Take Me Under {Ping's End}

Before the reaping, it seemed as if everything in my life back in District Eleven was pure bliss. Sure, most people in District Eleven, including myself, didn't have a whole lot of wealth in our possession. I wasn't completely impoverished, however, and still was able to get by quite well. I spent a lot of time with my closest friends, and I love them all dearly. I knew that this would be the case until the day I died, as I would never let anything bad happen to them for as long as I was able to protect them.

There's a day I remember vividly, not too long before the reaping, where I spoke with Cinder. This young girl had always been one of my closest friends, ever since we met, despite being four years younger than myself, and I cared for her quite dearly. She has always been an absolute sweetheart and even insisted that she wanted to volunteer for me if I were reaped for the Hunger Games and she had the option to do so. I instructed her, however, that she was not to do so. This was one of my ways of protecting her, but it wasn't the only reason that I told her and all of my other friends that they were not to take my place. Another reason was honor, and it was probably the biggest reason that, should I have been reaped, I would want to keep my spot.

Sure, it was quite likely that I would die in the Hunger Games, should I ever had ended up having to face them myself. I didn't care about this, however, as my true goal was to bring honor to my family, no matter how difficult it ended up being to do so. I would get the absolute highest training score that I could obtain, no matter how hard that meant I had to work before my private training session with the Gamemakers. I would try my hardest to make good allies who would protect me, as well as be friends of mine, in a way. Then again, friends weren't always the best thing to have when you'd have to kill each other, in the end of it all.

I would do whatever I had to achieve honor for my family, and clearly, if I were to be chosen for the Hunger Games, no matter my age, it meant that it was my time to do so. That's why I told them all not to volunteer for me. Cinder was the hardest to convince, but I still managed to do so. Merida, Moana, Belle... all of the others... none of them were allowed to take my place, as I wouldn't allow it. I would never let them go in and not only take away my chance at bringing honor to my family name, but also risk their lives in the process of trying to save mine.

---

When the day of the Seventy-Ninth reaping finally did arrive, however, chills went down my spine as soon as the District's escort reached their lanky fingers into the bowl of little slips of paper that had potential female tributes' names scrawled upon them. My heart raced as they selected one individual slip, as I feared it would be one of the others. I didn't fear for myself, no. I feared for my friends, and only them. It would be selfish of me to fear for myself. It may even be seen as dishonorable, in my honest opinion.

The piece of paper that held a single name upon it was unfolded slowly, just to cause more anticipation in the crowd before it was finally read aloud with my name booming to the people of the District who were gathered in the District Square.

"Ping!" they announced to everyone.

My heart began to pound even faster, and I remember the moment all too vividly as I made my way to the stage, hoping and praying to my ancestors that my friends would not pounce forward so foolishly as to replace me in this moment, swiping the position I was destined for away from me. Luckily, they did not. I was to fight and bring honor to my family, and nothing would be allowed to stop that from happening if I could help it.

---

When my friends and family visited me in the Justice Building, I actually managed to hold back my tears the entire time I was in there with them, as they didn't start flowing until I was alone in my room on the train. My parents even revealed a secret that they'd been keeping from me for all too long. They told me the family name that I was to be honoring, and it was the name of Lanhua.

Cinder was the first to enter the room I was in, followed by Belle, Moana, Merida and the others, one by one. I wasn't given much time with any of them. Or, perhaps I was, but it flew by much too quickly for me to even truly remember. Cinder was the most difficult to console, but the others seemed to stay a bit stronger. One of my particular visitors in the Justice Building, however, changed my life even more so than when my parents told me that we were known as the Lanhua family. It was when Merida visited me, and we finally revealed our true feelings to one another.

She told me she loved me, I told her the same thing, and damn was it true.

I loved Merida more than anything else in my entire life. She meant the world to me, and nothing would ever change that. Now, in that moment, I began to face a dilemma. Now that she knew I loved her, and I knew that she loved me, I worried about how crushed she would be, should I end up dying in the arena, which was highly likely to happen. My odds were one in twenty-four, after all. There wasn't much of a chance for anyone to survive in that arena.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do at this point. I was locked into the position, as, in a way, I'd even asked for it. There was nothing I could do at this point. I was going to be fighting in the arena of the Seventy-Ninth Annual Hunger Games whether I liked the idea of it or not at this point. It was too late to back out and tell my friends to take my place. Then again, what kind of horrible person would I have to be to tell my friends to volunteer for me? I'd have to be quite cruel to do that, I imagine, and Ping Lanhua isn't a cruel person.

---

The train ride to the Capitol seemed to take even longer than an eternity, if that was a possibility. The further I got away from home, and the further away I got from my love, Merida, the longer it seemed to take. It felt as if I'd never reach my destination and never truly find out whether I'd meet my end or return home to those I cared for instead. I wasn't sure what else I could do to pass the time, so when I finally managed to slip away from speaking with my mentor, victor Kirito Miristioma, as well as his daughter, Anastasia Miristioma, I went to my room that I'd been temporarily assigned for my time on the train. I could only imagine how many other District Eleven tributes had lied down in this same bed, thinking of it as their death bed, dooming them to never return home.

Most of the time, to my great disappointment, they seemed to be right, should those be their thoughts. Those were my thoughts in that moment, too. I wouldn't have been surprised if they turned out to be correct. I eventually learned that the only way to pass the time any more quickly would be to close my eyes and go to sleep. Luckily, with the exhaustion I was experiencing, this wouldn't be a difficult task. Almost immediately after my eyelids shut the light of the outside world out of my field of vision, I fell into a deep sleep. It wasn't just a sleep, however. It was much more likely to be considered a nightmare, or perhaps even worse.

---

The nightmare I had on the train would never completely end up fading from my mind for the rest of my life, I was sure of that, especially if I didn't make it out of the Games alive, since that would mean that my life was significantly shorter than I would have liked.

In the terrors of my sleep that surely had to have caused me to toss and turn, it was Merida who was chosen for the Hunger Games at the reaping, not me. I wasn't able to volunteer for her, though. I couldn't shout out to take her place, as it was as if my voice had completely vanished, rendering me incapable of even speaking a single word. Then, she was sent to the Hunger Games, not even giving me a chance to say goodbye to her in the Justice Building. As soon as she had entered the terrifying arena, she was the first to go down.

That was when I woke up screaming.

---

Luckily, when I arrived at the Capitol, my mind's focus returned to reality, as least for a little while, even if the nightmare was still lurking in the back of my brain, waiting to emerge once more, tormenting me as much as it could. Was that how Merida felt when I was reaped? Frozen, speechless and unable to shout out to save the love of her life from certain doom? Perhaps that was for the best, as it meant that I would be the one who risked dying instead of her. Still, however, I felt that, now that my imagination had crafted those scenes for me during my slumber, I now knew what she may have been going through emotionally.

It was like torture for one's mind and emotions. They would never truly be repaired again. Now I just had to hope I didn't drop dead on the ground of the arena as quickly as Merida had in my horrid dreams. I needed to survive for her. At least, I needed to survive for as longa as I was capable of doing.

---

The two weeks that I spent in the training center were able to ease my mind and its fears, at least in the slightest bit, as I thought that maybe, just maybe, learning these skills would help me live longer in the arena. I trained myself on survival tactics, as well as with weaponry and first aid. Some of these things, other tributes aided me with, and others, I aided them with. Perhaps aiding the enemies wasn't the best idea, but there was still a chance that it would get me further in the arena and, as a result, allow me to survive as long as i possibly could.

---

Towards the end of my time in the training center, it was time to give a bit of a performance to the Gamemakers to impress them. They would, as a result, give me a score that reflected how well I did. I, however, did much worse than I thought I would have, scoring only a measly five. How in the world was that supposed to bring honor to my family? A five was pathetic for the amount of effort I'd put into my private training session. Sure, I sometimes got nervous 'performing' in front of other people, but I'd actually thought I'd done well, and didn't even actually feel more than the slightest bit nervous at any given time while I was in that room with them. I wasn't sure what I'd done wrong, but I knew it must have been something. My family would surely be disappointed in my score. They deserved to see much better from their daughter.

---

My interview, as well as the tribute parade, seemed to fly by much too quickly for my liking, as it seemed that, almost immediately after they were both over, it was time to fight in the arena. I can recall them dressing me up in some form of a ridiculous outfit to fight in in the arena, but I ignored it the best that I possibly could. I had to focus on fighting to survive and protect my friends, as well as bring honor to my family. I couldn't just let myself lose my centered mind and get killed early on.

---

When I was lifted up into the arena on that platform, my heart started pounding again like it had when I was at the reaping, before my name got called. This time, however, it was that selfish feeling of fear for myself that I'd mentioned before but never thought that I truly possessed. I was, however, truly terrified. I didn't know what I was meant to do. When the gong sounded, I immediately charged towards the first weapons that I spotted, which was a small collection of eight throwing knives. On my way to grab them, I'd had to stomp on the foot of Volkner Meinhardt of District One, as he was too much of a threat. I felt the bones in his foot crush under my own foot's force, and I knew it was broken. I immediately swiped up the knives and threw one at Volkner, hitting him. He tried to retaliate but missed. Although, he wasn't the only one after me.

Before I knew it, the spear slid through my neck and I collapsed to the ground with a struggled, gargled scream. I lie there, slowly feeling myself bleed out and not sure what else I could do. I was the first one down, just as my dream had foretold when looked at from another perspective. I was dying, and I knew there was nothing I could do about it.

"I-" My words were struggling to come out as the spear in my neck started to cause me to fade out of the world of the living.

"I fai- failed you... Merida..."

Then, it was all darkness.

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2362 words

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I've done my share of waiting,
and I've still got nowhere else to go.