Pregnant in the Games

Chapter 12: New Girl

Dedicated to SlytherinPrincess143, who gave me the ideas of this chapter. Thank you so much for the wonderful ideas!

The next three days were pretty rough. Despite what Luke did, I fell into a bit of a depression. For the last two years, Luke has been my love and my entire world. So I hate him, but at the same time, I really miss him.

Tetrick acted as my support system during the three days. Instead of me going hunting, he would insist that I lag behind with him and help him with the tree house. Progress was slow. We had no nails or hammers to actually build with. We were counting on sponsors only. So in the mean time, Talon chops the wood and I carry it to the secret location, where we bury it and hide it from other Tributes. 

In the last three days, we have heard two cannons. The number is down to 19 Tributes. At this rate, we won't get more Tributes for months. I have a feeling that the Capitol won't let these Tributes go on for too long. Tributes seem to be avoiding killing each other, since the more we kill, the faster more Tributes will get added. It's a smart strategy, but one that the Capitol won't approve of. 

On the third night, we were working hard on the tree house. Some sponsors sent down nails and a hammer, so we started to lay down a foundation. We've also made our ladder. Tetrick, Talon and Chris all worked on the foundation. I was set to keep watch. We've been lucky to not encounter any Tributes in the week and a half that we've been here. I don't want us to let our guard down, since it's been pretty easy to forget that we're not the only ones out there.

"Hey Willow, will you..." Chris trailed off.

"Yes?" I asked, turning around. 

"Never mind," Chris replied.

"No, what is it?"

"I was going to ask you to grab another piece of wood and hand it to me, but never mind. I'll do it myself."

"Why wouldn't I be able to lift a piece of wood? It's fine. I'll do it." I started to walk towards our wood pile, being careful to avoid any snares we may have placed.

"It's just that you have a lot on your plate right now. I didn't want-"

"Is this about my pregnancy?" I cut her off. "I only feel sick in the morning, for an hour or two, then I feel fine. I'm not even showing yet. I can lift the wood."

"I don't think it's about your pregnancy," Talon commented. 

It took me a moment to understand what he meant. "Wait, is this about Luke?"

"You've just been so upset! You've hardly said a word. I just wanted to give you some space and give you time to think."

"I'm fine," I replied. I wasn't sure if I was lying or not. "Luke killed an innocent women. Talon's mother, who didn't deserve to die. He let jealousy get the best of him and now his anger has consumed him. I remember seeing him angry at me right after the Interviews. He thinks Talon's the father of my child, although he should know better than that. He thinks I cheated on him and he's taking it out on Talon. Talon is a great friend of mine and I will never forgive Luke for what he's done. I hate him." I paused. Saying all these things out loud seemed to let my sadness fade away and my anger grow. "I'm over him." Now I know for sure that I'm fine. I'm really fine. No more sadness over Luke. "Now, about that wood." I turned around and grabbed it, walked through our minefield of snares, and handed it to Chris. I glanced over at Talon and saw tears glittering in his eyes. He's blinking quickly, trying to melt them away. He's been very strong recently. I could never hold myself together that well if my Mom died. 

"Talon..." I whispered and walked over to him. I wrapped my arms around him, Chris and Tetrick following, until we were all wrapped in a big bear hug. Talon sobbed in our arms. We didn't do any more work on the tree house that night.