DAY ONE

I rise at 10 am the next morning and I feel like a did on reaping day. Full. of. Dread. I put on my training uniform and then see Spike. He tells me not to get myself into the blood bath at the beginning of the games and walks me the hovercraft, that will take me to my own waiting room before the games start.

As I walk to the hovercraft I glance up at a board. On there is contains betting odds and predictions of positions for each tribute. I have odds of 9-1. I'm surprised at how short they are, and I'm predicted to finish 9th. How encouraging. Drusus is the favourite to win. His odds are 2-1, ahead of Claud who has odds of 3-1 to win.

I quickly look for Sadie and her chances. She has quite unfair odds of 24-1, and is predicted to finish in 20th place. I really hope not. If she went out that early then it would hit me hard.

In the hovercraft I am reluctantly fitted with a tracker in my arm and the tension in here is rife. Everyone is looking at everyone. It's an awful thought knowing that in an hour or so we would all be killing each other.

The hovercraft lands and we are taken to our rooms. I walk into my waiting room and Ariel is in there. There is a strange feeling in the air. She says nothing to me but gives me this look which makes me feel like she knows how I feel. She slowly walks up to me and gives me a hug.

'It's alright, don't worry'. She tries to comfort me, but I'm too scared to reply.

She walks over to a railing with some clothes on it. She passes it to me and instructs me to put it on.

I go into a separate room to put it on. It consists of water proof, black trousers, a white t-shirt and a black coat. I stare at myself in the mirror and pinch myself in an attempt to realise this isn't reality. But it is. I leave the changing room and slowly creep towards my seat in the waiting room. Ariel presents me with another hug but I don't want her to do this because I know I will just break down. I have to stay strong, or else I will be eaten alive.

Ariel, in her best interests attempts to cheer me up.

'If any tribute tries to hurt you, just tell them, act your age and not your training score!' she jokes.

I don't find it particularly funny but I appreciate she is trying to make me feel better, so I smirk, and try to think of something funny to say back. But I can't. My head knows that this is not an appropriate time to be telling jokes so instead it just doesn't think at all.

'3 minutes' A deep voice announces.

I stand up and prepare myself to enter the tube that transport me to the Arena. Before I know it however, my strength gives way and I turn into a hysterical mess. I can't stop crying but it feels so much better. Ariel hugs me and tries to reassure me, but its no use. I just have to cry this one out.

'30 seconds'

I force myself to stop crying, as I know this will show weakness when I am in the arena and rub my eyes in attempt to reduce the puffiness around them.

I step into the tube and stare at Ariel. This is awful. I hope Sadie is okay.

The countdown finishes, the tube seals, and it starts to slowly rise up. Ariel gives a small wave. That wave which means 'I may never see you again'. I see her place her hand over her mouth, looking set to cry. I'm glad I missed witnessing her tears though, as I would have entered the Arena with tears streaming down my face. Not a good look.

After a few moments of complete darkness, I am blinded by the sudden onslaught of light that shines through my pupils. All the tributes rise at the same speed and time as me, and I quickly scan each podium for Sadie and the careers. Sadie is 4 podiums to my right, Drusus, is 14 podiums to my left. Once the plates click into place I am left dizzy by the sudden rush of fresh hair and lose my balance, stumbling towards the edge of my plate. I am able to stop my self before I blow myself up. I quickly take in my surroundings. In the centre of this large, brown, sandy plain, is the cornucopia. The sun is blindingly hot on my back, and these clothes are far too hot. I can't tell if this is a desert or hard packed mud, but what frightens me when looking around is the large, steep hills we must climb to get out of the blood bath. The hills are about 50 metres high and the run up them is about 70 metres long. They're steep, and high. The tops of the dunes are covered in long, long grass, all the way around. I have no idea what this arena is going to be like. I only know I am in danger of falling off my podium because my legs are wobbling so much right now.

There is now only 45 seconds till the gong goes and I need to make a quick plan in my head about what to do. I am faster than everyone here, I know that, despite being told by spike not to, I can make it out of the blood bath if I run and stay away from trouble. I can see a set of spears. They're mine, and there's also a back pack in close proximity to it. I'm going to be taking a massive risk, but if I run away, then I have nothing and my death will be just as certain as it is now.

The 10 second countdown begins, my legs are now twitching so much that I can barely stay on much longer. My heart is in my mouth, my breathing is shallow, and my palms are sweaty. the sound of a gong takes place.

I jump off my podium and run like hell. I've never ran so fast in my life. I can see in my peripherals the killing and fighting already taking place and I'm started to regret this decision already. I run past the back pack I want and swoop it up like a bird of prey. But now for the biggest risk of all. Getting myself the spears. I get to the cornucopia. The spears are placed just to the left of the mouth. I lean down to grab the spears and as I do that I hear a loud crash above my head. The boy from District 8, Lucius, has just swung a club at my head and I was lucky enough to dive at the correct time. Realising the danger, I sprint off before anything else happens. I turn around as I'm running away. No one is chasing me. Good. But what I am watching is far worse. I can see all the career tributes literally tearing the other tributes apart. I see the boy from seven get decapitated by Drusus' sword, and see innocent girls getting mercilessly stabbed. This is sick. This is disgusting.

My energy is already being drained as I sprint up the huge hills surrounding the cornucopia. I trip and sink to my hands and knees as my hands submerge slightly in the sand. I force myself up but the sand moving underneath my feet stops me from getting any speed. I start to panic but I do eventually reach the top of the hill where I dive into the long grass. I have no idea where I am going, the grass is super dense and I run through it for about thirty seconds. I'm guessing that it's about the grass is about 150 metres to get through.

When I get to the top I am almost taken aback by how different it looks to my imagination from standing on the podium. After the ring of grass is a ring of swamped area, around the swamped area is a ring of dense forest, and behind that, is a ring of snowy mountains.

I trudge through swamps, run through streams, fall down ditches until I reach the edge of the forest.

It soon hits me what has just happened. At the time I did not realise how close to dying I actually was. Had I not ducked, that club would have killed me instantly judging by the sound it made on the cornucopia. Despite the benefits I got from taking the risk, I am annoyed at letting myself do that.

I find myself a fairly secluded spot where I can sit down for a moment to catch my breath back. I am being ultra vigilant, but to make sure I cant be seen straight away, I climb up a tree. I find a fairly large branch to sit on and take out the contents of my rucksack. I scored the jackpot I think. In there is a filled bottle of water, iodine, for purifying water and cuts, a pan, a stove, a knife, some matches, a rope, two cereal bars and some methanol. I'm especially pleased about the methanol as it means I can cook myself food without risking my life.

All I can think about sat in this tree is Sadie. I'm more worried for her than I am for me at this moment. I don't mean to patronise but I know I can hold up in this situation, and I just worry that she is struggling to cope. I can imagine her doing what I'm doing right now. Sitting in a tree, doing nothing.

On the first night alone, the canon fires four more times. Each time I become more and more worried that it is Sadie. All I want to do is cry, but I know that I just have to get over this situation and try my best to get out alive. It's a terrible situation. We all want to survive, thats what drives the careers to kill so much. They want the rewards. I hope Ellie doesn't ever get chosen to do this.

Its now getting dark and as the sun goes down so does the temperature. I need to try and stay warm. Just as I'm dosing off the Capitol Emblem appears in the sky, followed by all the fallen tributes from today. 13 faces are shown. Girl from 3, Boy from 5 Girl from 5, Boy from 6, Girl from 6, Boy from 7, girl from 8, boy from 9, girls from 10, boy from 11. No Sadie. Thank God.

As horrible as it is knowing that all these people have lost their life, I still let off a small smile that Sadie is still going. I would like to think too that she is also glad my face did not appear.

Sat up in the tree, I am able to observe my surroundings with out being spotted immediately. It's still perilous, one gust of wind, despite my rope, could send me off the edge, but I feel safe in the knowledge that if I am spotted, that the tribute aiming for me must be phenomenal. A knife won't touch me, nor will that bloody club, a bow and arrow or a spear could be a danger though. I have the spears though, I need not worry about that. I doubt I will use them other than for hunting purposes, but I don't care. If I hadn't got them, then a person with an appetite to kill would have got them and that poses a risk to me.