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."

"Right," Rue nodded, throwing down her own branch with me into the pyramid of logs and twigs.

"And then, I'll destroy their stuff while they're chasing us," I finished.

"We need a signal in case one of us gets held up," the girl added. 

"Okay," I agreed. "Like what?"

Rue glanced around for a moment, before her gaze landed on my Mockingjay pin. "Here. Watch this." She suddenly sang a melody, and my brows raised when I heard the same tune repeated by the birds.

"Mockingjays. That's great," I praised.

"Back home, we use them to signal all the time." The both of us stared up at the trees, waiting for the birds to finish. "You try," she said once they finished. I puckered my lips, then whistled a soft harmony, and the Mockingjays copied it. "Okay, so, if we hear that, it means we're okay and we'll be back real soon."

"We're gonna be okay," I reassured, and she looked down before surging into me, wrapping her small arms around my waist. I reciprocated the action, resting my chin atop her head. I pulled back, softly uttering, "Hey, I'll see you for supper."

"Okay."

"Okay." I turned and started my trek towards the Cornucopia. 

I kept myself ducked low, observing the Cornucopia and the pyramid of supplies ahead of me. I held an expression of confusion as my eyes raked over the piles of dirt. 

Suddenly, Marvel stood from his spot, gesturing in the distance with his spear. "Guys. Guys, look! Over here. Come on, come on. Look!"

I followed where he was pointing, smiling at the smoke of Rue's fire. "Let's go," Cato said, before facing the District 3 boy. "You stay guard and don't move until we get back."

I smiled when Cato, Clove and Marvel ran off, leaving just the District 3 boy to guard the pyramid. I slowly began walking closer towards the outer end of the forestry around me, starting to analyze the piles of dirt.

And then there was a flash of red. I watched with a shocked look as Fox Face dashed out from the tree line, not far from where I was. The District 5 girl abruptly started hopping around the dirt piles, stepping on the slightly dug out spots. She grabbed two small bags, before running off. 

The boy guarding turned around at the sound of footsteps, venturing in the direction that Fox Face ran in.

It was then that I realized. Those piles of dirt were the pedestal mines. They had been re-dug. So that's why the Careers wanted the District 3 boy. He was from the technology district. 

I pulled an arrow from the quiver, focusing on the bag of apples sitting at the top of the pyramid. Pulling it back, the arrow soared before slicing through the bag. I sharply sighed in disappointment when the apples didn't fall.

I stepped out into the open, casting a glance around me to see if the Careers were back, but found none. Cocking another arrow, the string brushed against my cheek. I let out a heavy breath, before releasing the arrow. 

It was silent as a few of apples fell from the open slit beneath, tumbling down the boxes and bags before hitting the ground.

The explosions were sudden. They knocked me to the ground, causing loud ringing to fill my ears and head.

I watched as the District 3 boy came back, completely terrified when Cato and the others came back. Their voices were muffled as they spoke.  "I don't know what happened," he said shakily. 

"What the hell happened?" Cato spat.

"I don't know!"

Cato ripped the spear from him, shoving him back. "Our stuff!" I looked away as he grabbed the boy's neck, snapping it. He fell to the ground, dead. I gasped, scrambling backwards before standing and fleeing back into the woods.

I dashed through the trees, jumping over any rocks or twigs. When I was far enough, I whistled the tune, the Mockingjays repeating it as I panted for breath.

There was no reply, so I whistled again. I walked around, heart beginning to pump with anticipation, waiting for Rue to respond. I then started running to the last bundle that was to be burned, finding it unseared. 

"Y/N!" My head sprang up with terror at the sound of Rue's scream. Immediately, I took off, willing my legs to work faster. "Y/N! Y/N, help! Y/N!" I came across a field of greenery when I saw Rue. She was trapped underneath a net, still shrieking for me as tears slipped down her cheeks. "Y/N! Help! Y/N!"

"It's okay. It's okay," I soothed as I whipped out my knife, slicing through the rope. I yanked it off her, and she leaped into my open arms. I cradled her shaking form close to me, caressing her hair. "You're okay. You're okay. You're fine. See?"

She suddenly looked away from me to something behind me, and I spun around, finding Marvel throwing his spear. With lightning speed, I pulled out an arrow and shot it. Marvel twitched as the arrow stuck itself into his chest, before he fell back with a dull thud. 

As I turned back, I nearly screamed. Rue. With Marvel's spear in her stomach. She had a blank face for a moment as she slowly pulled it out, before reality hit her and she began to cry. 

Rue fell back, and I caught her, lying her against my knees as I unzipped her jacket, tearing up at the sight of blood and the wound. I let out gulps of tearful breaths, moving some curly strands from her face. Rue stared up at me with a shaking lip, a tear falling down her temple.

"It's okay. You're okay," I sniffled. "You're okay. You're okay."

She continued to gaze up at me as she numbly asked, "Did you blow up the food?"

I nodded, caressing her cheek. "Every bit of it."

"Good." I could see that it was painful for her to breath, but she continued, trying to stay. "You have to win," she whispered. I looked up, over to Marvel. I had killed a boy. But I felt no sympathy, for he had killed others just like him. He had also killed children. Returning my eyes to her, she weakly requested, "Can you sing?"

"Okay," I nodded. "Deep in the meadow,

Under the willows,

A bed of grass,

A soft green pillow,

Lay down your head,

And close your eyes,

And when they open,

The sun will rise."

Slowly, Rue's vision began to blur, but she focused her last moments on my voice, imagining that it was a simply a lullaby, singing her to sleep.

I watched as the light faded from Rue's sweet, brown eyes and I gently swiped my fingers over her eyelids, closing them. I placed a kiss to her cold forehead, and I finally let my sobs claw out of my throat.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, continuing to stroke her skin which was growing icy. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I zipped her jacket up again, covering the wound, before delicately raising her head from my lap and lowering it to the ground below.

I felt as though my screams were silent as I shrieked loudly, ripping Marvel's spear from the ground and mindlessly throwing it away. My fingers gripped my skull as I dropped my head to her chest, wishing to hear her heartbeat.

I wandered over to the edge of the field, finding a large grove of flowers. I was particularly drawn to the white baby's breath. I reached down, yanking them to the ground and gathering them into a large handful.

I went back to Rue and started to encase the girl in a rim of the flowers. Soon, she was completely silhouetted, and as I wrapped her still fingers around the small bouquet, I let the tears fall once again.

Rue was gone. The sweet and mischievous Rue was gone.

Pressing one last kiss to her forehead, I stood, beginning to leave her body. But as I turned to look at her, my eyes traced through the trees, before finding it. Another camera. It was poorly concealed unlike the others. 

Wordlessly, I raised my hand in a three-finger salute, just like the people from District 12 did to me. It was a good-bye. It was for Rue.

I did not know of the riots that started in District 11 that day.