Safe and Sound

Chapter Fourteen - Remember, Remember

I woke up to the sound of the cannon, signalling somebody had died. I sat bolt upright, looking about madly. The last of the mockingjays had finished singing now, leaving an odd silence in the air, giving it quite an eerie sense. I clutched my head, which was swimming slightly at how fast I had sat up. Who had died? If it was Grayson, I swore I would probably feel quite guilty. I should have asked him to be an ally before the Games started. No, Harper! You're doing this alone. You can't afford to get attached to somebody then have to lose them. You've already lost too many loved ones, you can't break yourself even more.

Shaking my head at my thoughts, I unbelted myself and put my sleeping bag back into my backpack. I kept watch out for the hovercraft, which eventually came down quite close by me. That was unnerving. I watched it dip down into the trees and rise with a mangled looking body. I wouldn't have been able to tell anyway, seeing as it was quite far away, but it still agitated me. I wanted to know who had died and how. No matter who it was, it still left ten people behind. Ten tributes left and it was only day five.

Because of the mangled body, I decided I would get a shift on and get away as quickly as I could. I now felt somewhat attached to this tree, because of the mockingjays, but I didn't want to end up like the tribute roughly one hundred and fifty metres away from me.

Once I had packed, I stuffed two more crackers down my throat, before I scrambled back down the tree and started to walk in the opposite direction. I stopped once I had walked about twenty paces and looked back to the tree. I felt a tug in my heart area and groaned at my stupidity. I then stormed back as quickly as I could and picked up a feather from the floor. It looked like a tail feather from a mockingjay, so I figured that it would do. I then got one of the blunt knives from my backpack and climbed back up the tree. I then stuck the knife through the feather into the thick bark in the spot where I had stood while the mockingjays sung, making sure it was out of sight from below. I then shook my head at how I just wasted one of the blunt knives and jumped from the branch I was standing on, landing on all fours on the forest floor.

After adjusting my quiver and backpack, I carried on walking, not looking back once this time. I kept walking, staring ahead of me. My bow remained in my left hand and I didn't nock an arrow. I just kept walking, hoping nothing was going to spring a surprise attack on me at some random moment. But of course, anything could happen. All the Gamemakers had to do was agree on something and set it upon us tributes. That was that, no one could change it.

Walking was made slightly more enjoyable by the fact some mockingjays appeared to be singing my song. Not many, but enough to make my step lighter and my hands less tense. As I moved, I kept looking about, making sure there were no Careers out to get me. I hated the feeling of being hunted down like I was some sort of animal. When I had heard the Careers that night, I instantly knew how the rabbits and squirrels I shot down on a regular basis actually felt. They could be free and live their life, but there was a constant thought hovering over them, reminding them that they didn't have much longer to go.

Just keep your bow ready, Harper and you'll be fine. So I agreed with my thoughts and nocked an arrow into the bowstring, holding it in a position that allowed me to be able to raise it a lot faster than when Midas had sprung out at me. I wasn't ready then and if I hadn't pushed him off while he was distracted, I would have most certainly died. But instead the girl from District 4 died. I had killed her. She had taken my place on the list. It should have been me. Shut up! I shook my head and kept moving, until I found a rather large pool. I then decided I would finish the contents of my bottle and refill it, just so I had fresh water.

So I emptied the flask, drinking all of its contents. I then dipped it into the small pool and filled it up. As I lifted the flask from my hands. I saw that I had managed to get dirt stuck under my nails. I figured I must have been disgusting, meaning it was probably high time for a wash.

I then took off my backpack and quiver, placing them next to some reeds and water plants. I then took off my boots and socks. The forest floor tickled and scratched at my feet, both at the same time. I then took my jacket off, so I was just standing in my t-shirt and trousers. I looked about, before ducking behind the water plants, quickly whipping off my clothes. I kept my underwear and ribbon on, seeing as I didn't want to have the whole of Panem witness the girl with protruding ribs and hip bones, without even her ribbon on to protect her dignity. That would have been just a bit too embarrassing.

The water felt cool as I crept into it. I sighed. If felt surprisingly good. I scrubbed my arms and my legs making sure to get the dirt out from under my nails. I then took my plait out and cleaned my hair. I knew I was clean, but I decided to sit down in the water for a bit. So I did. I just sat there, allowing the water to lap about my middle and cleanse me as I sat in it. I started to get cold after a few minutes of sitting in the water, so I stood up. I looked down subconsciously at my feet, but my eyes ended up trailing to my stomach, at the faint scar that went all the way across it.

The scar was long and thin. It was faint now, and it hadn't hurt in years, but it was an ugly reminder of a stupid mistake. I hated it. I had earned this scar when I was out hunting one day, like most days, but not quite.

It was cold and my whole family were starving. I was fourteen years old and had only just recovered from quite a nasty chill, so I was a lot weaker than usual. I stumbled about the forest, trying my hardest to hold my bow. I shouldn't have been hunting when I was in this condition, but I was desperate and I was very, very hungry. I was walking in odd directions, shooting at every bird, every rodent, but to absolutely no avail. I had been out for about an hour and I was beginning to tire. I wasn't going to be fed that night. But frankly, I couldn't have cared. My hands were shaking because they were so worn out, weak and cold. My head was spinning and my vision was blurry. It was almost as if I had been stung by a Tracker Jacker, just without the hallucinations and mad fear. So I had decided that I was going to go home and I was just going to have to apologise to my family for not bringing them anything. But as I was walking towards the fence, I pictured my six year old sister, starving and curled up on the floor, clutching her stomach. Dying. That made me stop. That made me turn around. And that made me do what I did.

I turned back to the forest and climbed up the tree to get my bow, but I slipped because of my spinning head and bad vision and fell off the branch I had been standing on. As I fell, I caught my stomach on the branch, which cut a huge and rather deep gash out of my stomach. I landed on my back and I seriously thought I was going to die because of how much pain I was in. I couldn't breathe and I thought that I must have ruptured some of my major organs. Plus, my intestines were bound to be spilling out because of that cut.

So I lay there, in my pool of blood, gasping for breath and choking. I didn't move. I closed my eyes and waited for my already sealed fate...

I shook my head, getting rid of the memory. If my father hadn't come and found me, I would have most certainly died of either blood loss or the fact I wasn't breathing. I shuddered. I shouldn't have gone back into the woods, it was so stupid of me. My family went without food that night either way, so not going back wouldn't have changed anything, except for the fact I scared my little sister stupid when I came home in my father's arms, practically dying. Since that incident, I had never fallen out of a tree. I guess my instinct and muscle memory remembered what would happen if I did so much as topple over when walking. That was what made me as stealthy as I was.

I stood up, now shivering from the cold of the water. I then hopped out of the pool and over to the water plants and reeds. I waited for myself to dry off a bit before I put all of my clothes back on. I laced and strapped my boots back up. I then slipped my coat on and re-braided my hair into its usual side plait. It wasn't as neat as Cinna's, but it was out of the way. I then put on my backpack and quiver on over the top, before I picked up my bow and started to walk away. I held my stomach with my free hand, rubbing it subconsciously. No matter how many times I rubbed it, I knew the scar would never go. For me, that fall was actually quite big part of my life. It taught me not to push myself too hard and it enabled me to be more careful when it came to climbing trees. And that was why I was taking the precaution of belting myself in at night. I didn't particularly like the feeling of being half dead and I wasn't eager to be feeling it again soon.

And so I walked.

I had done a lot of walking so far in the Games. And running, I had run a lot too. If it wasn't for Cinna making me that lovely dress or even Midas for jumping out at me, I would have probably been the most boring tribute, resulting in the Capitol sending some horror to come and spice things up a bit. Either that or they would have killed me off early. Twelve was the most 'boring' District, even after Katniss and Peeta. We weren't all like the Girl on Fire. I sighed and kept walking. What had become of Grayson? Was he the death that I had woken up to? I shrugged and shook my head, signalling to my brain that I didn't want to think like that. I didn't want Grayson dead. But I didn't want to have to kill him myself, so another part of me wished that it was him. I cursed my stupid thoughts and carried on doing what I seemed to be best at: walking.

I kept moving, slowly and carefully. The Capitol were probably concentrating more on the Careers and their hunt to catch the girl from District 12 that spun around in a fiery dress with wings. The same girl that was the Flaming Mockingjay, who had killed the girl from District 4, when running and under pressure. The very girl who had left her dying father behind, who had left her dead sister behind and who secretly wished that her fellow tribute wasn't dead.

I was so tangled up I my thoughts that I didn't notice it. And it almost killed me.