The 23 Cannons Trilogy

Hopeful Brightness

Alanna Pyre, 12, District 6 Tribute

"And you should have seen the way she rushed at me! Swoosh!" I grimace as Tyler pours out his anecdote relating to his close encounter with the Career girl from District 1. She messed his arms up pretty badly, but he seems to be still alive. I guess he should be thankful that he managed to stumble into my hide out whilst running from her, else he might be dead. But the downside to his survival means that we're now stuck in an alliance until one of us dies. Hopefully him before me.
"Yes, Tyler, I get it. It was amazing. Now sit still whilst I get the bandages out." I crawl through the concealing bush, and grab the beaten up backpack I managed to salvage from the squirrels yesterday. I pull it open, and reach a hand in, grabbing the rather generously large roll of bandages. I pull them out, and turn to Tyler. Upon seeing the bandages, his face lights up, and a ridiculous grin plasters onto his face.
"Oh my gosh! Bandages! Back home, I always used to play hospital with my friends! It was so much fun!"
"Yes Tyler, I bet it was." I say flatter than planned. Even whilst loosing a dangerous amount of blood; it's pooling on the floor, he's still as bubbly as he was just over a week ago. I unwrap the roll, and the realisation of what I have to do next fills me with dread and humiliation.

"Tyler, I'm going to have to ask you to take off your shirt." The words leave my mouth awkwardly, and I feel the blood rushing to my face as Tyler nods, and begins to remove the article of clothing. Of all the times to be freaking out about seeing the other sex in a state of undress, now isn't the time. I hear the shirt drop to the floor, and let out a gasp at the damage caused.

There are two massive gashes, one down each arm, which are releasing a continuous stream of blood down his arm, and even onto his torso. There is another wound, whilst not as large, on the back of his shoulder, that seems to go deeper than the other one; this was where she got him with the knife. There doesn't seem to be any infection, fortunately, but if Tyler strains himself too much, he'll be risking making his wounds worse.

Swallowing my humiliation, I begin to wrap the bandages around Tyler’s arms. As soon as I get it around once, he begins to squirm and giggle.
“Stop, please; it tickles!”
As he says the words, I wince as a memory involving a similar situation floods my mind. When I was happier, and didn’t have to worry about battling for survival every day. Yet strangely, it was also the day that I learned the concept of the Hunger Games.

I stifle my tears as I stagger through the streets of my district, the autumn sun setting, creating a golden light that covers as far as I can see. For a moment, it distracts me from the pain I feel in my arm, but as soon as I think about it, the searing pain flares up, causing me to release a sob. I must look stupid, crying over a small cut on my arm.

I was playing outside, with my friends; the adults were too busy watching the older children play games on the television, when we started to play dares. My dare was to run up to the top of the tall hill outside of my house really quickly. So I did, and I had almost done it, as well, when I tripped on a loose part of the grass. This caused me to tumble down the hill in a ball of person, grass and mud, and crash into the fence separating us from the village full of big houses. The barbed wire surrounding the fence sliced into my arm, sending it into a lot of pain. After getting over the shock, I stood up, and began to make my way home.

My arm still hurts like it did when I first caused the injury, so this makes me think it isn’t actually just a small cut on my arm. It almost looks like the cut the girl on the TV had. This confuses me; why do so many people play a game that gets them hurt? I know I’ll never play a game like that.

I finally reach my house, and push open the door with my good arm. As soon as I step inside, I realise something’s wrong. The house is silent, and empty; undisturbed by everyday life.
"Hello?" I call out to the emptiness, but as I expected, I'm met with silence. Where are my parents? "Mom? Dad?"