The sky was black. The ground was black. I was black. Look! Maisy was black too! What a coincidence! No wait. I’m just blind. I let out an irritated, strangled laugh as the sarcastic remark raced through my head. I hated this, I really did. Heck I didn’t even know where I was! A tremor of fear shook my body, I could really be anywhere. Maisy had said that we were in a cave on the side of the volcano but how did I know that? Being blind was like your head was trapped in your own little limbo while everything else was stuck on earth. I felt fear begin to rise in my chest like an ascending monarch. I was alone, utterly helpless and relying on the dumbest blonde I’ve ever met to get help me.

What if she was going to kill me? The thought struck me like a dagger as my head turned to face the sound of her blades being scraped against rock. I don’t think the fact she was sharpening her blades made me any more comfortable. I felt a pang of guilt as I remembered my plan to kill her…. The tables had turned. She could really kill me easily and I’d never see it coming. She could be sneaking up on me as we speak, but from where?

I felt sick, I shook my head trying to calm down. Be angry- it’s easier to be angry than scared, I told myself. I felt for a rock and I scooped it up. It felt heavy and awkward in my hands. The dirt stung the open cuts on my hands from the numerous times I’d tripped as Maisy led me here.  I flung the boulder with all my might, “Dammit.” I cursed loudly. Why me? Why had this happened to me?! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a tribute going blind before in the arena. Of course I had to be the first.

So yes, reader, if you haven’t already gathered that I was on the verge of a mental breakdown from my ramblings, allow me to say it straight to your face; I was so freaking unstable I mias well have been shipped off to an asylum- but of course I was in the Hunger Games and pretty much every tribute here was asylum worthy so I fit right in. The only real difference was that I was blinder than my grandmother and had a 0 in 24 chance at survival now.

I was snapped out of my rambling thoughts as I heard the anthem swell downwards from the sky into my ears. Swell. Odd choice of words, Ransom, I thought, but thats exactly what it sounded like. It sounded like a wave crashing against a rock in my mind. I tried to stifle a laugh as I heard Maisy’s feet crunch on the gravely rocks of the cave floor. Since when could sounds be compared to things that I can’t see? I was definitely losing my mind… maybe if I lost it enough I wouldn’t feel myself accidently topple off the side of a cliff and crack my neck.

The anthem faded into the darkest depths of the inky black that surrounded me. “Maisy, who’s dead?” I called looking towards where I thought she was standing.

“Ransom, you don’t have to yell, I’m right here.” Maisy’s soft voice breathed from a few feet off. I felt my cheeks burn in shame and frustration as I once again gave it my best shot at facing her.

I sigh, “So who’s dead?” I asked flatly, trying to keep everything I was feeling under my the unbreakable armor of monotone.

Maisy hesitated. “I don’t know. I didn’t go out.” The rocks scraped against each other as she shifted feet.

“What? Are you crazy? I heard you go out.” I snapped, reaching up and running a hand through my matted, dirt infested hair. Usually I could care less as to how grimey it was but suddenly I wanted nothing more than to clean it.

“Oh, you must have heard the squirrel. It was sleeping in here, I reached over to grab the backpack for some trail mix and I woke it up.” I could just imagine her shrugging nonchalantly as she did that irritating thing where she twirled her hair on her finger.

I didn’t say anything I was thinking. I didn’t say that the squirrel had sounded like it was walking on two legs and weighed over 100 pounds, I didn’t say the obese squirrel would have made a great dinner, and I didn’t make known the comment that tickled the back of my mind; I had no idea squirrels resided in caves on artificial volcanoes. Maisy was lying and I had no idea why.

I had no reason or motive to kill her- yet, in fact right now I needed her, so that wasn’t a valid concern. If she wanted to kill me it would be a breeze, really all she would have to do was stab me. So why lie?

I leaned back against the cave wall and closed my eyes. I wanted to sleep. It was only then that I became aware of a very faint humming noise. “Maisy, shut up. I’m trying to sleep.” I know, it was such a great choice of words to tell an irrational girl who could really decide to kill you at any second.

“I-it’s not me.” Maisy said sounding alarmed. “I think it’s coming from outside…. Maybe another tribute.”

Yeah, just like the squirrel wasn’t you, I thought. “Of course It’s another tribute, because you know the careers like to sing musical numbers when they hunt, it’s like their thing.” I droned sarcastically, “Maisy I know you are lying to me, you need to stop.”

“I’m not-” Maisy let out a long exasperated sigh. “Just come on. I’ll prove it to you.” Without warning I felt her hand grab my wrist, I flinched involuntarily. She yanked me to my feet and tried to tug me forward.

As Maisy’s words overlapped with the humming I was convinced she hadn’t been lying… at least this time. “No, Maisy. If that is another tribute its stupid to confront them!” I snapped planting my feet firmly on the ground.

She let go and took a few steps back, I heard her grab the backpack. “Fine. Stay here then, I won’t be back.” She said with a frightening coldness that I had no clue she was capable of. It sent shivers down my spine. Then it was gone. “Come on.” She said the familiar warmth that had been irritating at first came as a relief, if only for a second.

I realized I didn’t have much of a choice and with one last long drawn out hesitation I followed the light sound of her footsteps. My feet flew out from under me as my foot caught on something (probably my other foot at the rate I was going) and I hit the ground hard, a giant rock digging into my poor chest. I pinched my eyes shut in utter frustration, I was useless! Utterly useless! I had become what Maisy was to me just a few days ago with one simple blow to the head.

“Oh! Here, let me help.” I heard Maisy walk over to me and grabbed my arm to help me up. Reluctantly I accepted it as Maisy helped to guide me out of the cave. I tried not to think of what the people at home must be thinking as they watched me, a former criminal, now stumble around like a old man.

As soon as I set foot outside the music rose from a dull whisper to an understandable murmur. I realized why she had wanted to follow the music… it was hypnotic- which should have been more than enough motivation to realize it was evil and probably going to kill us somehow. It was like the gamemakers had destroyed any will to resist in me. In that moment he only thing on my mind was the music. The beautiful, eerie music.

“Dear little children allow me to tell you,

A story from long ago- oh,

I thought I had heard,

A chirping sound,

From the world above the ground,

I thought that spring was coming,

I thought they’d dig me from this hell,

But they were just crows,

Resilient to the cold,

Disguised in gold,

They’d stolen long ago- oh.”

The music repeated itself as I stumbled, running at a reckless speed down the side of the volcano, tripping and falling only to force myself upwards and keep running. My mind was so blurred I barely remember coming off of the volcano and feeling soft sand, freezing in the night, hit my feet. I stopped terrified that I had run onto the beach and was about to plunge into the water. I heard Maisy’s ragged breathing beside me, “Don’t worry, we have to go through the desert. I think the music is coming from the rose garden.”

And with that we were off again, tearing towards the music that got louder and louder with every step. My feet pounded into the soft sand awkwardly, but I found I didn’t have to worry about tripping in the least. For the first time since I lost my sight I felt like an equal to everyone in this arena, like if I stayed in the desert I might actually stand a chance- which in retrospect was incredibly stupid. The music must of somehow been drugged with pot or something. Either way I lost myself in the simple happiness of hope.

Thats probably part of the reason I was so startled when I crashed into a thornbush. I cried out as the branches and thorns stuck my skin. Slowly trying not to rip my skin more I felt for the ground and then slowly pulled myself free. Maisy must not have noticed my fall though I heard her ragged breaths a few paces off. “Wow… this place really got hit hard by the wave….” She whispered stepping onto a branch that I assumed had come from one of the bushed.

I felt a little sad as I realized that I’d always remember this place in it’s glory; as I peered across the lake toward what had used to be vibrant pinks and reds that lit up the arena reminding me of a painting I’d helped smuggle once. I felt the crushing weight hit me all over again. I’d never see the blue of the sky, the curve of a pretty girl, or the expression on a friend’s face.

I sigh, at least I could hear. I took a few steps forward trying to figure where the noise was coming from. Suddenly Maisy shrieked, “Ransom! Watch out!” She cried, I jumped in shock having no clue as to what the hell was going on, that slight movement was the only thing it took to send me tumbling blindly into the unknown.

My body crashed into a cold wet ground. My leg was on something soft; moss. At least I hope it’s moss. The cavern smelled of decay and rot. Wherever I had fallen I knew it wasn’t good. “Maisy?” I called hesitantly. I slowly sat up and realized the music was much louder down here…. I’d found it’s source.

I heard Maisy drop down onto the ground with a muffled thump, stifling a gasp. “What is it? Where are we?” I demanded feeling panic rise in me. Wherever it was this place wasn’t good, something bad was going to happen.

Maisy didn’t answer me, instead a voice curled from the speakers, the music fading to a dull background noise. It was only then that I realized how terrible the music was (though the people in the capital would probably be singing it for weeks) and how stupid I had been to go chasing after the source to a song about a dead man wanting to be dug up. Wasn’t that warning enough? Generally I had more common sense. The gamemakers must have been controlling us somehow. “Welcome to the catacombs!” Calliope’s feminine, but raspy voice rang out. Catacombs? Well that explains the stench. “Sadly this is a no kill zone. That is none of you may kill each other. The mist will determine who wakes up and who doesn’t. Sweet dreams tributes.”

I barely had time to have fear strike my heart before a strange, sickly sweet smell reached my nostrils and I collapsed to the ground. My head collided with something hard and smooth before my body relaxed, my eyelids drooping. I tried to force them to stay open. In my delusion I reached upward trying to figure out what it was. The cold smooth surface was a headstone to a grave. As my mind faded a final thought occurred to me; I was going to die in a graveyard.

If I hadn’t been so sedated I think I would have flipped out.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

I knew I was dreaming because I could see again.

I was lying in a cement room surrounded on all sides. I stared at the floor, my cheek pressing into the cold ground. My eyes ate into the grimy concrete from every crack to every loose pebble. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited to see a cement wall in my entire life- hell, I was staring at the floor like I was staring at porn. I was just so… thrilled to see color and shapes and textures, it seemed like it had been years.

“You know the afterlife is incredibly overrated.” The coy voice sliced through my thoughts like a knife. I crained my neck upwards to see a middle aged man who reeked of the capital. His pale face had been bleached and molded to an irritating perfection, his back hair was gelled and smelled of roses. I noticed a thick bloody line across his neck contrasting with his deathly pale skin. These were details I’m not sure I would have even paid mind to a day ago. “All the happiness and the peace, utterly bland. Theres no one to kill.”

I just kind of laid there gaping at him as my brain tried to process that this was the gamemaker of the boy’s game that I had watched on the train ride. I’d seen the gamemaker’s face flash over the screen a few times as Maisy had fast forwarded it. I had no clue what his name was, or more importantly why I was standing next to him especially since I faintly remember that he’d been killed by his psychotic daughter- did this mean I was dead?

He turned to look at me  and he furrowed his brow in irritation. “Oh stop blubbering at me like a fish! Yes, I am the famed Antonio Silver.” I bit my tongue to keep from telling him that he wasn’t that famous. “And yes, I am dead. The gamemakers partially resurrected me to speak with you here in the darkest realms of your mind.” He spread his arms out gesturing to the cement room.

“....The darkest realms of my mind is a cement room with a surgically altered weirdo in it?” I mumbled, my mind still kind of numb from the fog. I normally would have forced myself to hold my tongue in a situation as possibly fatal as this.

Antonio Silver shrugged, “Some are more creative than others, your mind is what you make it.” He looked up staring at the bland cement ceiling as if in utter disappointment.

I scowled and forced myself into a sitting position. My mind was far supirior to his, of this I had no doubt.  “Fine. Then I’m changing my mind, the darkest depths of my mind is not a cement room- but a…” I tried to think. “....a golden palace.” I smiled smugly as I watched the background fade away, replaced with a huge gold encrusted room, money and jewels piled up along the walls in massive piles. A chandelier of colored gems hung from the now elaborately decorated walls casting colored reflections everywhere. Below it was a massive fountain filled with sparkling blue water.

I let out a smug laugh and summoned myself a throne to sit in; for Antonio a crappy three-legged bar stool. He sent me a death glare, I shrugged, “My creative juices have been sapped. What is your business here peasant?” I asked draping myself dramatically across the throne, trying to suppress the grin that was tugging at the corners of my mouth.  An idea struck me and I pointed at the corner of the room and a long slithery iridescent lizard appeared, a diamond color around it’s neck. It sniffed the air and lunged at Antonio, saliva dripping from it’s mouth. “And make it quick because Fido over there is very hungry.”

Antonio Silver looked on the verge of murder as he stiffly sat down in the chair I’d presented him with. His eyes burned with an almost frightening fury- like I said; almost. I was too thrilled with this newfound paradise to really care.  “Ransom. All my years as gamemaker has made me aware to four types of tributes. Exactly four, no more, no less. First there are the normals, the utterly forgettable ones that die off in the bloodbath. Then, there are the stars that steal the show from the beginning and have the capital for them all the way. The dark horses are few, but interesting nonetheless. Finally we have the wildcard tributes who must be killed at the earliest opportunity possible. There are many things that make a tribute a wildcard, for exactly abnormal behaviors, rebellious nature, a sketchy background….” I swear I felt the man’s black pupils shoot daggers at me. “None the less, you Ransom have been determined to be a wildcard, and so I’m here to offer you a choice.”

Really? He was here to offer me a choice? He was at my mercy for this was my world. Briefly I tried to remember how I had gotten my own kingdom, with a start I realized I had no recollection of it…. That was kind of concerning. I looked at Antonio who patiently awaited a response of some sort- Nevermind, I’d think about it later. I snorted and a globe topped ceptor appeared in my hands, “And what might that be?”

Antonio Silver smiled, “You can go back to the arena where you are blind and have no chance at survival or you can stay here where you are happy, rich, can see and have control over everything- I notice you like that very much.” He stroked the dark pointed goatee on the bottom of his chin watching me with a triumphant gleam in his eyes.

What kind of offer was that? I was king here! I- I was a god even! Why would I ever want to go back to that desolate place that Antonio Silver described? This place was far too perfect! This place was far more perfect than where I’d come from- wherever the heck that might be….. And with a sickening start I realized it far too perfect to be real.

Did I want to go back though? What if I never returned and I lived here- who cared if it was real as long as it was real to me, would that even work? A terrifying thought struck me- what if I’d die if I stayed here? I was at a loss for words as I tried to make up my mind. I looked up at Antonio whose satisfaction was dimming with each passing second, I took a deep breath and I knew what my answer was. And so with one final hesitation I sealed my fate.