Silence

I awoke to the sound of birds singing. I lay in a field of yellow flowers, the sensuous aroma of the pollen filling my nose. I breathed deep, and sat up, stretching my arms. A beautiful blue butterfly fluttered gracefully in front of my face, before landing on my outstretched fingers. It stayed still while I lightly traced my fingers along its beautiful wings.
“Logan is scared of butterflies,” I said aloud to no one in particular. Then I thought, where is he?
He suddenly materialised before my eyes, but something wasn’t right. Though he made no sound, his mouth was wide open and he was screaming in silent agony. Then I saw the stain spread across his torso, the spear wedged through his heart. And behind him stood Roger, grinning with blood on his face…
***
“Raven! Raven, wake up!”
I opened my eyes again. This time Logan was knelt over me, sweating with a terrified expression on his face.
“Is this a dream?” I asked him.
“No, of course not. You just had a nightmare. I was so worried…”
I sat up, and Logan handed me a cup of water. I sipped it, then, realising I was parched, drained the cup in a matter of moments. I was quickly handed another. And another. When I was satisfied, I began to take in everything. First thing, Logan was alive. Not drowned. Secondly, I was alive. Thirdly, not only was I alive, but I felt no pain. None at all.
“What…” I began, but not knowing how to continue.
“You’ve been out almost a day and a half. At least. I woke up on the beach, and you were covered in blood. Those things messed you up pretty bad. But right next to you, there was a parachute. It had some medicine to make sure you didn’t get infected, and to stop the pain. The bites are still pretty bad, though. The bite on your arm goes right down to the bone.”
I lifted ruined sleeve of my shirt to investigate. It didn’t look all too bad to me, other than it being a deep wound. At least it was clean and I was in more pain.
“How are you? Are you OK?”
“I’m fine. I coughed a whole lot of water up, and I vomited several times, but I think I’ll survive. Let me bandage your arm and leg now. I didn’t want to do it before in case I hurt you or something.”
He fetched a first aid kit out of one of the bags, and wrapped the white bandage round the wounds. I leant my head against his shoulders as he worked.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“No worries. I’m not leaving you, OK?”
I nodded. He tied the end of the bandage wearily. He obviously hadn’t slept much, and I was worried he would fall ill.
“Go to sleep,” I ordered, emptying a bag so he could use it as a pillow. “Now.”
He didn’t hesitate. He practically flopped to the floor and soon enough, he was fast asleep. I smiled fondly, and wiped his hair of his face. He was sunburned and looked ten years older than when I last saw him, but he still managed to be beautiful. He’d always be beautiful to me.
It didn’t take me long to grasp that we were no longer in the place by the water. In fact, it seemed we were quite far in land, as I was surrounded by trees. It was the middle of the day, and it was a lot warmer than I expected after being in the icy circle by the Cornocopia and the freezing water. The trees offered some protection, but I knew I would burn like Logan soon if I didn’t find something to cover my skin. My face was completely exposed, and when I felt my cheeks, they were burning up. Rummaging in the rucksack I hadn’t checked myself, I found nothing in the way of guarding my skin from sun. I did, however, find a lot of food. Realising I was ravenous, I took out some dried strips of meat and tore at them with my teeth greedily. I was aware that I probably looked horrible, like an animal, but I didn’t care at that point. I finished up and lay down beside Logan, smiling.
“Almost as good as Capitol food,” I said aloud. I wondered if it might raise a chuckle for the viewers.
I thought of Eddie then. It struck me as odd that I thought of him. Why not mother and father? Why not Drew and Valeria? Leonie? Sophia? I couldn’t put my finger on it. Maybe it was because I was so aware of Eddie’s feelings. I twisted the ring on my finger thoughtfully. I knew that I didn’t love him, but in the back of my mind, something niggled at me. Hadn’t I always admired him, in a way? The way that he was able to manipulate others at a young age. His ambition. The way that he never feared to say what was on his mind. Would it be so bad, I wondered, to spend your days with someone admirable? Even if you don’t love them. Even if, to you, they are just another way of getting by? I wasn’t sure. So I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind, and vowed not to uncover them again until necessary. In other words, if I got out the arena and had to marry him.
After that, I spent much of the afternoon lying beside Logan, occasionally scanning the area for other opponents, but at that moment, I was too relaxed to do anything. I knew at some point, we’d have to move. We were too exposed, both to the sunlight and to other tributes.
Late afternoon, I saw a squirrel from the corner of my eye. It occurred to me that it could be a good source of food. I’d never killed an animal before, but I was certain that I could take it down. It would make a nice meal for the two of us. So slowly, I got to my feet, and crept slowly behind a tree to spy my prey. I aimed carefully, just in front of its head, so that when it moved, hopefully it would hit the knife. I drew my arm back to throw, when unexpectedly, it collapsed. No explanation. Then I realised. Someone must have killed it. Which meant there was a tribute within twenty metres of me. And that meant Logan could be seen. I panicked, grabbing my knife, and running in the general direction of the squirrel. I knew I was putting myself at risk, and my actions were reckless, but I didn’t want the tribute anywhere near Logan, who as far as I was aware, was still fast asleep. It was while this thought was still in my head that I collided with someone who definitely wasn’t Logan…