The parachute came. She watched it lazily fall down to her feet in a soft spiralling motion. She opened the package.
No.
She shoved her hand against her mouth to smother her own scream. There was no sleep syrup, just one slice of bread. One solitary slice. What did they expect her to do, club him over the head with it? She deserved better than this! She deserved one gift!
There was a note added. Two words. Make jam.
Make jam? Yes, she hadn't eaten in days, but if she had some jam to go with her bread, well then all would be well in the world, she'd be just dandy with that in her-
Jam. Berry jam. That's what they meant.
"Thank you", she said, slipping into that little-girl persona again, doe-eyed and docile. At least let them feel good for helping a girl out. They wouldn't love her if she didn't appear to love them too, and she was grateful, in her own way, now that she understood.
She bundled everything under her arm, and ran. She'd forgotten her hunger now, she was so ecstatic. Rue kicked the shoes off her feet and ran barefoot through the woods. She was light on her feet, and had no fear that Thresh would catch her. He was too big, she would him a mile off, and she was much faster than him anyways. She owned these woods for now. Anyway, the boy couldn't even climb, so she could always disappear up a tree if she had to.
She spent the afternoon picking berries. She had no idea which were poisonous, but reckoned some of them had to be, so put in as many different types as she could. She was careful not to touch them with her skin, but covered her hands with her sleeves instead.
Like a good resourceful young lady, she quickly made a meal for that oh-so-special man in her life. The mashed berries didn't look great, with all the seeds and burst skins, but Thresh would be so hungry he hopefully wouldn't notice the discrepancy. She slathered it across the bread thickly, and put it back in its packaging.
Now just to find the Goliath. She would have made a good David and all, armed with her slingshot, but she wasn't sure she could actually kill him with a stone to the head. The berries were better.
After a few hours searching, she figured he was lurking around the fields past the Cornucopia. Thresh was being a clever boy for once in his life. There was no trees for her to hide in out there, that was his playing field, and he had the advantage there. She needed draw him out of there.
When she was ready, hidden up a tree, she started screaming. She started and didn't stop, piercing screams, pitiful screams, loud enough so that he would have to be able to hear her. He would come and investigate, she knew he would. Thresh had a weak spot for her. That weak spot had probably saved her life- otherwise he would have surely hunted her down by now. Well let it save her one more time. She kept on screaming.
He came, like she knew he would and surveyed the scene on the forest floor; the knocked over parachute, the bread with jam on it, with only a bite taken, the smeared blood, clear signs of a struggle.
Thresh looked relieved. He clearly thought some beast had come and dragged her away and left her treat for him to eat, and that meant he didn't have to kill her himself. She saw him let out a breath, and then he bent down, picked up the bread and ate it.
She held the cut on her arm tight as she watched him. The bite taken of the bread was actually in her pocket, and he had just fallen for the most basic trap in the history of the games.
Thresh ate the bread, and wandered off. She followed overhead, as quietly as she could.
He took a long time dying. Clearly not all the berries were bad ones, and he was strong anyway. But by that night, he had begun alternating between whimpering and puking his innards out respectively. His face shone with a sheen of sweat. He looked positively unwell, it had to be said.
She waited, in case it was a trap. She did not intend going down there, ready to finish him off, only to have him snap her neck for her trouble. Too risky. She could wait this long.
He passed out before dawn, but the canon didn't go off until for another hour after that again.
Rue emerged from her hiding place slowly, stiff but victorious, a vision of happiness and innocence as she spun around, clapping her hands, giggling. That's what they wanted, their little girl back, the bright-eyed tiny pretty thing that they could put in pretty dresses and forget that she was a murderer.
She gave them their show, even though she was exhausted, bleeding and ravenous. But she still spun and laughed and smiled until they came for her, until she was lifted away, and even then, she kept smiling.