Whispers in the Lake // Chapter 17

Instructions

I sprint to the Cornucopia, no one daring to ever mess with a Career. I stop once I reach there and search for a trident. Once I finally find one, I run towards it as fast as I can. I bend down to retrieve it but then I see a hand on it and it disappears. I look up and a girl is running towards the forest with it. I grunt in anger. I search for another weapon to use. Everything I’m good with is taken. I take 3 bottles of water that were surprisingly untouched and a loaf of bread. I stuff them into my pockets. I feel a hand on my shoulder and out of instinct, I turn around and pin them to the Cornucopia. That’s when I realize it’s Nabil. I quickly release him. I just want to collapse on him, but we have to pretend to hate each other in the Games. Ugh. “Don’t sneak up on me again. Or else things will be very ugly for you.” I say firmly. I walk over the pools of blood left on the ground. 8 cannons are fired already. 16 of us left. Everyone has ran into the forest, so it’s easier for me to spot the Careers. I run over to them. “Where’s your weapon?” Monur asks. “Some idiot took it,” I say calmly. “And you let them?” he scoffs. “You know I’m not the only one trying to survive.” I say to him. “Whatever.” he rolls his eyes. “Tell food boy over there to go get us some food.” Nabil runs into the forest to go get some food. I decide to keep the bread and water to myself, since the Careers clearly are fine with Nabil getting food. But I’m clearly not. If they want food they need to get their little behinds off the ground and into the forest where there are many bushes and lakes. I walk to the pile of supplies Jazel and Verben spent hours piling. “Careful,” Grace says quickly. “There are mines.” I jump over the places that look like they’ve been dug. Soon the sky is dark and the moon is shining bright. “Night time, who’s on watch?” Jazel asks. “Me,” Verben responds. “Alright,” Grace says. “Everyone else try to get some sleep this first night.” “Tomorrow we go hunting for tributes,” Monur says. “Verben you got your list of who to target?” “District 10, District 7, and District 3.” Verben says. “Let’s focus on District 10 first, then District 7, then District 3.” “Okay,” Monur says. “Now we have to go to sleep.” As they’re about to lay down, I say something. “Where’s Nabil?” Everyone freezes for a second. “Getting us food,” Monur scoffs. I stay silent for a second. “Okay.” I say quietly and blankly. I start to think that maybe he died. No, the cannon would’ve went off if he did. I really hope he didn’t. As I’m about to close my eyes and drift off, the pictures of who died are shown in the sky. District 6 male and female, District 8 male, District 9 female, District 3 female, District 5 male and female, District 10 male. After that i lay down, trying to go to sleep. But i just can’t. 30 minutes later, i find Verben asleep on the ground. So much for being on watch. The rest of the Careers look sound asleep. I carefully stand up, making sure not to wake the others. I walk in the places where the mines aren’t there and then i run into the forest, on a search for Nabil. I can't yell his name. It'll only draw unwanted attention. My footsteps light, my balance steady as I walk over chopped wood on the ground. I think about coming back to that later, as I could use it for fire. I've walked for about 10 minutes and there are no signs of Nabil. No footsteps, no sounds, nothing. It's like he just disappeared in this very forest. I look up and squint my eyes. There's a force field. Of course there is. They wouldn't want anyone to escape. I swear I've been looking for, like, an hour. My feet get tired and I fail to stay on my feet without wobbling. I search for about 15 minutes when I realize he's nowhere to be found. I decide to just stay in a tree for the night so I climb up a tree, my vision fuzzy and my feet slipping at some times. My heart jumps when I feel like I'm about to fall. Regularly, I'm good at climbing. But now, I'm exhausted. I finally sit on a branch, stretch my feet out, and lean on the tree trunk, the branches above me stretching out with leaves growing from them, covering me with a bit of the moonlight slipping through the empty spaces between each branch. My eyes bounce from closed to open as I try to drift off, thinking about home and happy memories. How is Brenna holding up? Has she starved ever since I've gotten into the games? The thought makes me tremble and causes my heart to start beating faster. And what about my mom? What has the Capital done to her? With my rebellious acts, they could punish my mom to punish me, just like they killed my father to punish my mother. Have they abused her? Cut out her tongue and turned her into an Avox? How would Brenna deal with this? With me being in the most dangerous situation possible and mom possibly being punished, it's too much for Brenna to handle. Ugh. I squeeze my hands together so hard so I don't cry. (Continued in notes + creds below!)