𝐅𝐎𝐗𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 [EDITING]

ten

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I look up in the trees and see a dimly lit face peeking out from the branches. I looks like a little girl, it was the little girl from district 11. I think her name was... Rue.

She looks at me with an expression of horror on her face, like she thinks I'll hurt her now that I've noticed her. I look straight back at her, I don't really know what to do at this point. She could have allies hidden in the bushes, just waiting to kill me. The small girl gingerly begins to climb down from the tall tree she was once perched in. She shuffles down the beaches with ease, almost like a squirrel. She stands on the ground not moving. She takes a look behind her, almost like she's debating wether or not to run away.

She takes a cautious step forward, probably realizing I'm not much of a threat. "You're Rue, right?"

The girl nods, walking a step closer. "You got any food?" She asks.

She's lucky I'm nice and have sympathy for her. If I was someone else she would be dead by now. "Yeah." I replied, quietly. "What about it?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

She responded simply with, "okay."

Rue walked closer to me, she now was standing at the waters edge, looking down at me. "Allies?" She asked, taking a step back cautiously. I sighed, I had promised myself I would have no allies in this game; it had never turned out well for any of the past contenders in the games and would probably go the same for me if I didn't get to Rue first. But she looked so small and helpless.

"Alright, only for the night though." I sighed.

"Alright." The small girl said, taking a seat next to me. The two of us are watched as the sun completely set over the horizon, covering us in darkness. The moon shone over us, slightly illuminating Rue so I could see the features on her face. I reached into my backpack, pulling out the water bottle that had been filled with the salmon berries I had picked that morning. I unscrewed the lid and pulled out a handful of the peach coloured berries, "want some?" I asked, reaching my hand filled with the berries towards Rue. She looks down at the berries in my hand wearily and takes them with hesitation; almost as if she's worried they're really poisonous or something.

The small girl popped one of the salmon berries into her mouth, her big chocolate coloured eyes widening in surprise. "Wow!" She says, "these are really good!" Rue exclaims happily, she's clearly never had anything like this before.

I smile at the adorable expression on her face, "yeah," I giggle. I look up at the gigantic and pale moon up in the sky and night sky sprinkled with glimmering stars.

Glimmering...

Glimmer!

I shake the thought of the blonde girl from district one as I see a dot appear in the sky. It's getting bigger and bigger by the second. As it gets close to us, I realize it's a small, round, shiny silver capsule. It's a sponsor! I've gotten my first sponsor! I immediately jump up from the spot on the ground. I reached up into the air and the small silver capsule floated gently into my hands. I popped open the lid, anxious to see what was the capsule held. I looked inside; it was a small, red and green cardboard box filled with matches. I looked over at Rue who's jaw had just dropped, I smiled and opened up the box of matches, examining each and every one of the small wooden sticks.

"Go find wood," I said to Rue. "We can start a fire." I added. It would be much safer to have a fire in an open area like this; there would be much less places to attack and hide from.

It had been at least half an hour since Rue had gone out to grab the wood for our fire, which was much longer then I had expected her to take. And I began to panic. What if she had gotten lost, or maybe someone found her and killed her? Maybe I was too distracted to hear the cannon go of, or she was still bleeding out? I took a deep breath in, trying to calm myself. I barely even knew the girl. What was I so worried about? I shouldn't even trust anyone, let alone have any feelings for anyone here.

A small figure tumbled out from the bushes; it was Rue. I sighed in relief as she walked over to me with a bunch of small sticks in her arms. She placed them on the ground and sat down along side me. Rue arranged the sticks nicely, leaving something that resembled a small wooden cabin. I took opened up the little box of matched and took three of the small wooden sticks out. I scraped one on the outside of the matchbox, and it lit on fire. I set the flame in the mound of sticks, and it almost immediately set on fire. The sticks must have been really dry, and I was definitely very grateful for that.

Soon enough, we have a big blazing fire, Rue has gone off into the forest a few times to get more sticks so we can keep our fire going. The two of us put our hands a bit too close to the fire to warm them up. We do this for about an hour, all in silence. "So." I finally speak up, breaking the silence between the two of us. "Have you, like, killed anyone?" I asked her, I was genuinely curious about it. I doubt she did though.

"No." Rue said, not taking her eyes off the blazing fire.

"You got any weapons?" I say.

"Yeah." She says and reaches into her pocket. Rue pulls out a small wooden sling-shot and shows it to me proudly. "I got this, I'm pretty good with it. I hit someone, they got really scared." She says with a giggle.

I smile at her excitement, I hope she survives at least longer then I do. She really deserves it. "Can you show me how you use it?" I ask her.

"Yeah, sure." Rue picks up one of the small rocks sitting beneath us and puts it on the pouch of the sling-shot, she pulls the pouch back, and the rubber wires stretch out. She lets go and sends the rock into the darkness. I hear the sound of the rock hitting wood; she must have hit one of the trees beyond the clearing.

"Wow, you're really good with that thing!" I say in surprise.

Rue smiles, "thanks," she says.

I can see the small girl begin to drift off, trying to keep her drooping eyes open. I can stay awake, and make sure no one attacks us. Rue lies down on the mossy ground, and eventually falls asleep, leaving me and the fire alone in the darkness of the cold night. I take my water bottle and pour out the water in it over the fire, putting it out just in case I fall asleep; I don't want anyone seeing it and killing us in our sleep.

I watch the sky for any deaths, but there's nothing; no faces show up in the sky. No capitol emblem. Nothing. I frown, I was hoping more would be killed off today so I would have a higher chance of surviving.

After a while of watching the moon and stars reflect off the unmoving water of the large lake, my eyes droop and I fall asleep alongside Rue.