The one you've been waiting for now! I've got 3 chapters of my Harry Potter story done, and today was supposed to be all about writing that but I wanted to get a chapter of my old faithful story done! Good ol' Porcelain Mask eh? Anyhoo, read on and enjoy and review. Thanks to all the people who said they liked it! I love writing it too! Enjoy my 2 hours non-stop writing efforts now! Enjoy! Also, did you know the name of the chapter was almost 'Solving' or 'Discovering'? Which of the three potential names did you like the most? Tell me in your reviews!

Drowning

I sit there for God only knows how long, curled up in a ball to try to stop all the voices coming. The darkness lightens and then darkens again outside, while I hide in my cave, hungry and thirsty. My water ran out a couple of hours ago, and salty sea spray keeps flying into the cave, making everything damp and soggy. The gift I got sits on the floor, slightly wetter than when I took it in, but apart from that, untouched.

I can't stay here forever though, I really can't. If I want to win, I have to accept what I've done, ignore the voices and carry on. The problem here is the word 'if', because I've seriously considered staying here until I just slip away, or the Capitol sends some more mutts to flush me out of here, which is likely. They don't want their precious tribute to die in such an unbloody way.

I look at the wall, where a droplet of sea water is slowly making its way down the wall, leaving a trail of water behind it.

I won't stay here forever.

If I stay here any longer I'll end up dead either way, through thirst, tribute or mutts. And I really can't stay here forever. I close my eye, and push myself up into a sitting position, just enough to make out the dark grey and white blur that has to be the sea. Or maybe the sky, it's hard to tell from a slit covered in vines. First things first, I grab my spear and wipe it against the vines. The rusty brown blood vanishes from the tip, though the smell lingers on, making me want to lie down again, and try to go back to sleep.

I can't stay here forever.

I put it down gently, beside my bag, and lip my lips in an attempt to moisturise them a bit more; I've only realised just now how dry my throat is. If I stayed here any longer I'd be dead in a matter of days.

I shouldn't stay here forever.

My resolve to do something is crumbling every second, but I try to continue, reaching over for my sponsor gift, still attached to the silver parachute. It's long and thin, but not that long if you compare it to my spear. I'd guess it's just shy of a foot long, and about an inch thick. I put a hand at each end, and push, watching it bend easily. Weapons don't bend…

I feel like a child with a Christmas present, trying to guess what it contains before opening it.

I shake the package, which causes nothing except for my head to spin slightly due to lack of food and water. No sound. Completely non-pluses now, I begin to unfold the papery substance that surrounds it, carefully in case I need to use it again.

And what I see makes me feel happy for the first time since I kil-then.

A long, slightly floppy, stick of Celery, with a little note alongside it.

I smile, recalling the night before the private sessions, back when I was a real person, not just an elaborate Porcelain Mask, with dull cracks showing across it. I pick up the small piece of paper, thinking about whether notes often get sent to tributes before. I can vaguely remember a guy from 7 getting one, though he never showed it to the camera. He died the very next day, in a volcanic eruption. It's probably been checked for clues or hints about what's going to happen, so I don't get an advantage.

I wonder whether Hydrao or Lyna sent me it, and which one of them sent the note with it.

And that leads me to think about Kai.

'No' I think firmly 'If he dies, it's one less obstacle, you don't want to be in the final two with him, you'd never forget it if you killed him, would you?'

I pick up the note, for a distraction from thoughts about Kai or the girl from District 7. It bare a few words, written in a scrawl that makes me think of Lyna. The handwriting is almost illegible and the grammar is awful. What the note says only further my suspicions about the note's sender.

''apium graveolens' The Worst Weapon of them all, 'Not sword or any other weapon bound by Mortal coil,''

Beneath is lay another sentence, written in a small, neat handwriting that I think might be Hydrao's.

'You Cannot Escape the responsibility of, Tomorrow by, Evade-ing it today.'

I smile at the words, before the smile gives way to a slight frown. I know Hydrao, and he was one of those fussy people who would double and triple check a sentence for grammar mistakes. When someone has been around Nymph for long enough, you learn that skill too, and there are way too many mistakes in both those sentences.

Something is wrong.

It makes me think of code, but I'm sure the Capitol people would have checked it over several times, and if I had to do something to the paper to get at the real message, they would see and arrest Lyna and Hydrao. I lean back against the cool rock wall, thinking hard. Riddles and Codes were never really my think, once again that was Nymph's job, she loved them! She's probably shouting at the screen what it says right now, if only I could hear her.

Or maybe she isn't, if she thinks I've become a Career. Maybe she's shouting for my death with Marlin beside her.

'No' I think 'I can't think like that…'

I read over the note again and again, hoping that doing so will bring forth new ideas, but none come. The only thing I do notice is the only 3 mistakes are the misspelling of 'Evading', random commas everywhere and no full stops, and capital letters in the wrong place. I wonder for a moment whether that has anything to do with the Capitol (Capital/Capitol) but dismiss it almost instantly, frowning at the letter once more.

The two notes don't seem to be connected in the same stream, and I wonder whether the second one is some kind of quote. I stare at the words 'You Cannot Escape' my mind bringing forth images of the undead things that chased me on their first night.

Hang on…

Those three words have capital letters at the front, while the rest of the sentence doesn't! Well, not the rest of the sentence, the words 'Tomorrow' and 'Evade-ing' have capital letters too. I skim my eyes over the other note, mentally writing down the words with Capitals.

The list I come up with is as follows:

'You Cannot Escape Tomorrow Evading The Worst Weapon Not Mortal'

It seems stilted somewhat, and I frown at it, the message still unclear. I think of the other errors in it, and wonder what they could be clues for…

It comes to me in a flash, the word 'Evading' was spelt wrong, so maybe the 'ing' is supposed to be ignored? Just 'Evade'? I add that in, so the message now reads:

'You Cannot Escape Tomorrow Evade The Worst Weapon Not Mortal'

But it still doesn't make that much sense – or maybe I'm just being an idiot – and I have no idea what they're trying to tell me. Suddenly, I realise (with the urge to hit myself in the face) that the two messages are the other way round! I hastily re-arrange them in my mind, creating the sentence:

'The Worst Weapon Not Mortal You Cannot Escape Tomorrow Evade'

And the commas, they were randomly added throughout the message too! With a burst of inspiration I mentally add them in-between the words that they were in-between earlier. My brain can now read the message perfectly.

'The Worst Weapon, Not Mortal, You Cannot Escape, Tomorrow, Evade'

Oddly enough, my first thought after this discovery was sort of stupid, being: 'Hah! Who said my mental notebook was pointless! Oh wait, that was me…'

My second thought is two words long, one being the word 'Oh' and the second being four letters long, rude and beginning with the word 'S' and ending with the words 'T'. The message they were trying to send me is clear. Tomorrow the Capitol's sending back the undead things, and in large numbers too if I can't escape them. So I have until tomorrow to get out of here.

Hang on again…

When did I get sent this?

After the death of the girl yesterday.

YESTERDAY!

That means Tomorrow is today.

I repeat the two words I mentioned earlier, as I shove my celery into the bag, wondering if I'm already too late. I fling the bag over my shoulder and stand up, cursing loudly as my head impacts the floor. It takes me a lot of effort not to sprint out of the cave and keep running, but that would be utterly stupid. They'd know I did receive a code. I have to pretend that this was all coincidental, getting up before those things return.

I push myself through the vines, while hastily shoving my blanket into the black rucksack after the parachute and packaging. It's full to bursting at the moment, and I stagger slightly under the weight as I stand upright.

My first thought is the same as my second thought when I realised what the message read.

My second is (this time) 'WHAT DID THEY DO TO THE FRICKING SEA?'

My mind flickers back in time, to the mirror-smooth sea that had little or no waves, with beautiful fish swimming lazily about, while it lies there, looking serene and beautiful. If I didn't know that teleportation was impossible, I would have thought I had teleported. The sea is no longer blue; it's a dark, murderous grey, flecked with white as it smashes against the cliff's face, sending rock and spray flying everywhere. The fish of every colour must have died or something, because no colour interrupts the monotone colouring of the world right now. Grey sea, grey sky, grey cliffs. If the sea wasn't slightly darker than the sky, and the cliffs slightly darker than the sea, I would be unable to tell anything apart whatsoever. I gaze, open mouthed at the world that was once so mesmerising.

It seems that in the day I've been gone, the world has gone to hell.

I can't swim in this sea, it's way too choppy, which means the advantage District 4 had at the start of the games has vanished completely, which might be what the Capitol was trying to do. I still can't believe the surroundings could have changed so much in a day. No, wait, not a day. It's been getting windier and less calm all the time I've been here (almost a week I think), just so gradually that no-one would tell the difference, unless one retreated to a cave for a full day. Like me.

I make my way along the path carefully, wondering whether the Capitol has already sent those undead things to kill me, but none come. I am becoming more and more paranoid at every step, sure that a hoard of mutts hides behind each corner.

But none appears.

I'm beginning to wonder whether the whole 'Cannot Escape, Evade' thing was just a ruse to get me out of my comatose state when a loud 'CRACK' sounds above me. I push myself against the wall, heart pumping loudly, wondering whether I should risk jumping in the sea. I look up, hoping for just a rock fall, or anything but an UNDEAD THING FALLING FROM THE SKY!

When I look out, my stomach seems to fall out of me, as my jaw hits the floor.

For the first second, I thought it was and undead thing, but then I remember the stuttery movements they made, and how doing that would be impossible for them. Then again, I'm pretty sure it's impossible for humans too. Above me is the girl from District 12. Not above the cliff, or walking along some higher path, but pushed against the cliff's face, like a spider. She's clinging onto the sheer cliff face and moving along with an ease that should be impossible.

Where the hell did she learn that?

I've actually been wondering that about a lot of people in here, I mean, District 4? Fishing and Spears. District 1 and 2? Everybody knows they all train for the games eons in advance so it makes sense for them to know how to use every weapon in the book. But District 5? Maces? That makes no sense at all.

District 12? Climbing?

I wonder vaguely about whether she climbs about the mines, but that idea is destroyed as I remember them talking a few games ago about 'how they don't enter the mines until 18'. And Medea is not 18. Short and skinny, remember?

She keeps moving along, and I realise how she must have got her 7. Climbing around the walls of the training centre, perhaps making it up into the Gamemaker's box. She deserves that 7. I wonder vaguely about whether I have to kill her too, but my mind squashes that thought completely. How am I supposed to get my spear back? How am I supposed to make sure the spear doesn't fall back down onto my head.

And, of course, I don't want to kill her. Not in the slightest.

My mind flickers away from her, as I try to think about who's still alive. There's both from 12, Me and Kai. Nyx, Copia and the Trolls seem to be fine. Dou, obviously. Pomona and the one from District 5. 11 alive, 13 dead. Over half of us are dead, and 6 of them are Careers. And me, I'm supposed to be a Career too. 7 Careers, 4 non-Careers. With a jolt I realise that it can't be soon until the Career pack breaks up, unless a crap-load of Careers die soon, leaving more non-Careers than Careers. That could happen, but I seriously doubt it.

I wonder if Kai would survive the Career pack break up?

District 4 always had less chance of winning than the other two Career Districts, and Kai is shorter, with a lesser training score than all of the others. So he'd be one of the first to go.

My mind flickers to the image of Kai lying dead, and I mentally shake myself; I can't think about Kai. He's distracting and if I want to win, he had to die. And Dou, and everyone else here.

Over half of us are already dead.

The Capitol burns through us quickly, doesn't it?

I smile slightly, before I remember what I did, and what I am, and the smile slides off my face. While I've been worrying about undead things, Kai, Dou and weird secret messages, I haven't been moping about her death 'Murder'. Doing stuff helps, and I wonder whether that's why they sent me the note. It's becoming increasingly clear that there aren't any undead things coming for me, because I doubt they'd survive this wind. It's taking most of my strength to remain upright, and when I get to the turning point by the Cornucopia, I am sure that I am going to fall to my death. I swivel around it quickly, glancing quickly at the Cornucopia. They seem to have abandoned it, as the packs outside it have been moved away, and I can see drag marks leading towards the forest.

The river running by it seems to have doubled in size and tripled in ferocity. It isn't even grey, just pure white water, cutting the Cornucopia off from the forest completely. If I want to enter the forest, I'll have to cross near the pool I met Dou at. If I want to cross it, that is. The other side seems to have Careers on it, and I think that this side just has me and District 12 girl, with maybe some others. I wonder where Dou is…

Dou is no longer beside the pool when I get to it.

And, I believe, the pool is no longer a 'pool'. It's the same size as earlier, but as the river has doubled in size, the pool has just joined onto it. It's nothing more than a small bulge in the river now.

The waterfall in unbelievable.

It's more like a river running completely vertically than a waterfall at any rate, and I leapt off the path earlier rather than wandering past the 'Oh no, I'm drowning in air' part of the route. I had to face it last time, when the waterfall was a lot tamer, and that was hard enough as it is. It hurt my leg a bit, but it was better than drowning.

That's actually my worst fear, believe it or not.

Not spiders or being hacked to death in the most painful way imaginable.

Drowning can't be that painful.

No, it's the idea of being trapped in an enclosed space while the water slowly rises around you, while you know that you can't do anything to escape, but you still hammer against the edge in a futile manner. It's my worst fear.

It's sort of weird when you realise that I live in the Fishing District, and drowning probably isn't the most likely thing to happen to me. I've been swimming before I could walk or talk. Then again, I am nearer to water than most of the other people here, and drowning is probably more likely to happen to someone living in District 4, than in one of the landlocked Districts. Not that those Districts don't have lakes.

I realise I've been standing still, staring at the pool for some time with a small start, and I walk over to it. It might be wider than the raging river further along, but it's a lot calmer too. With a quick check for sharks (probably my second worst fear, sharks are scary) I leap into the water, and start swimming across towards the other side.

I get around 2 meters towards the other side when I realise how strong the river is, and how much I've underestimated the raw power of the earth.

I'm used to calm sea, occasional waves and generally going in the direction I'm aiming for.

It takes me around a second to realise that rivers are not like that.

It pushes me forward, buffeting me this way and that as I change my direction from 'straight forwards' to 'mostly aiming upstream'. For every meter I'm moving forward, the river's pushing me 10 downstream, and its getting more and more powerful each time. If I do manage to somehow make it to the sea in one piece, it'll be a minor miracle, and I don't know if I'll survive in the pit of rage and fury that used to be a sea.

Ahead I can see rapids, and I propel myself further forwards with all the strength I've got, I'm only inches away from the river bank now!

With seconds to go until impact, I stretch out my hand and grab onto an outcrop of rock, holding on despite the protesting pain in my arm. I realise too late that I grabbed with my injured arm, still in pain from the knife wound. I grit my teeth and attempt to swing my legs onto the rocky beach. Sighing in relief as I manage to hook a leg around a rock too. I don't think that my arm would have been able to hold on of its own accord much longer.

I use my free arm to grab another rock further in, and kick hard with my other leg, rolling myself out of the river and onto the stony beach. For one mad second, I think my arm has gained sentience and has started to swear loudly, until I realise that it's just me, being the mad old rage girl.

I'm pretty sure that I am just a mad old rage girl now.

I'm sure a mask can't be this descriptive and imaginative about its choice of swear words.

With another huge effort I push myself up; my arm aching again like it did after the knife embedded into it. I have gone extremely far downstream, and I realise (with a sinking heart) that it'll be Nye on impossible to swim back across. It will be impossible if the weather gets any worse. Knowing the Capitol, it will get worse too. I gaze at the jagged rocks of the rapids, wondering whether I would have survived going through them.

Somehow I think not.

I shiver slightly as I remember Memo Clearwater, the boy in Movii's year, and how he died. It's funny how I think of him now, for the first time in years, after nearly dying the same way he did.

It was a cold day in November, and Movii had just had her 6th Birthday. I was 11, and extremely apprehensive. It was my birthday in a couple of weeks and then I would be 12. 12 is synonymous with 'eligible for slaughter' across Panem, and it was no exception in District 4. I was taking Movii back from school with me, Meena refused point blank for her to walk back on her own, even though most of the 6 year olds in her class did it. I was slightly irritated, because I had to walk with her, not my own friends (A slightly more childish Nymph and slightly shorter Marlin). We were walking past the only river in our part of District 4, and it had been raining for a couple of days too, heavily.

Movii was arguing with me about something stupid, like not being allowed to but sweets. It sounds so much pettier than it did then. We were standing on the bridge watching a group of other 6 year olds play by it, chucking sticks in and then racing along the bank to bend over the river and pick up the stick again. Innocent fun.

Or so everyone thought.

6 year old Memo threw his stick in and was charging after it when he tripped on a rock. He landed on the mud, and everything would have been OK if it wasn't for the rain. The mud was slippy and he simply slid across it, arms flailing like an upturned beetle. He landed in the river with a loud 'THWACK' while his friends laughed at him. They didn't understand.

Within a second he had been pulled under, dragged closer to the bridge with each second. I had frozen on the bridge the second he fell in, wanting to do something but hoping someone else would do it first. No one else made a move.

He swept past the bridge towards the rapids, screaming all the way, and then stopped. For a glorious second I (and everybody else watching) assumed he had regained control, and would be swimming towards the shore soon to laugh about it with all of his friends.

But then we realised what had happened.

His foot must have got caught in something, as his mouth was barely above water, though his arms flailed continually. He screamed again as the water continued to rise above him, still trapped in the rocks.

I was still frozen on the bridge.

The water was almost at his mouth then and Movii and the other 6 year olds had realised that something was wrong, and were running alongside the river, reaching forwards to grab his arms and pull. By that time I had unfrozen, and was at the river's edge too, pulling his arm with all my might.

Others were coming too, but none could dislodge him, and no-one wanted to leap into the river to release his foot.

The water was rising higher, and covered his mouth in mere minutes.

He stopped moving a few minutes after, his arms limp in the water, his face visible beneath the surface.

He was inches away from the surface too.

They didn't remove the body until the water levels had lowered enough for a rescue attempt to be necessary.

2 weeks later.

I had to walk past that bridge every day in that time, and look down at him and know that I could have done something.

But I didn't.

It could be said that that was the first murder I committed, because it was certainly the first death that occurred because of me. It was definitely the first dead body I ever saw in real life, and the first death I saw that wasn't on the TV screen.

I stopped thinking about him after the first reaping, and I haven't done for years, even though it was the cause of my fear of drowning. Being so close to safety but an inch too far away. I hate rivers.

I look at the river I am sitting by now, and wonder if how I felt was how Memo felt as he rushed towards his death. Panic stricken and desperate to escape, despite thinking that escape was impossible. I turn away from the river, and begin to make my way towards the forest, untying my spear from the pack. That was one thing I did right, if I had tried to jump into the river holding the spear, I'd either have lost it in the current or stabbed myself with it because of the same thing.

I turn and walk into the forest, shivering at the memory of his pale, terrified face.

Just inches away from the surface.

But on the wrong side of the surface nonetheless.