-Rachel: Day 6 of the Hunger Games-

The darkness surrounded me like a black onyx: cold, unfeeling, impenetrable. It stretched infinitely, or maybe it barely swallowed me. No stars shown above. No moon either. Though, at this point, the notion of up and down were meaningless. It didn't have the thickness of swimming, but not just floating either. It was more like an unseen force was pushing against all of my actions of free will, but after, it relieved the pressure, allowing me to squirm. Eventually, I stopped struggling for this fruitless endeavor. I floated there for what seemed like a long time, ages and ages passed by me, or it could have been just a few minutes. It so hard to be sure of these things.

I almost gave up hope that anything would happen to me, but a tiny beacon appeared above me. (I just said I couldn't tell what's up or down, but sometimes, you just know things, you know?) The ethereal force lifted me towards the light, hopefully taking me to a better place than this boring blackness. As the invisible hand pushed me towards the light, the darkness receded centimeter by centimeter. For a moment, I felt weightlessness and began falling, however, the light picked up where the darkness failed, and carried me into the sun. Maybe I should have been happy that I was going into the light, but it was less like a triumphant victory and more like switching from one master to another. I tried to shut my eyes. It didn't make a difference. The last of the darkness sputtered away, leaving me alone with the brightness. The whiteness surrounded me like a white pearl: cold, unfeeling, impenetrable.

Just as I was about to give up and accept fate once again, the whiteness began to change, a single strand in the center split into the colour spectrum. Wider and wider it grew until the rainbow encompassed the empty void. Apparently, this thing was as tired of the slowness as I was, because it went from a creeping expansion to rapid burst of colours blending into each other wildly. It was kinda disorienting. Eventually, the colours began to settle into their proper places: green on the ground, blue in the sky, yellow in the sun, and finally, there was a streak of peach and bright orange that settled into the form of a girl. Though she was the first to form, other bodies began to form from the meaningless colours. From my aerial vantage point, I counted twenty nine teenagers, motionlessly assembled in a circle around an odd structure. Less gentle than before, the nonexistent hand swatted me towards the ginger girl. I felt like I've stared at her for countless hours, but I couldn't place where I knew her from. Something in my mind was blocking her out. The easiest thing to do is just ask I guess.

"Hey you! Ginger girl, do I know you?"

She ignored me. "What a bitch."

Oblivious, she continued to stare intently to the odd structure in the middle of the circle. I checked the people around her. Surprisingly, I could recognize several others within the circle; there was no block for these people. The other side of the circle was lined with boys: Zach, Matt, Marcus, those two annoying guys from District three. On this side there were the girls: Katlyn, Zoe, Jill, and right next to her was Kate. The only one I couldn't name was this ginger girl. I gave up for a while and examined the girl next to her: Kate. Unlike everyone else, her vision was cast not towards the Cornucopia (that's what that weird structure was!) but downwards to the ground, in thought or sorrow. I'm not sure which. Maybe both.

For some reason, I tilted my head to the sky, expecting something. Sure enough, a speaker crackled and announced: "The Games will commence in three..." The ginger girl next to Kate was making the same pose as me, but quickly refocused on the Cornucopia. Kate took a deep breath, and a tear dripped down her face. Ignoring the crying, the ginger girl stared straight forward.

"Wow ginger girl, do you really not care about this girl right next to you? Sure, she's being really whiny and melodramatic but still..."

"The Games will commence in two..." Isn't it a little redundant to put 'the Games will commence' at the beginning of each one? Kate glanced back and forth, once to the cowering girl to her left and once to the ginger girl, before resuming her downcast gaze. Finally, the ginger girl took notice of Kate. It looked like she wanted to say something to her, but nothing came out of her mouth.

A fire flashed in my head trying to burn away the barrier: I was so close to remembering this girl's name. Libby? Bonni? No, no, no those weren't right.

"The Games will commence in one..." I think it starts with an 'R'. Rebecca? Rose? As I neared my answer, I noticed that a grin unzipped Kate's lips from one side to the other. She tilted forward. What the hell was she doing?

Hands outstretched, Kate began to fall to the earth, and the explosives mines that slept beneath it. Everything shifted into slow motion.

I raised my hands to catch her and opened my mouth to scream. Besides me, Rachel was doing the same.

Simaltaneously, Rachel and I cried out: "Kate!"

"Wait! You're name is Rachel...MY name is Rachel." I was slingshot into Rachel's/my body. After a moment of darkness, I reopened my eyes to see Kate a few feet from the ground. My body knew the hopelessness of trying to rescue her and dove in the opposite direction, but my mind wouldn't listen.

I wantedto call out and yell at her: "Stupid, stupid girl. What are you thinking? You are going to kill yourself, and for what? Are you going to save us? Do you think you're helping us? Who the hell gave you the right to kill these people? You're not just hurting them, you're permanently destroying them. Do you think you're life is more precious, or you're ideals are right? Everyone else has feelings and hopes and DREAMS? How dare you crush them in your selfishness?"

But, I couldn't.

Instead, her nose tickled the ground, and immediately, flames engulfed her. From the tiny center, the flames exploded outwards, the red, orange, and yellows once again blending into a force of destructions. I tried to hide my face, but the flames were too quick for me. The fire licked my face and the explosion pushed me backwards. Everything hurt, and I wanted it to stop.

I screamed as loud as I could.

-Chau: Day 6 of the Hunger Games-

"Evan, Evan. Wake up! I think I heard something." I shook his skinny shoulder.

Evan's brown eyes glanced up from his sleep, and his hand swatted me away. "Chau? It's probably nothing. Let me stay in bed." He then nuzzled himself back in the blanket. I thought of waking Patrick too, but he probably would say the same thing. I sighed and walked back towards the cliffside, leaving the two to go back to sleep.

Wait. Two? Where's Katlyn?

Trying to avoid any unnecessary noise, I crept across the moonlit ground. I circled around the encampment, yet I still couldn't find her. I twinge of worry sparked inside of my mind, but I tried to sedate it; if there's one thing that I know, it's that Katlyn can take of herself.

Thankfully, I didn't have to worry long. After searching a little more, I saw Katlyn sitting by the rocky cliffside, legs hanging off the edge. Silently, she stared at the moon which disappeared frequently into a sea of black clouds.

There was a storm coming.

I deliberately increased the noise my feet made, so as not to surprise her. As soon as I did, she turned towards me. "Hey, honey. I didn't see you there."

"Hi." I waved to her. "Why are you still up? I'm fine to stay on guard until morning."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Thank you, but I'm fine. I just needed some time to think."

I sat down next to her, and swung my feet in the open air. "Are you okay?"

Her eyes turned back to the moon. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You don't look okay."

"Excuse me?" She gave me an annoyed look.

I put up my hands. "Well, well...um, I just meant that after all that stuff with Shelby, it would be okay to feel sad and stuff."

She shook her head. "I'm not sad. In fact," she grew surer of herself, "I'm just angry."

"Angry?"

"I'm angry at Zach, Rachel, and especially Matt. I'm angry at Shelby for being with them in the first place. I'm angry at myself for not finishing the job when I had the chance. And lastly, I'm angry at the Capitol for creating this fake world for us to fight in."

I couldn't come up with a good response so I simply didn't say anything.

"If all of us met each other outside of this pretend world, I'm sure we could be friends. We could learn things from each other and grow. As it is now, we doomed to dance their dance until only one of us is left standing."

The wind around us quieted, as if the world itself wanted to listen to our conversation. I spoke to break the silence. "I wouldn't be too sure about that."

She scoffed. "What? If you think is won't end with all but one of us dead, you're crazier than the people who think that this reality television is reality."

"Well, a voice in the back of my head shouts out constantly, telling me that you guys have to die, or I'll have to kill you, but I still have hope."

"Hope." She rolled her eyes. "Cute. Friendship is magic, right? Are you going to save us all with the power of heart?"

I ignored her. "I think there's a way to resolve all of this where we won't have to kill each other."

"Then, I give you my best wishes, because it would take some god like intervention for that to happen."

The silence resumed. For a few minutes, we sat there in silence, staring at the projection of the moon. It had to be fake. It was way too bright, but it still was pretty.

Katlyn turned to face me. "The careers are after me, aren't they?"

I flicked a pebble off the side of the cliff, sending it tumbling down into the black abyss. "Maybe, but you'll be fine. The Gamemakers won't let you die so quickly."

"I'm not so sure. I have this feeling like they're going to pop up at any moment."

"You'll be fine." I put my hand over her shoulder and hugged her. I didn't noticed before, but the freezing wind got to her. She was ice. At first, she didn't really hug me back, quickly warmed up in both ways and reciprocated my hug.

She smiled and punched me. "Chau, you act like you know everything."

I shrugged. "I don't know everything. I just know what I know."

"Uh huh." She rolled her eyes, and got up. "Now let's head back. I'm sure Evan feels lost without you by his side," she teased.

"Ma'am, just what are you implying?"

Her smile seemed to brighten the night. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

-Rachel: Day 6 of the Hunger Games-

I grabbed my heart in attempt to silence its beating. My panting forced it back and forth. A crystal tear dropped from my face onto one of my nails. What was once perfect now was scratched and broken. I wiped my face of the tears.

I whispered to myself. "Oh god. Oh god. Get a hold of yourself, Rachel. It was just that dream again. It's not real." I collapsed onto the hard dirt which I had been sleeping on and spat out the dust in my mouth.

Another drop fell upon the ground in front of me. Confused, I wiped my eyes again. Relentless, three more drops splat on the ground. I traced their trajectory into the sky. Above me, storm clouds gathered, ready to drown everyone in their tears.

As I stared into the sky, a streak of motion caught my eye. Two figures, one female and one male rose from the cliffside. Only the silhouettes were visible, but that's all I needed: that bushy hair could only belong to Katlyn. They were probably a few hundred feet away.

"Okay, Rachel. You can do this. You don't need anyone."

The rain began to fall down in earnest.

"Katlyn won't know what hit her."