Did I mention I have issues? I'll continue that later.

This is a special chapter just for you. 100 points to whomever gets the joke in this act's title.

Act 14
"Garlic Powder; Part One"

I awoke to the empty sounds of my apartment. Ever since they had taken Calico away, I had been greeted every morning by only the sounds of my own breathing and the sounds of the cityscape from the outside. None of the sounds I had grown accustom to that my daughter would make every morning, such as making breakfast or heading off to work, came to me. It was a saddening realization that she had been taken away from me.

Everything in my world was falling apart. I had lost the love of my life, thus losing my ability to trust anyone again. I had lost my job, thus losing my ability to push forward in life. And now I had lost my daughter, and thus losing everything else about myself. I may have never said it, but Calico was my life. She was the only light I had left in the world and now she was bound to be lost to the Games. All that I could do to forget about this realization was to drown myself in my drug of choice, choosing to forget anything I didn't want to remember; things I couldn't handle to remember.

I sat on the couch in the living room and looked towards the screen in front of me. It was required by law to watch the Games. I never knew why until now. Having a child in the Games makes you realize, they want you to watch so they can torture you without laying a finger on you. It was horrible.

As I turned the screen on to see what had happened the night before, I prepped my needle. I looked away from the screen whenever another tribute was on. It wasn't like I hated the other kids and wanted them to lose, but I didn't like them either. I didn't care about them either way. Only one I paid attention to was my child.

It was merely reruns during this time of the day and some footage. It wasn't truly required to watch this portion, as most worked during this time and couldn't do two things at once. Still, I didn't have a job and I had to support Calico to the best of my abilities. Even if I could only support her with my needle-full of numbness, then I would do just that.

I injected the painkiller into my system through my arm. I had to use an increased dose I had gotten from Pill a little while ago due to my tolerance of the drug growing with every use. It was like my body was teasing me. Like it was saying, 'I'll make it feel good to use this, but I will make it so you have to use more to get the same feeling every time.'

"Looky-looky."

The voice on the television dragged my attention from my arm and needle to the screen. It was the voice of the one tribute Calico had insulted, Helena. Helena has been a cruel and brutal tribute, making her a worthy opponent. The added facts that she was both from District Two and proficient with weapons made her ever more dangerous.

The sight of her on the television made me gasp. Not because it was just her, but because she was in front of Calico once more. They had found themselves on the side of the mountain Calico had been scaling. Not only were they there, but so was another girl. This girl wore a completely black jacket and even though I couldn't make out her patch, I swore that all black meant District 12. She was standing to one side of Calico with Helena in front of them.

"Looks like I finally got you, you bitch!" Helena sneered at Calico. "No one insults me. I don't let my classmates insult. I don't let any adults insult me. I sure as hell won't let you insult me either!"

"What is your problem?" asked the District 12 girl. "You're acting like everyone is out to get you."

"This is the Hunger Games, not some sleepover you get to do your hair at and have cookies!" snapped Helena. "Remembering that everyone is out to get you is how you survive."

I didn't see how this situation had started, but I wasn't about to look away.

"We should remember that Helena had just abandoned the now barren Career camp," said one of the announcers; their voice overlaying over the scene unfolding between the three girls. "She had gone to find Calico, which is really no surprise, seeing how she probably blames the District Eight girl for making her lose all that supplies."

"Yeah," voiced the other. "And it was only luck that Calico had been caught by the District 12 girl, Calla, which caused Helena to find them both."

So the District 12 girl, or Calla really, was not an ally. This only meant my daughter had enemies on both sides of her. One was an overly powerful tribute warrior and another so depressed she was probably desperate for any hope and would do anything, ANYTHING, for it.

"You have been killing people non-stop since the beginning of the game," remarked Calico. "Even a fellow Career. True allies are not, and will never be, out to get you. You just wouldn't know that because you never give anyone the chance to prove that they are genuine. You would prefer to smash their heads in or stab them and leave them to die."

I remember the two deaths Calico was referring to. The first being the District One male. I had even thought of it as strange for a Career to kill another Career during the Bloodbath. I was even higher than normal, using an increased dosage to drown my sadness on the first day of the Games. The other death was that of her quick friend from District Seven. Calico bringing this up, Helena didn't seem too happy about it. The District Two girl scowled at the mention of this. Calla seemed to take the hint that there was some drama between Calico and Helena and began to back up slowly.

"I really should get going," said Calla, who turned tail to run away from the scene.

But just as she went to run, a figure jumped out from behind a tree in front of the raven-haired girl. She didn't react quickly enough to the sudden attack and was quickly stabbed in the gut. The figured turned out to be the boy from District Four, Coriander I think the announcers called him. He held Calla up as she went to sink to the ground in pain. He only did this to allow him the chance to twist the knife in her stomach before pulling it out. Only then did he allow her limp, bleeding body to hit the ground.

"You really think I would do this by myself? Besides, we all want a little revenge on you and your partner for what you did to our stuff," said Helena.

"No! Calico!" I shouted, jumping out of the seat.

My drugs had been spread out around and on top of me. When I had jumped, they had flown every which direction. I dropped to my knees to pick them up, but stopped when I heard screaming from the television. I looked up to see Calico running.

Hurry my daughter, I thought. Don't let them catch you.

Suddenly knocking from the front door rang through the house.

There is my present from me to you. Hoped you liked this special chapter from the POV of Calico's mom. Next chapter we will be back to Calico's POV. Longer chapter next one as I promise to actually get a look into some character's personalities better.

I haven't really explored the internet lately, but having the need to do so (looking for apartments) I discovered an old game on Scholastic's website called Tribute's Trials. It is an interesting game and hard to beat at first. I managed to get it though and get a high score, though it looks like they reset them every day. I challenge you guys to play it and see how high you can get it.

Deaths In This Chapter

*Calla - Placed 13th; Killed by Coriander.