I was up very early on the day that changed my life. I had slept as long as my body would allow, but the anxiety had won me over. I now sat on the couch watching TV. Somehow I ended up watching a rerun of Tammy's Games. The 19th Hunger Games. I watched as the Capitol played some of the highlights. 3 Careers chased down a girl from 7. Two of the Careers tackled her to the ground. Eventually they got her pinned down. Then the final Career, I'm assuming she was kind of the leader because she now stood over the girl from 7. She said something, then grabbed a bow, drew an arrow, and shot the tribute in the face. It was gory too. The other two Careers laughed their heads off. Then the screen changed and I saw Tammy - a young version of her hiding in a tree. Below her were two tributes. One was on top of the other, punching the other in the face repeatedly. A cannon finally fired, signaling that the attacker had finally finished the other tribute off. He stood up from the dead body frowning. Then I watched as Tammy pulled a knife from her backpack as quiet as she could up in her tree. Then Tammy aimed for the boy below her, and threw the knife with amazing accuracy. It pierced the tribute through the neck and he fell to the ground. A cannon sounded. Young Tammy looked horrified at what she had just done. Then she began to cry.

"He was my ally," a voice startled me from behind. It was Tammy. "Uh, which one?" I asked turning to see her. She wore a sorrowful grimace. "The one that got beaten to death. I promised him I would kill whoever killed him. And I did," Tammy responded quietly as she took a seat next to me. I turned back to the screen and watched as 5 flying mutts chased Tammy and another tribute. I assumed they were the final 2 left. The one running beside Tammy was one of the same Careers that I watched kill the girl from 7. Then I saw Tammy viciously whip around and punch the Career straight in the face. He fell to the ground bleeding. Then Tammy turned back and kept running. But it didn't matter at that point. All the mutts were busy attacking the Career on the ground. They swarmed over him and destroyed him. A cannon blasted and the mutts dispersed. A voice announced Tammy as the Victor. The Hovercraft came to pick her up. Tammy was crying again, looking at the mess of organs and blood that had once been the tribute killed by the mutts. I turned the TV off.

I comforted Tammy for the last 30 minutes before the others would wake up. "This isn't right," Tammy shook her head crying, "I should be comforting you." I shrugged. The rest of the morning was a blur. We ate, received some pep talks, but in the end we were still escorted to the Hovercraft that would take us to the Arena. I shivered as I walked aboard.

I took my seat and looked around. All the tributes were sitting down and strapping themselves in. I calmed my raging emotions and leaned back in my chair. "This is going to be fun," Ray finally broke the awkwardly long silence. I just nodded. Even though the Games had arrived, the act was still on. Then a Peacekeeper went around putting our trackers in. I looked up to see a woman put her hand out. "Arm please." I smiled at her. She totally blushed, then I gave her my arm. It hurt terribly for a moment, then it was over and the pain subsided. The flight was fairly short yet it felt like a yearlong journey.

Once we were escorted from the Hovercraft, a Peacekeeper shoved me through a door and into my Launch Room. I observed my surroundings. Tammy sat at a table with two glasses and a pitcher of water. Next to Tammy was the large tube that would bring me into the Arena above. She gestured to the seat across from her. My eyes darted to the tube to her left, then I sat down. "Here we are," Tammy started,"Finally it's time Skye. I need you to get your game face on. This is the Hunger Games and if you want to survive you need to sell our plan. You need to kill without hesitation. You need to have no regrets. You need to act. You need to recover. You need to have hope. It's simple really. All you have to do is keep breathing. Just breathe." I nodded and smiled. Tammy really did help. Keep breathing. Thats exactly what I would do.

"30 seconds until launch," a voice declared. Tammy pulled me into a tight hug. "Good luck Skye." That was the last thing anyone said to me before the Games. I looked down and stared at my belt. It was all for my District. For my family. For my friends. For myself. "20 seconds." I walked into the tube. Tammy nodded to me and I nodded back. Then she broke down crying and sat down. "10 seconds." I looked up. I was ready. It was time, and I was ready. It was time to focus. I turned back to Tammy just as the tube began ascending. I smiled to her and shouted, "If I die, tell Jesse and my mother I love them!" Seconds later I was blinded by a sudden flood of light.

I found myself on my pedestal. Next to me, on the left, was Fred. We nodded to each other. Then I took in the environment. We were in a large rocky area. It was dusty and the ground was made up of orangish rock. There were a few boulders here and there. Behind me was an expanse of rocky terrain. Beyond it I could see a layer of trees. Then I turned back to face front. Here's the problem. Before me lay a gigantic chasm. The pedestals were in a ring around the abyss. In the center of the hole was a circle of rock on which sat the Cornucopia. The only way to get to the Cornucopia was to get across the chasm. Impossible right? But there were small circles of rock unevenly spread throughout the chasm. They looked sturdy enough. If I were to jump from rock to rock, I would be able to reach the other side. The Cornucopia. A voice began counting down from 30. On my right was the guy from 12; Hank. He looked terrified. I turned back to Fred. "Stick with me, and we'll make it to the Cornucopia. Step where I step! Unless I fall to my death of course," I yelled to him. He nodded eagerly. I'm sure the Capitol got a kick out of that. Finally the voice reached 5,4,3,2,1. A loud gong sounded.

I leapt from my pedestal to the nearest rock to me. I refused to look down. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Cara, the girl from 5, jumped from her pedestal and straight into the chasm. She didn't even scream. Suicide no doubt. I jumped to the next rock. I heard Fred jumping behind me. My agility training was finally becoming useful. I leapt from rock to rock like a monkey. Fred fell behind but he was doing well. "Only like 5 more!" I yelled back to Fred. Then I jumped a few more times, nearly slipping on one of the rocks. Then, with a crazed war cry, I jumped the large gap that stood between me and the Cornucopia. I landed with a thud on my feet. I was the first one to make it by a long shot. Art was getting close. So was Casey. At least they were on my team.

I ran to the Cornucopia and looked around frantically. I grabbed a spear and turned around. There was a slim sword inside the Cornucopia covered in a sheath. With the time I still had, I took the sheath/sword and attached it to my shining belt. Then I hefted my spear and looked around. There were two or three figures in the distance, on the other side of the chasm, running across the rock. They were the ones who didn't even care for the Cornucopia. Cowards. Art made it to the Cornucopia and grabbed a scythe. Then Casey was there grabbing a weapon. A few tributes were still hopping around on the rocks. One was pretty close to me. I noticed Casey watching me intently. I needed to prove I had the guts to kill someone. I swiftly ran toward the tribute near me. It was the girl from 8. Belle I believe. She jumped onto the final rock with a look of accomplishment on her face. I closed my eyes holding back tears at what I was about to do, then I reopened them. I reared back and threw my spear with amazing accuracy. It pierced Belle through the neck. Shock overwhelmed her as she tumbled to the ground. Belle was dead.

I averted my eyes as I extracted the spear from Belle's body. Casey looked impressed. Art quickly ran to attack a tribute that had made it to the Cornucopia. Then I noticed Fred grab a weapon flashing me a smile. Then I turned to see the guy from 8, Xavier, with a crazy look on his face. He tackled me to the ground. The wind got knocked out of me from the impact. Clearly he was mad about me killing his District partner. Xavier struggled to pin me to the ground. I used my spear as a bar to shove Xavier off me. He fell beside me clutching his chest. Then I scrambled to my feet and raised my spear. Xavier's eyes widened as he saw me standing above him. I snarled and brought my spear down into his chest. I pulled it back out and walked back to the Cornucopia, without even looking back at Xavier. Casey was repeatedly knifing someone in the face, and Fred was under assault. Jewel had finally made it to the Cornucopia, Ray was still hopping on the rocks. I approached Jewel. Then I saw her. Heather from 3, running at Jewel from behind holding a small knife. Jewel was oblivious. I had to act. But I didn't want to kill a 13 year old girl! I had no choice. Heather would kill one of my "allies" if I didn't act. I quickly chucked my spear screaming loudly. It stabbed into Heather's side. She fell to the ground, convulsing in pain. The screams, oh, the screams. Jewel turned around, startled. Then when she put together what had happened she looked at me smiling. "Thanks Skye," then Jewel winked. Seriously, the wink was getting old.

Ray made it and we all gathered to clear the Cornucopia. There were a few tributes left. Fred was injured from an attack by Hank. Fred said, "Nasty kid. Pretty obvious he's from 12! What a great thing I've done killing that beast!" I smiled, without sincerity. "Alright! Ray, Skye, you guys get those tributes over there! We'll go this way," Art barked. I shrugged, then lead Ray to the tributes Art had referred to. Then I saw Melissa. Trying desperately to jump from rock to rock before we reached her. "Ha! Is that your District partner? I'll leave her to you!" Ray chuckled as he went after Tyler from 9. Her face paled as Melissa saw me facing her clutching my spear. I slowly approached her. "NO! Skye, please! You wouldn't!" Melissa squealed as she backed up to the very edge of the small rock she stood on. I shook my head. "Melissa, I have to do this," I replied coldly. A tear rolled down her cheek. "Then I hope you win Skye. I really do," Melissa spat back. I angrily growled and reared back. Then I let the spear fly. It connected with Melissa's stomach. She looked down in horror. Melissa screamed loudly. Then she fell. She fell off her rock and into the chasm. With my spear! As she disappeared into the blackness below, I fought tears.

The rest of the Careers all met back up at the Cornucopia. I slung a bag on my shoulder. "Hey, we aren't going through any supplies yet 6! Put it down. It's almost dark, let's set up camp inside the Cornucopia," Art commanded. Then we spread out sheets, and started a small fire with matches and spare pieces of wood.

We hardly talked until the Panem anthem played. It was time to tally the kills. Heather's face appeared first, and the pain came back. I shoved it into the back of my mind and focused on the rest of the deaths. Diana, Fred's District partner's face was next. Fred frowned. "I killed her! Sorry, I would have saved her for you Fred, but you know..." Casey announced. Phill, and Cara's faces both appeared, meaning both kids from District 5 were dead. I recalled back to watching Cara leap into the hole of darkness, without a single scream. Suddenly I was looking at Melissa's face in the starry sky. Laughing erupted from most of the Careers. I noticed Fred staring at the sky emotionless. "Nice job Skye! She was a weakling!" Jewel complimented giggling. I smiled and thanked her. Mixed emotions raged within me at seeing Melissa's face that night. Then both Alvin and Remi from District 7 appeared in the sky. Art bragged about killing Alvin, while Jewel talked about killing Remi. Then both of the kids from 8 appeared in the sky. Xavier and Belle. "I finished both of those suckers," I boasted loudly. Jewel's mouth curled into a smile in the firelight. Really I was ashamed. I had ruined both of District 8's chances of success. Tyler from District 9 was next. "He was an easy kill!" Ray laughed excessively. I smirked. Then Isabel, District 10, appeared in the sky. I realized then that thus far, I hadn't seen a single glimpse of Greg or Pete! Clearly Greg was alive since only Isabel from 10 was dead. But what about Pete? Then my question was answered when Hank's face was next. Pete was also alive. So was the other District 12 tribute apparently because after Hank, the sky went dark. Before I could calculate the numbers, Casey declared, "12 kills. 12 alive."

I volunteered for first watch as the Careers fell asleep. I now sat observing the area at the mouth of the Cornucopia while the others slept inside, covered in supplies and spare weapons left over. I was tapping my foot trying to be productive when I heard a small thump from above the Cornucopia. Someone was on top. Just before I woke the person nearest to me, someone jumped down in front of me. I pulled out my sword and looked at the tribute. It was Pete.

He raised his hands submissively. "Hey, hey. Look, Skye, we need to do this quickly. Give me some supplies and two weapons for Greg and I. We found a cave on the other side of the chasm where we are going to hide. Greg figured out how to hide the entrance and everything! So hurry and give me some stuff kid!" Pete whispered speedily. I nodded, taking it all in. Then I swiped two fairly large backpacks plus an extra, then I handed them to Pete. I picked up a bow, quiver full of arrows, and a mace. Then I gave those to Pete as well. "Thanks kid. So far so good! Oh, and...I'm sorry to hear about Melissa..." Pete spoke quietly. I shrugged. "I did it Pete. I killed Melissa. And I feel. Like. Crap." Pete frowned and shook his head. "Hang in there kid. Everything will work out. See ya!" Pete finished awkwardly. I waved to him and he set off running to the abyss. Then I sat back down and watched him hop from rock to rock until he made it to the other side and faded from view. I then leaned back resting against the cool metal of the Cornucopia, feeling the midnight breeze. What a day...