DAY FOUR

In the morning, I keep to the light promise I made myself the previous day and eat an apple for breakfast. Back home I don't usually eat fruit. I'm not a massive fan, and I usually have to psych myself up for hours to eat a piece. But here in the Arena, I'll take what is there. I decide to look for more food. I throw my spear at a pheasant but miss. That would have been perfect. A meal like that would tide me over for a few days I think.

I notice a nut tree and take as many as I can fit into my side pocket of my bag. They're surprisingly filling and it's something I can get my energy from.

I know where I am is safe and I have shelter, but I can't help but feel that every time I stay in one place I make myself more vulnerable. I once again decide to move. I waste energy by doing this, but it's for my own well being.

This time I head off in a different direction. I have lost all sense of baring such as North and south, but I can sort of tell which direction the Cornucopia is. This time it feels like I am walking further away from it, from the direction I initially ran from after the blood bath. The other big give away is that this area is not in the middle of a sand dune. The more I think about this arena the more confused I get. The cornucopia is a desert, but one run up a hill and it's luscious green forests and swamps? It's crucial I don't get lost because I know at some point I must return there.

I seem to be walking for hours everyday, it's tiring but it kills time. I should find something better to do, but when you're so focused on survival, logic seems to disappear.

I reach the edge of the forest and for a moment I panic as it feels like I have wondered back to the Cornucopia. But this isn't the Cornucopia. It's just a large, open space, that consists of hard, hard mud. I go to turn back around as I forbid myself from walking out into open areas after the events the other day, but something catches my eye.

In the centre of this open is a podium. It's about 100 metres away, and on that podium is food. Perhaps it's another optical illusion, but it looks like there is meat, bread and possibly even a pretentious dessert.

I'm excited by this and impulsively go to run out and get it, but I stop whilst in long grass. This is too easy, there is no way the game makers would let me just run and get food like that. They wouldn't with water, so why with food? I stand and contemplate what to do, perhaps it is genuinely a reward because this area is so secluded.

It's an agonising dilemma. I keep going to run and then stop myself. What if it is sinking sand?

It must be sinking sand. If I walk slowly I can get to it and survive. It may take a while but I doubt any other tributes are around. Then again there were no tributes by the water illusion yet the game makers flashed a hologram into the sky to show everyone that I was a target.

I slowly walk to the edge of the grass. I look to see if no one is there, and then I start to make a run for it. Or at least try.

From the opposite side of the opening I can see another tribute. Have they seen me? I don't know who it is and so I drop back. I don't think they have noticed me as they continue running out. It's Tilly. I don't want to go and fight her for food, hopefully she will leave some behind. Then again, if it was me I would take it all. I decide to observe to see if the sinking sand really is the booby trap.

She's not sinking, in fact, she's full flow running. I consider running out and forming an alliance with her so we can both get the food but the thought of an alliance really makes me ill.

It's an intense wait and then suddenly, I'm thrown back in the air as a noise pierces my ear drums. I narrowly miss flying back into a tree as a surge of intense heat brushes past me.

It wasn't sinking sand at all. There were mines in the floor and Tilly had just been blown to pieces. I sit bolt up right, shaking. There's a loud ringing noise going through my head, and noise sounds distorted. There was a reason I didn't get that food, and that is why.

I'm in a daze and trying to work out where I am. I can't think straight. My hearing comes back and a canon fires.

'oh really?' I think to myself in a sarcastic tone. There's been a God almighty explosion and some one died? Shocking.

I'm upset that Tilly was killed but I'm feeling selfish and relieved that it wasn't me. I slowly walk back into the forest, still not with it. I head back in the direction I came from. Hopefully there won't be any more land mines lying about.

Despite my training score of 9, I am yet to receive any sponsors. I don't know whether to be bitter or content with this. Bitter because I worked hard for that score and I'm not getting any help, content because it means I'm doing well and don't need anything at the moment. A loaf of bread wouldn't go amiss though, Spike.

It's boring being in the Arena, when you know there are no other tributes around. I sit down and calve myself dagger like objects out of sticks with my knife.

Eventually I have calved so many sticks that my hands are starting to blister and I need to move to another time killing exercise. I meander on to the pond and pick up some flat stones where I start to skim them. I'm useless at it, but it's something to keep my mind occupied before I go crazy.

I feel a drip on my hand, I look up. Rain. I need to find a cover, but at the moment, this rain is light, it's not a matter of urgency.

However, as more drips start to fall, more drips touch my skin. This isn't just rain. It's acid rain, and it burns.

'shit' I mutter to myself, as I realise if I don't have cover soon then my clothes with no longer be practical and I will have painful acid burns on my skin to deal with.

I gather my belongings together and run into the woods as the hell in sky opens, pouring down acid that in an open area would probably tear my skin off. Luckily, I've made it under the canopy and so the impact is less severe.

After running frantically trying to find cover I find some boulders and stones with a slim, slim gap. I poke my head in and realise its quite spacious inside, and it's good to know that the acid rain will not get to me in here.

I climb in and can't wait to get to sleep. I'm a little skeptical about sleeping in here, albeit. I have images in my head of the Game makers allowing the boulders to fall on me during my sleep, but I figure that these are those stupid thoughts that creep into your mind when tired, when they're not actually that plausible.

Once I've settled down, and the liquid on my skin dries up, I start to feel excruciating pain on my hands.

The mixture of acid on my blisters has not turned out to be a good one, and at this moment, my hands are pussy, inflamed at sore. Worse though are the tops of my feet. I stood in the pond barefoot, not wanting to wet my shoes and end up getting sores and fungal infections. In the panic of the acid rain I did not put shoes on and this left my feet exposed. Right now they have been damaged so much that even the slightest movement of a toe feels like the top of my foot is about to tear. I wince, and bury my head into my knees as I try to take my mind of the pain, but when it's so sharp and intense, it's the most difficult thing to ignore. I spit on them as I was once told that spit is the best form of antiseptic, but it just stings more. I sit there, writhing in pain, and then I hear a little song being played.

Intrigued, I take a quick look outside my rock and a parachute has fallen, attached to a dainty silver box. I open it up and inside is a note from Spike.

'Keep cool, Spike' reads a message inside the tin. Underneath it is a little tub. I pull it out, open it up and inside is a jelly like substance.

Please, let this be something for my burns. I sniff it and it smells like aloe vera, and I place a blob of it on my fingers, before carefully applying it to my foot. The initial coldness of the gel against the burning of my feet causes terrible pain and I release a small scream. I grit my teeth to avoid bringing attention to myself, but I can feel my eyes welling up so I am praying no cameras are around. I undergo the same experience for my hands and my face, and it doesn't get easier.

I try to sleep, but I'm too sore. The anthem plays and Tilly's face flashes upon the screen. RIP Tilly.