Real or Not Real?- A Hunger Games FanFiction

Chapter 1- So Close...

Chapter 1- So Close...

BOOM 

The cannon crashes through my weariness. I sit up and search the darkness which seemed to surround me while I was asleep. Aw, crap... Who died now? I search the sky and see a face appear. Oh, my gosh... Jay... I start to hyperventilate. Jay is my.... Was my... best friend in the world. It hurt to look up and see him now. 

What hurt worse, was to imagine the awful fate he came to. He could have been eaten by freakin' butterflies (it's happened before), his neck could have been slashed by a dagger, or worse, he could have been chased. 

Oh, no! Not now! And I feel myself sucked back into a memory... 

*** 

"You know what would be the worst way to die in the Hunger Games, PolkaDot?" he says, laying in my backyard. 

"Jay." I say sternly. "I don't want to hear this. Reaping day is tomorrow and I'm already nervous enough. I've avoided it two years, but you know my luck." 

He sits up and looks me in the eye. His golden eyes, usually playful, are now very serious. It makes me shiver. 

"But you need to hear this, Dot. My names probably in about fifty times. I'm probably going in that arena. I want you to know my worst fear." he takes a deep breath and looks at me, his hard yellow eyes melting. "I would hate being chased. I want my death to be a surprise." 

This puzzled me. If I was in there, I would want to be chased, to be able to accept my death. Most importantly, to have a chance to escape. 

"Why? What if you wanted to escape?" 

He shakes his head, smiling sadly at me. 

"But you couldn't. It would get your hopes up, make it more painful. Besides, death would be better than being in there. I would rather it be fast and painless. No regrets. No hopes. Nothing." 

Wow. I had never thought about it that way... 

*** 

I jerk up, still in the tree, still nighttime. 

What woke me up? 

A scream. 

A horrible, heart stopping scream. 

Close by. 

If I was home, I would call out "who's there?", but I wasn't home, and one little noise would mean everything. I hear the cannon and I start to panic. 

I quietly untie myself and shimmy down the tree. I lean against the tree, breathing hard. I need a chance to run. I need to figure out which way the scream came from so I can quietly go away from it. 

I frantically search around me, looking for any sign of life. I hear a stick crack in one direction, a whistle of a mockingjay in another, and finally as my eyes adjust, I see movement. I see a knife glint in front of me and the next thing I know, I'm flying away. I try to hear something behind me but all I can hear is my harsh breath. 

Jay was right. It's worse when your being chased. I can't see anything and the tension is building. I can't even think of a way to escape because my thoughts are so scrambled. 

I gasp as my head is jerked back into a pair of strong, warm arms. My breathe is stolen from me as I hear a dark laugh. 

You know how people always talk about the all so important last thoughts or words? 

My last thoughts were just something that ran through my mind. Something idiotic. Something that I don't want to be remembered for. 

The Hunger Games suck. 

*** 

Again I wake up to the same heart stopping scream. I think it's mine but I can't tell because I'm still struggling against the strong arms. Except they are now around my shoulders, comforting instead of crushing. 

"Mockingjay? Mockingjay? Dot? Are you okay?" Jay screams in my ear. 

I open my eyes to find the dark world blurred. I realize I have tears in my eyes and I swipe them away. I look around, trying to figure out where I am and what's going on. I sigh in relief when I see I'm in my own bed, and Jay is alive and has his arms around me. 

I take in a shaky breath and hug Jay back. 

"Shh. Shh. Can you tell me what happened now?" 

I nodded and sat up. I wiped my face and pulled the covers up to my chin. 

"I was in the Hunger Games. You and me got picked. You died. Then I died." I choked out. He put his arm around my shoulder. 

"Hm," he says. "You've never dreamt I was in there with you. Interesting."  

"You're right." I whisper. He pulls back and studies me. In the darkness, his golden eyes glint, reminding me of the knife. I shiver again. 

"I know I'm usually right, but can you please say what about?" He says, obviously trying to cheer me up. But I don't smile. 

"I was in a tree and I had fallen asleep. I woke up when the cannon went off saying you were dead. I fell asleep again and woke up to someone screaming. It was much worse than screaming though. You could hear the pain and fear in it. It was so scary..." I trail off. Jay gives my shoulders an encouraging squeeze. "One of the worst things about the scream was that it was near me. So I got out of the tree and ran when I saw someone. You were right that it's worse than a quick death. I couldn't escape. I couldn't even think of a way to escape. It was horrible." 

Jay gives me another hug. Then I realize something.  

"Uh, Jabberjay? Why are you in my bed?" 

"Well, I was sitting on the balcony when I heard you shrieking. I thought you were getting murdered so I came in. I saw you were just having a nightmare so I decided to wake you up. Is that okay, Mockingjay?" 

"What if my parents would have... they could have come up here and seen..." 

"They're still at the Fillman's party." 

"Of course." I whisper, falling back on my pillow. My parents are major partiers. Why am I worried if Jay's here? It's not like my parents would be home enough to notice. I'm getting drowsy as Jay starts to get up.  

"G'night, Mockingjay." In my drowsiness I grab his arm. 

"It's okay. The dream wasn't real. The Hunger Games aren't real."