In the darkness, I hear gunshots and mockingjays.
Slowly, I open my eyes. I can't focus. Everything is a blur. Where am I? Am I dead?
My hand brushes something cruchy beneath me and it distintegrates. Something sharp scratches my leg. Greenery greets my vision. It all hits me and I want to remain here forever. Exhaustion washes like a wave over me, leaching the energy from my body, from my mind. I don't have the energy to get up. I'm back in the forest. How long have I been lying here? I close my eyes and I try my best to stay conscious. I piece together my memories. My name is Lucy Gray Baird... I'm 16 years old... I was in the Hunger Games... I survived... My home was District 12... Coriolanus tried to kill me. He almost did. I survived...I have to kill him before he kills anyone else. This is my dying wish.
The rain pounds harder than ever, turning the ground has to mud and I'm lying in it. I want to give up. Lie here forever. The beautiful forest filled with all things beautiful. My leg! The pain shoots around my body, consuming me in the never ending agony. I brace myself to look at it, even if it's the last thing I want to do.
Red, warm sticky blood runs like a river of lava down my leg. Splashes of mud encases it. Orange trails swirls around my leg caused by the rain. And two bullets. Black. Death. Congealed blood mingles with the fresh. Oh god. What do I do? What do I do? How long can I survive? Can I even walk? Help me!
I sit up and the world spins dizzingly around me. I take deep breaths until the nausea fades away and I process my surroundings. I'm not far from the lake. I can get there. Gradually, I push myself up. It feels like it takes hours to perform a simple task. The pain is excruciating. I heave myself up and without warning, vomit up whatever sustenance I have left in my frail body.
Along the journey a number of mockingjays lie broken on the floor, destroyed by bullets.
I think how quickly this has turned into our own private Hunger Games. The forest is the arena. We are the players. Only one will come out victorious.
Dragging myself down to the lake, it takes forever but I have to get there. It's too much effort to walk. Hopping? That's out of question. With this uneven ground, its far too easy to trip. If I fall, I may never come up again. I have crawl through the undergrowth. No one is here to see me lose my dignity. It's just this part of the forest, which I will never see again after today. This is a caged nightmare. My dress will be ruined, all the rainbow colours will never be the same again and the effort will wear down the fabric. But at this point, what choice do I have?
Somehow, somehow I make it to the lake. My heart soars with relief and I start to relax. I let go of the fears and worry which previously held me. I notice that the katniss has been disturbed and trampled. Was it Coriolanus? It looks like someone has dragged something through it. Quickly, I take off my scarf which I retrieved on the way to the lake. Then, I dunk it in the cool lake water and I carefully begin to clean my wounds. The blood and mud come off easily. But that's not my main concern. I don't know what to do about the bullets, so I take a deep breath and I prise them out with my bare hands. This causes a new gush of blood and I want to vomit and the pain! Oh the pain! I clumsily wrap my scarf around my leg and tie it into a tourniquet. That will hopefully stop the bleeding. I don't care if it's still sopping wet. I have some spare clothes back at the house that I can use later.
When I slump inside the lake house and collapse on the floor, my head jerks towards the back of the door to where the pile of weapons should be. Instead, nothing. The murder weapons are gone. So are Coriolanus's possessions He must have drowned the guns in the lake! That's why the katniss is flattened! He's gone. Free. Free to live his life back. No fear of being branded a criminal.
Looking inside the fireplace, lying on the coals and wood, the fish are burnt black but there are still some live coals left. I slowly coax it into a burning fire. The heat warms up the house immediately and I scoot onto the hearth. I'm completely frozen thanks to the rain and my soaked, muddy dress. I peel it off and I rummage for some more clothes. Coriolanus has left me my belongings. Even the water jug. Well that's not a murder weapon is it? In spite of everything I chuckle. Exhaustion washes over me like a wave and I know that today is over. Tomorrow I'll gather food and get myself cleaned up. Then I'll decide my next move.
Snow may land on top but fire melts snow.
YOU ARE READING
The Ballad of Lucy Gray
Fanfiction"Was she alive, dead, a ghost who haunted the wilderness? Perhaps no one would ever really know." ~Suzanne Collins. After Lucy Gray Baird leaves the safety of District 12 behind to live the rest of her remaining days out in the wilderness, the vict...
