Lost

'You cue the lights, I'll drop the blinds..
Don't lose the sparkle in your eyes..'

Today was the day.

The day I lose myself.. the day that I could quite possible become that monster that everyone is expecting of me. I looked down at the outfit that the tributes were made to wear and scrunched up my nose. Dark, breathable pants, and a dark shirt. It was simple, didn't really tell her much. It made me wonder where exactly I was headed, what was in store, not only for me, but for Riley as well. He told me that we would stick together, but how much of that was truthful? If I'm proven to be weak, what will he do?

No, I have to keep telling myself. Derek won, and I have that same blood running through my veins. I can win, just like he did. Looking up at Ralen, I gave a small, but nervous smile, "You'll do good," he said in a quiet tone, holding out my jacket. I quickly turned around and slid into the jacket, before turning back around and facing him, "Thank you, for everything," I whispered to him, hugging him quickly, before stepping away. A robotic voice yelled out, '30 seconds' and my heart began to race. I looked at Ralen once more. Even though he scared me the first time I seen him, he's really helped me. He gave me a small smile, before placing Madilyn's necklace over my neck. I looked down at it, my fingers gently picking up the small bird. He motioned me towards the tube that would bring me up to the arena and winked.

"I'll see you soon," was all he said to me, before I stepped into the tube and it shut. I turned away from him as I waited to be taken up to the arena.

10 seconds.

I thought of my family, my brother. What was going through his mind right now? Surely, he was working hard on getting me some sponsors. I know that he would try everything in his power to help.

5 seconds and I started to panic. I looked back at Ralen and he motioned for me to calm down and breathe. I nodded and took a deep breath. Right as I was slowly letting it out, I started rising to the top. A bright light blinded me for a moment, and it took a second for my eyes to adjust. When they did, I noticed the other tributes doing the same as me; sizing up their competitors and the arena. The arena was actually simple. They were feet away from the Cornucopia, and surrounding them was nothing but trees. My eyebrows rose up, wondering what tricks the Gamemakers had up their sleeves for them. I then shook my head and put on my game face, looking straight at the Cornucopia and not giving any other tributes another glance. As the cannon went off, I ran straight. I just needed to closest thing that I could get, maybe a backpack. With my luck, there was a backpack right in my range. I quickly picked it up and ran towards the woods, but stopped at the edge, looking back at the Cornucopia. I didn't see Riley anywhere and I was beginning to worry that he didn't take my brother's advice and went to get some weapons. Knowing Riley, he would surely do that..

I knew that I couldn't stay in sight much longer. I ran into the woods, but stopped at a near tree, climbing up.. Keeping my eyes on the Cornucopia. I then noticed Riley stepping out of the Cornucopia with a sword in hand. My eyebrows came together at the fact that he was able to get to the back of the damn thing to get that. I watched him carefully, but a gasp left my lips when I noticed a tribute running towards him, but he couldn't see. I didn't know what to do! Biting down on my bottom lip, I took in a big breath and screamed with all of my might, "Riley!" That definitely got his attention.. as well as some others. Tributes started looking towards my direction. One was starting to run towards my direction, to see if they could find me. Thankfully, at that moment, the green of the tree I was in was hiding me, but I knew that I needed to defend myself if they found me. I quickly pulled my bag off of my back and opened it up. I started rummaging through it, before a pain went through my fingers. I quickly pulled out my hand to inspect and my brows came together again when I saw blood, and a cut, along two of my fingers. I carefully reached back in and pulled out what cut me. A knife. I was pleasantly surprised at that, I didn't think that they'd supply me with a weapon as well.

Thinking fast, I pulled off a branch of the tree and started to sharpen an end of it. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get it as sharp as I needed it as the tribute was running towards me direction, but I had to try something. While I was sharpening, I guess Riley had gotten rid of the tribute that was attacking him and when I looked up for a moment, I noticed him running in my direction as well, behind the other tribute that was after me. I started sharpening faster. I stopped soon after, noticed that I at least had some sort of tip. The tip was not circular my any means, but I had to work with what I had. I know that I didn't need to lose my knife by trying to throw it at her. I noticed it was the District Four girl when she had slowed down and came in my range of sight. And she had the bow and arrows. I knew that I had to get my hands on them; Riley came into my sight as well, but he was trying to sneak up on her. I left him to make the first move. He kicked out at her back, making her lose her footing and fall to the ground. Before he could tackle her, Four stood back up and took out an arrow. I quickly jumped from the tree with the mediocre spear that I made and stood behind her. Riley noticed me and started to run towards her with his sword. He swung at her, but she moved out of the way. The arrow fell from her hands, so she swung at him with her bow. She was distracted, so I knew that this was my chance to do something. Riley fell to the ground when the bow hit him in the face and the girl quickly got on top of him; this was the perfect opportunity.

I looked at the spear in my hand, now knowing that it wouldn't do anything, but I knew that this knife could easily plunge into her back. So, I took it in my hand and ran at her, plunging it quickly into her back as deep at it could go. She stopped moving for a moment. I pulled out the knife and, for extra measure, reached up in front of her and pulled the knife across her neck, from ear to ear. Her blood started to spill all of my hand. The sight of her blood made me freeze. Bile began raising in my throat and I moved away from her and to the side, before all the food I had that morning emptied onto the ground below me.

The cannons began to go off as Riley pushed the girl off of him and he made his way towards me. I wiped my mouth with my hand before he pulled at me, "Come on, we have to move," He said and I nodded, before pulling away from him. I quickly ran back over to the girl and grabbed the bow and arrow. I looked down at her with guilt, before running back towards Riley.

"I can't believe I just did that.."