My feet stand on a platform. The cornucopia is in the center of all of the tributes. I look around me to see faces from every district including my own district. Gale looks more worried about me than himself. A loud speaker then comes on. Welcome to the 74th Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor! I feel my heart beating like crazy to get the games over with. As soon as the countdown begins, my heart beats even faster. I panic as I try to remember what Haymitch, our drunk mentor, has taught us. The countdown then stops and the blood bath begins. Gale runs to the forest immediately as I run to grab a backpack. I manage to grab the backpack before a girl tribute tries to throw a knife at me. She only manages to hit my backpack, giving me a free knife. I then run into the forest as fast as my feet can carry me. By the time I stop running, I'm gasping for air. A call then fills the air, one that sounds familiar. I recognize it within seconds as Gale checking to see if I am okay. I send the call back to him and try to give a general idea as to where I am located. Minutes pass by Gale sends the call back to me. I hear a sweet melody in his call. Maybe he's trying to say that he is coming my way I think. I send another call back before taking the free knife I received and cutting stripes of bark from a tree nearby me. I manage to have carved 5 pieces before Gale arrives. I couldn't have been more happy in my life to have seen him. I drop everything I was holding and run into his arms. He collapses on the ground.
"Hey Catnip.." He whispers, trying to catch his breath. I smile, re-leaved that he's fine.
"Hey.." I whisper back. I then get off of him and curl around his side.
"Looks like someone missed me." He joked, trying to pry me off of his side. I laugh, falling to the ground and getting leaves in my braid. He then helps me up on my feet.
"Did you manage to grab anything?" He asked.
"A backpack and a free knife from a knife thrower." I answer, showing off my collected items. He smiles.
"I knew you were always too fast for the others." He said warmly. I blushed, taken back by memories of us hunting side by side in the forest. "You were always the smartest." I whisper back as the area around us starts to feel warm. He blushed back at me. The strange feeling I felt before when we were in my room then starts to stir up again. I then realize what I am feeling. Love. Am I really in love with my best friend? I think about it, but the warm feeling pushes it away almost outright. Our foreheads are locked together again, Gale's face very close to mine. The moment is right. Should I tell him how I feel? I prepare myself to express my feelings. A loud scream then booms above us. We both grabbed our stuff and ran together through the forest as fast as we could. Minutes passed by as we ran and ran. We then came to a stop, almost pleading for air. I sit down, gasping heavily for air. Gale looks to be more out of breath then I am. I turn to meet his gaze. Am I really in love with him? The question hangs over my head like a cloud of fog. I think it over, recounting the times I felt the area around us go warm. I then decide to search his gaze for answers. As I look, I find what I felt. Warmth. I then exactly knew what he was going to say when we were in my room. If my prep team didn't come in, he would have said it. I lay down next to him.
"Looks like we made it out just in time, Catnip."