The Fifty Fifth Annual Hunger Games

The Eighth Day

No one got much more sleep that night. After studying the bodies to make sure there was no outside threat, Caster's conclusion was almost even more disheartening. "I think she killed him then herself."
"Why would she do that?" Sterling asked, not quite being filled in on the previous day's events.
"They... got in a bit of a fight yesterday. I didn't think it would mean that much though..." Chanel sighed, hanging her head. Sure she was also angry at Jack, but she wouldn't say it was enough to murder him. Although, the games had a way of twisting things. Petty fights turned into brawls to the death. It had already happened to them once. She rested her head on the shoulder of the boy next to her, attempting to hold back tears. "I'm sorry about your partner..."
"Me too," he sighed. "If I remember correctly, she had a younger sister back home. I can't even imagine her family being forced to watch something like that," his voice shook slightly as he imagined her death being projected in the huge screens stationed in every factory and in the district square. The senseless bloodshed couldn't be escaped. It was how the Capitol kept the districts in check after all.
"I know they were both good people at heart," she mumbled, bottom lip quivering.
"That's what these games do..." he closed his eyes, leaning his head against hers. "I wish I could take you away from here," he breathed, barely above a whisper.

As the sun began to rise, Rosilee finally had an excuse to stop pretending to get rest. The sudden unpredictability of the gruesome death of someone who seemed so innocent to her had shaken her to the core.
Jasper followed her as she stood and left the shelter of the cornucopia. He silently took her hand as they stood together, looking up at the sky. "Want to take a walk?"
She nodded and let him lead her towards the woods, the threats that awaited inside completely lost to their minds.
When they arrived at the stream they had visited just yesterday with their fallen ally, the girl stopped, tears brimming in her eyes. She slowly sunk to her knees, hopelessness taking over.
Her partner gently joined her, wrapping his arms around her to comfort her. He let her silently cry into his chest for a moment before carefully lifting her face to his, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. "We can still do it you know. Tonight. We can take some supplies and go."
She sighed, knowing that was probably the best option. She opened her mouth to reply then the soft rustling of leaves and the quiet squeak of a stretching string just barely caught her ear. Her eyes followed the sound to find a dark skinned boy poised in a tree above them, an arrow aimed at her chest.
The next moment seemed to happen in slow motion. Seemingly all at once, Jasper spotted the boy and pushed her down, using his own body to shield hers, just as the boy's fingers let go of the string. The bowstring snapped, launching the arrow and causing it to impale the Twelve boy through the abdomen. She heard a scream for help leave her lips, effectively causing the boy in the trees to flee, leaping from branch to branch with agility.
The tears returned with full force as Jasper rolled unto his side, breathing already becoming labored. She pulled him into her lap, gently cupping his face. "Help!" she screamed again in the direction of the camp. "Please stay with me," she cried, a stray salty tear dripping onto his face.
He shook his head slightly. "You need to go," he rasped. "He could come back."
She shook her head, much more frantically than him. "I'm not leaving you. There's no way in hell."
"Rosy, please," he begged, reaching a frail hand up to brush a stray hair out of her face.
She shook her head again, shoulders shaking as she tried not to sob.
He smiled softly. "I'll see you again when the big man comes to get you too," he whispered, gently touching the cross that hung from her neck. "But hopefully that won't be for a very long time."
She shook her head, though much weaker this time. "I don't want to live without you... please..."
"I love you. Don't forget it," his voice was losing volume as his energy was waning.
"I love you too. I could never forget," she assured him, carefully pressing a short kiss to his lips.
He smiled as she pulled away before his whole body relaxed into her arms, his eyes glazing over.
"Wait, please!" Rosilee begged, but he was already gone. She clutched him to her chest, letting out a heartbreaking wail as Caster and Levie ran up behind her.
After assessing if there was any immediate threat, the Four pair gave her a moment before Levie stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Rosilee... we need to get you back to camp."
She shook her head. "I can't leave him..." she whispered weakly. Her sobbing had left her drained, barely able to lift herself.
"Please..." Levie sighed softly. "He would want you to stay safe. And staying here with his body wouldn't be doing that."
After a moment, Rosilee finally nodded. She laid him down the best she could and moved his arms to lie in an x across his chest after gently closing his eyelids. With the ghost of his final smile still on his lips, it almost looked as if he was simply sleeping. She tried to stand, but had to lean on Levie to do so.
The other girl wrapped an arm around her waist, helping to hold her up. She noticed the sun glinting off of the silver cross dangling from her neck and smiled softly. "He'll keep him safe for you," she assured her, nodding towards her necklace.

When the three returned, the energy around the camp held a gleeful buzz. Sterling was able to stand again with the help of the miracle cream and his grip on Chanel's arm steadying him, and he was taking short, shaky steps. He looked up from his feet with a grin as they approached. But his expression quickly faltered when he only counted three among the returning group.
"Where's-?" he started, but a shake of the head from Caster silenced him. He let Chanel help him back to sitting on the ground as the air quickly turned somber again.
No other words were shared as Levie led Rosilee into the shelter of the cornucopia. When the Four girl returned, she walked straight into Caster's arms, a dejected look on her face. He wordlessly wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin atop the shorter girl's head. "I don't know what I was expecting from these games, but all this loss is really starting to get to me..." she whispered against his chest, her voice shaking.
"I know..." he sighed. He wanted to reassure her. He wanted more than anything to tell her that everything would be ok. Tell her that they would make it through this. But this was the Hunger Games. And the Capitol would make sure that none of that could be true.

That night, Levie had convinced Rosilee to emerge to eat dinner, but she could only manage a few meager nibbles. Gifts had been dropping right and left as the emotional death of the District 12 boy had moved the Capitol to reach into their pockets.
She sat against the side of the cornucopia under the shade, staring at a fixed spot on the ground in front of her with glassy eyes until the sun set. The next time she looked up, it was dark out. "I can take the first watch," she offered, her voice hoarse from the tears and from little use all day.
Everyone looked at her, shocked to hear her voice, let alone to hear her volunteering for something like that. Levie and Caster shared a glance, not sure how to react. "I'll join you," he decided, standing and grabbing his spear.
After a moment, Rosilee nodded, slowly standing herself. Everyone else took that as their sign to head to bed and the three remaining tributes headed to the cornucopia to get some much needed rest. If their minds would let them, of course.

Later that night, Caster took a seat next to the girl as she sat, staring into the night sky. The broadcast of the fallen tributes had just played, the only face to light up the sky belonging to the boy she loved.
"My mother died in my arms," he said, his eyes also on the sky.
She turned her head to look at him in shock. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because it felt like the end of the world. Because I felt like I should've done something to help her. But there was nothing I could do."
She watched his face as he stared at the stars, not sure how to react. That was how she felt.
"She had been sick for awhile. Tuberculosis. It's a miracle I never caught it. My father died when I was young and we were too poor for a doctor, so I was the only one who could take care of her. I was only eleven."
"I'm sorry..." she breathed. She wanted to cry for him, but she had no tears left.
He shook his head before looking to her. "My point is, life goes on. You can make it past this."
She sighed and shook her head, looking down. "Even if I did make it out of this arena alive... I would never be able to go home without him. Everything would remind me of him," she clutched her necklace. "His family lives right next to mine. I could never face them again," she looked back up at him.
He knew that heartbreak well. He had almost starved to death soon after his mother's death with no way to get himself food besides snatching up fish from the water, but with no one to teach him before even that yielded little. But he made it to his twelfth birthday and was able to submit himself to the Games Training Academy, where his former neighbor worked and took pity on him, allowing him to attend for free.
His attention was snapped back to the present when he felt a frail hand come to rest on the one he had wrapped around his spear.
"Please..." she whispered, and he instantly knew what she wanted.
"I... I don't know if I can do that..." he frowned, trying to pull his hand away, but her grip only became stronger.
"Please just end these games for me now. I can't keep going on like this," her voice was surprisingly steady and her piercing eyes held his gaze.
"What will I tell the others?"
"You can tell them the truth if you want, just... please... put me out of my misery. I couldn't ask this of anyone else, you have to be the one."
He knew she was right. He sighed heavily, hanging his head.
She stood and pulled him up next to her before guiding the tip of his spear to press against her heart. She seemed more steady now than he had ever seen her. "Please."
He shut his eyes tightly and took a breath. He heard her let out a soft sigh and he used as much force as he could to shove the spear through her chest. She gasped, a stray tear falling down her cheek. "Thank you..." she breathed, but her gaze was on the sky again.
He picked her up and took her to the middle of the clearing and laid her down gently. He pulled the weapon out of her chest and mimicked what he saw her do to her partner's body earlier that day. He shut her eyelids carefully and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm sorry it had to end this way. Say hello to Jasper for me."