Author Games: Return To Seasons

Task Two: On The First Day Of Christmas - ☣ Hybrid Entries ☣

District 13 Male - BROOKE STEEL

!!DID NOT HAND IN!!

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District 13 Female - FINOLA CALENDULA PONCEAU [8] 

!!DID NOT HAND IN!!

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District 14 Male - SKY WHITE 

Sky couldn't bear it. The lift up to the arena was too suspenseful, too scary. His heart raced and his body shook, but he tried to calm himself. Rather, he thought of things that made him mad. Maybe if he got mad he would survive by killing the other tributes. It was a horrible thought, but it was true.

He felt the platform lifting and lifting, knowing it was only a few seconds until his probable death. Well, he might as well be prepared.

Then the ride up ended, and it opened to reveal bright light. Sky covered his eyes. 

When his eyes had adjusted to the light, he slowly opened them. Surrounding him was blinding white snow, with rolling hills with many spruce trees among them. He shivered, feeling the cold air on him.

He saw a village just to the north, along with mountains, and to Sky's surprise, a castle, made with a pinkish-blue material of some sort. As Sky looked closer at it, he noticed the shimmer, the clean, slim walls of the castle, and realized that it was made of ice. He looked to his left and saw the many hills, and a swamp. To his east there was only a huge, thick forest of spruce trees, covered in white snow.

And then he noticed the tree. Surprised at how he hadn't seen it before, he frowned, suddenly overwhelmed at the sight of the huge, outstanding tree. Lights were strewn around it, like a Christmas tree. The part that freaked him out were the presents. Weapons, mostly. Food, water bottles, tents, tons of useful items. Other than that small part, the place was beautiful.

Then, lightly, it started to snow. Snowflakes in millions of different patterns floated slowly to the ground, in almost a soothing way. And with that, the countdown started. 

To take his mind off it, Sky followed the countdown. Eighteen... Seventeen... Sixteen... 

It continued on, up to five.. Four... Three...

The timer flickered and changed back to four. Sky's heart stopped as he looked at the other tributes, terrified. They were all just as confused as he was. The girl standing on a platform a few feet away from him gasped a bit, and he saw a boy, obviously freaked out a lot.

The timer came back to three, by this time Sky was panting, he could barely breathe. Then it switched to two. As he waited for one, the timer glitches, turning purple. Then it smashed, disappearing right into the sky.

A few kids had started to silently cry, tears streaming down their face, and that was definitely what Sky wanted to do, but he couldn't. He had to be brave. 

Silence...

And then the gong sounded. In utter confusion, tributes ran crazily around. However, Sky was too stunned to move. What had just happened? What went wrong? 

He saw what he assumed was the District 13 boy get stabbed by a knife, blood seeping out from his forehead. He fell over and became limp.

A District 6 girl had been shot by an arrow, straight through the heart. She screamed, a high-pitched sound echoing around the arena, through the other tributes' cries and yells. Yet still, through the gory horror, Sky stood frozen in place, in a daze. Surprisingly no one came and tried to kill him, until he had to dodge a boy coming at him with a sword. Suddenly his feet moved as he swiftly dodged it, using some of the skills he'd learned in the forest. However, the sword grazed his arm and though he shrieked with pain, he kept running. Under the tree, there was almost no weapons left. He braced himself and ran for a single throwing knife, hoping he could possibly hit someone with it.