𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐄.

chapter 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧.

ᵗʳⁱᵇᵘᵗᵉ

‧₊˚🏹✩ ₊˚⊹

[ death of a friend ]

𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬, 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞. 

I shakily raised from the ground, glancing down at my hand, finding parchments of leaves stuck to my skin. With a grimace, I peeled off the leaf that was on my neck and looked beside me where my bow and arrow was propped up against the fallen tree trunk.

My brows were furrowed in confusion as I rifled through the arrows, before looking around me. My eyes latched onto the recognizable curly brown hair of Rue.

But she disappeared quickly, hiding behind the moss-covered tree. I stood up, tossing the quiver around my shoulder and picking up my bow. I slowly walked over to the tree, pressing my hand to the wood and craning my neck around to try and see her.

"Rue?" I asked, and in response, the girl peaked out, her eyes holding a slight terror to them. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you." I sent her a small smile, and she returned it.

About an hour later, I had cooked a squirrel for Rue and me. She was feasting away, hungry for a nice meal as she had mostly been eating the crackers from her bag or an apple or two. I watched as she ate every bit from her bone, before handing mine to her. "You want mine too?"

"No, that's okay," she said.

I chuckled, placing it to her fingers. "Here."

"Thanks," she smiled, taking a bite.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Couple of days," she answered in between chews. "I changed your leaves twice."

"Thank you," I mumbled, staring at her. "So, what happened while I was out?"

"The girl from 1 and the boy from 10."

"And the uh...And the boy from my district?"

Rue smirked knowingly. "Yeah, he's okay. I think he's down by the river." I sighed, blowing my hair out of my face as fiddled with my fingers. "Is all of that true?"

"What?" I questioned, watching her mischievously grin.

"You and him?" she sang, and I chuckled. 

"So where are Cato and the others?" 

Rue shook her head at my change of topic. "They got all their supplies by the lake. It's piled up in this great big pyramid."

"That sounds tempting," I smirked. 

"Now, this green stuff is gonna smoke like crazy, so as soon as you light it, move on to the next fire," I instructed as I carried the large branch of greenery. "Light this one last, and I'll meet you back over there."