answers.

"Me too", I murmur.

"Well, let´s set the traps, we want to be finished before anyone arrives here", I say and stand up while doing so.

"Yeah", Robert responses and gets up as well running his hand nervously through his hair.

We pack our things and start to make some nets for the traps, then we visit each place which we visited yesterday and start to set traps. It´s around noon when we´re finally finished. Both of us are sweating heavily as the sun is shining very brightly und we just walked and worked for hours. I´m kind of used to it as it´s pretty warm in District 4 every day but Robert seems to be out of breath and I decide it´s the best to stay the afternoon in the shadow and get some rest as the hard part of the day is coming in the evening.

It´s late afternoon when Robert and I hear the screams.

"Help! Please! Someone help me!"

We follow the voice to see to who it belongs.

Then we see the girl from District 3 in one of our traps, she´s the one who screamed.

We look at each other, neither of us knows what to do, we set up the traps to catch someone but we kind of hoped Leanne or the boy from 6 would end there and not an innocent girl. But we know that we have to kill her. We´re in the final eight, there´s no place for mercy. While I´m berating myself what to do, as I can´t stop thinking how awful I feel about killing Julia, Robert picks up his axe and rams it into her body and a cannon shoots. I´m kind of shocked and turn to look at Robert who seems just as shocked as me.

Then he swallows and says "Come one, let´s get back"

I nod and follow him to our camp where we sit in silence again until there´s this voice an announcement again. "Attention, tributes. The feast is about to start, make sure to attempt or there will be consecuences. May the odds be ever in your favor"

"Come one, let´s go", Robert says and I´m about to reply as I see a parachute sailing towards us, a big parachute. Robert and I look at each other surprised.

"It´s yours", he comments and points at the 4.

I grab it and open it.

My mouth falls open. In there, there is a beautiful silver trident, it must have cost a fortune.

I take it in one hand and show it Robert, he seems to be as shocked as me.

"My, there must be a lot of people who like you"

I laugh at that and say "Thank you" to the sky around a thousand times.

"Come on, we have to go or we´ll be late for the feast", Robert reminds me and I nod.

We start to walk and only stop when we can see the Cornucopia. There´s a table in the middle of it with seven boxes with numbers on it. There are two with the number 4, one with a 6, two with a 7, one with a 10 and finally one with a 12. Each of this boxes has to belong to each of the remaining tributes. I point this out to Robert and he nods in understanding.

This is a waiting game and we know that. Nobody seems to run towards the table first so for a lot of time nothing happens.

"Why don´t we just run and grip the boxes?", Robert asks me.

I shake my head. "No, it´s too risky, both Leanne and 6 aren´t too bad at archery and I don´t want to die with an arrow stuck in my body just because we weren´t patient enough to wait. Remember, we have everything we need: enough supplies, weapons and a bit medicine. Whatever is in the boxes, it´s not worth it to risk our lifes for it. I´m sure that one of the others is injured and needs medicine or someone run out of food and has to get the boxes. Let´s wait until this happens."

He nods and I´m right. Not soon later the girl from 7 comes out of a bush and runs towards the table. Leanne comes up behind her with a sword in her hand.

"No", Robert whispers beside me and starts to run towards them. "Wait!", I scream and then follow him. While running I see Leanne beheading the girl and I hear Robert crying furiously. Now Leanne and Robert are fighting with each other. Sword against axe. I start to run faster but I´m too slow. Leanne smashes her sword into Robert´s body and time seems to stand still.

"No!", I scream and without thinking I attack Leanne with such a force that she stumble a couple of metres back. I fight with all my strength, I can´t think about anything but Robert and revenge. I´ll kill her, I have to.

We fight until I block one of her attacks, get past her defences and stab her in the neck. She falls dead to the ground but I don´t longer notice her, I run to Robert.

"No", I murmur over and over again.

"Stay awake! You have to stay awake!", I cry.

"We both know that I´ll die", Robert murmurs quietly.

"No, we can get medicine, we´ll do something, you´ll make it", I say while sobbing.

He laughs quietly. "We both know, that that´s not true. Thank you, Finnick, for everything you´ve done, for helping me, saving me and for being my friend". I can´t answer because I´m sobbing too much.

"Promise me that you´ll win", he demands, "You have to win. Please, for me."

"I´ll try", I response.

He smiles slightly at me and then his eyes close slowly. Boom.

I get numbly and still in tears back to the camp. Another cannon goes off. Probably 6 killed someone, but right know I don´t care, I just want to go home, I want Robert back, I want Camille back, I want to get out of the Arena. I want to do a lot of things I can´t.

I don´t remember how I made it back to the camp but when I arrive there I collapse onto the ground and cry until the anthem plays. It shows the pictures of the girl from 3, Leanne, the girl from 7, Robert and the boy from 12.

Then I fall asleep.