m e r c i l e s s l y // open

That morning, I left.

From my freezing position in the tree, the hollow tree I was hiding in, waiting for prey so I could shoot them with my bow. I knew Haysel was somewhere out in the cold, but I didn't worry about her. I settled down, and I slept. But as dawn rose, I knew I could not stay in the forest. It was dangerous, very dangerous. I hopped up from my position and clambered back up the tree and over the hole that I used as an entrance. Landing with a THUMP on the ground, I straightened my back. My feet shuddered under the wobbling. I didn't topple over. I held my balance then began to walk forwards. I saw something in the distance - oh, it was Haysel. Still asleep, by the looks of it.

I walked over to her sleeping body, but as I looked down - she was not merely sleeping. She had blood on her face, on her hands, and a gaping wound on her chest. I knew at once she had bled to death from an attack of some sort of creature. I figured the creature may have not moved that far away from here, so I left her rigid body where it lay and ran off, in no hope but to save myself from whatever killed her. I had no time to feel grief, all I could hear in my head was the pumping of blood as it boiled around in my head. I reached the fence. I hadn't actually moved so far from District 10.

I climbed up and over the fence, landing on my leg. I heard an audible crack. I hobbled towards my home, and my mother sat in the empty room on a single wooden chair, her head cupped within her two hands. She was sobbing. My empty bed was in the corner of the room, and it was pulled open, the covers had been dropped on the floor and I looked straight ahead of me. My mother raised her head from her hands. "Marianne! Your home!" she exclaimed, hugging me. "Your leg - it doesn't look in shape!" I cringed and looked down at my throbbing leg. "Never mind, I'll look at it." She investigated my leg. "Definitely a break," she said. "What happened, dear?"

I shuffled a little on my seat. "I escaped to the woods. It was supposed to be just for a small hunting session - but then I stayed overnight there. I met - I met a girl who wasn't really that kind. She just warned me about poisonous berries and then begged me not to shoot her. Then she went to her camp thing and I camped in a hollow tree. Then - then I woke up, in - in the morning, and I was ready to come back, then...she was dead!" I sighed. "Happens all the time. Deaths from bleeding to death and all. I suppose I shouldn't be in mourning much, she probably would have died anyway, eventually." My head was bent in shame.

"Darling, it's not your fault. Now, I'll fashion you some crutches so you can walk. But in the meantime, we'll have to push hard on the back of this chair so you can move around." I nodded. My mother was so kind - so caring - however did she end up with me as a daughter? I'm not a good daughter, not at all. So how come she didn't leave me when I was a baby? I abandoned her, yet she continued to love me and protect me, patch up my broken leg and do whatever she could to save me. So I asked her to sit me down outside the house, in hope that I could feel free like I always did, with some fresh air and a rest for my leg.