The city looked so different at night. The usual gray, colorless city was near dead, no movement besides the constant snow gently drifting from the sky and onto the streets of the arena. The city was quite massive but with only twenty people in it, it was near impossible to find a trace of life. If it weren't for the periodic brutal teenage bloodshed it could be described as incredibly peaceful. But at night, everything would change. The lifeless city would light up, each building illuminated with the brilliant colors that the capital was so familiar with. Each street was lined with a myriad of different colored lamps and the snow laden streets provided a perfect canvas for the strange colors shined on them. It was quite a magnificent sight to see, whenever the night descended into the arena it was as if the city erupted in a brightly lit carnival that was never attended. Strobe lights shot onto apartments, blue spotlights were shone into the clouds, and projections of a red starry sky were placed onto the sides on the cathedral parallel to a still smouldering pile of ashes.

Merla Nik sat currently in a small apartment building in the corner of the arena, a small box like structure surrounded by a grove of trees. Each tree in the park was covered in thousands of small twinkling lights that every few seconds would change colors. Merla watched them from out a window of a large bedroom that overlooked the front entrance of the building. She kneeled on a red velvet bed cover her head resting on the high window sill. There was a gentle breeze that ran through merlas dark braids and rustled the glimmering leaves of the trees below her. She watched as the colors shifted with the order of the rainbow. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Purple. Then back to red. It was quite relaxing. She had found a bed amongst the hundreds of empty buildings in the arena- many of which had tricked her into thinking she had found shelter earlier that day. The walls of the squat , silver building made her feel quite protected, even safe.

She knew it was idiotic to let herself feel this way. One should never feel safe in the games. The moment everything felt right was usually the moment when something horrible was about to happen. And yet she couldn't help but let herself sink into the mattress of the bed and let all of her problems melt away. To let the stress of this world start to drift away until she was truly at peace. She knew this was dumb, no one ever got true peace once their name was picked from the bowl.

Merla stared at the window admiring the relaxing beauty of the trees until something caught her eye. There was movement, a clear rustling of the branches that was much harsher than a gentle breeze. Merla sat there wide eyed, her heart beginning to speed up. She sat still, not moving a muscle as she stared at where she saw the trees move. She wondered what it was. Was it an animal- a bird of some kind? She had seen no animals in the arena at this point, in fact nothing quite seemed edible. The buildings had no trace amount of food, there were no edible plants, no animals and no food in the cornucopia. Even the snow was strange tasting, edible enough but there was something wrong with it. Every time she had tried tasting it her whole mouth seemed to be filled with a string metallic tang. It was as if someone had mixed battery acid into it. Maybe animals only came out at night. But what of water? The tributes wouldn't last long without it.

Merla decided to go check it out. So she got off the bed, her boots hitting the bamboo floors were soft thud. She grabbed her jacket from the bed and slipped it on, not bothering to zip it up. Merla found it to be quite warm actually, it's furry insides were quite comfortable and yet its streamline fit was quite athletic. She slowly walked out of the room she was in and through the apartment until she came upon the door to the hallway. She quickly slipped into it, hearing the door softly click behind her. Dammit, it locked? She grabbed the handle and tried turning it, unable to move it.' Why hadn't it locked before' Merla wondered as she proceeded to down the hall, the thick blue carpeting absorbing the sounds of her footsteps. She continued to the end of the hall, filing her way into a dimly lit stairwell. Something didn't feel right. She heard another door lock behind her. She continued down the stairwell, the light behind her turning off as she went, as if the building knew she would never need to see it again. Something was definitely up.

When Merla got outside it had happened again. The front door emitted a soft clicking sound, locking her out of the building. She breathed heavily as she struggled against the door. IT wouldn't budge. Something-or someone- didn't want her in there. She swore under her breath as she looked ahead. Leading to the apartment building was a cobblestone path through the grove of trees. Trees Lined the sides of the path, their twinkling branches hanging overhead. Merla took another deep breath as she continued to walk , down the path and where she had seen the disturbance. Afterall, she apparently had no other choice now.

As she walked down the path and deeper into the groove she began to feel unsettled. She felt as if she was being stalked, the glowing forest watching her. She looked around, biting her lip. She was scared, the breeze sending chills up her spine. Every time the wid would flow the trees her head would jostle about, searching for whatever was stalking her. She was extremely cautious, each step slow and planned. She looked about, hoping to find something.

To Merla's left came a the sound of gentle pitter patter. Like that of animal or bird. She quickly spun on her heels and faced the origin of the sound to find what had been following her. A small bird with bright red feathers and black wings- a tanager. She stared at it rest in the trees looking right back at her. It was strange how the bird didn't move. It just stared at her, its eyes unnaturally black like a camera lens... Merla continued to think. She had read a book on birds before, there was something about the tanager she couldn't remember. She chuckled aloud. She had read many books, she just never thought she'd be thinking about a bird book while in the Hunger Games.

But then there was another sound behind her, something far louder than the bird. Two footsteps followed by a breathy sigh. Then she remembered the tanager. The small bird was a symbol of war and bloodshed. She turned around as a fist flew into her face, knocking her to the ground...

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Park had barely slept that night. Instead the small redhead had had crawled up in a small ball, his back loosely pressed against the silvery insides of the cornucopia. It was cold out, as it always was, but the horn had given him some shelter. He had spent the first day simply wandering about the arena, looking at the magnificent buildings with curious eyes and a furrowed brow. He wondered how such a place had been built. Where had all the money to come from. When the answer had finally come to him, he frowned, but kept on walking. He could think about all that later. This was a time for survival not emotions. He had always been good at not having those.

But when the night came, he couldn't hold back anymore. The floodgates were opened as Park sat alone in the horn'o plenty, watching the flurries of snow fall outside. He had returned to the cornucopia hoping to find more supplies, instead he found memories of the day before. Memories of his entire life flashing before his eyes- his sisters playing outside with him, dad putting on his favorite cartoons for him, then the games. Locking himself in his room thinking on how to survive, not letting himself think about his family, the news of a boy killing himself, and of course the life the boy about to murder him. He couldn't get the boys face out of his mind, the strange expression of numbness as his heart stopped beating- a bolt impaled into it. That was the one thing that would never leave him.

And so there Park sat, gently crying, blades of grass poking into his head as he laid on the ground. He felt so vulnerable, so weak. As soon as night fell he could feel his confidence melt away. The wall he had built around his mind crumble. At night he was truly alone, not even the sun was there. He continued to sob undisturbed until he had heard a cannon in the distance. He stopped breathing for a second-he thought registering that yet another person had died. It could of been anyone, he was just glad it wasn't him. It was in that moment a decision had been made. Three deep breaths and he never cried again. Another wall was put up, nothing would ever knock it down...Not until the ever lasting seconds before he himself ceased to exist

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Merla had laid on the ground, feeling the punches come at her, breaking in her face. She felt pain like fire spread throughout her head as her nose was bashed in by the fists of the girl on top of her. She could barely move, the pain sending her into shock. All she could do was whimper as the punches kept on coming. She tried to see her attacker but could only see that she was a girl. She tried to scream but nothing would come out. She just wanted the pain to stop, for the violence to end. Her whole life began to flash before her eyes as she slowly came in out of consciousness, the taller girl literally beating her to death. Everything became foggy as the lights above her began brighter and brighter, overwhelming her vision. She didn't want to die, she just wanted to cry.

But then something began to happen. The blood began pumping in her veins, her heart beating faster and faster. The fog began to clear and the brightness dimmed. She began breathing heavily as a tear ran down her face. No she was not done. She was not dead, and she wouldn't go on without a fight. Merla let out a scream as she began to flail around, hoping to get out from under the girl on top of her. She flailed an arm out, feeling it thud against flesh. The girl on top of her let out a yelp and she stopped hitting Merla for a moment, unsure on what to do. Merla took this to her advantage, letting out a cry as she pushed the girl with her remaining strength. The girl fell to the side unhurt, but leaving Merla unhindered. Merla began to scramble away on her knees as she attempted to get up. She looked like a zombie. Her nose was clearly broken, her lip bust and her right eye swollen. Blood ran from her nose all over her face and even onto her once white jacket.

Merla quickly quickly stood up and turned around, looking at the girl who was charging at her with tremendous force. She had long black hair and beautiful pale skin, it was Bettina Clark. She was clearly unarmed and equipped. Merla watched her charge at her, digging her boots into the ground and bracing for imminent impact. She wouldn't have had time to move even if she tried. Bettina crashed into Merla , the weight of her body pushing into Marla, toppling her over. Merla grabbed onto Bettina taking her down with her. The two girls fell to the ground, this time Merla on top of Bettina. Bettina growled as she felt the whole weight of Merla's body on top of her. She grabbed onto Merla's arm and began twisting it, she certainly was strong and Merla felt the ligaments being stretched in the way they shouldn't have. Merla let out a harsh groan. She had remembered watching Bettina. She had spent most of her time with the martial arts trainer.

Merla desperatley grabbed Bettinas throat with her other hand, choking it. She wasn't strong enough with her one hand though, Bettina could still breathe. Her head spun as she thought of what to do. Bettina was twisting her arm more and more, soon it would be useless, even if she did survive this fight. She looked down at Bettina's face, whose eyes were trained on the other's arm. A drop of blood dripped from Merla's nose and onto Bettina's chin. Merla knew what to do. Turning her head to the side, she quickly bent over and slammed bettina's face with the side of her head. Bettina grunted as her grip on Merla's arm loosened. Merla used this moment to her advantage and slipped her arm out of Bettina's hand before sending her elbow flying into Bettina's face. It struck her in the eye, further distancing her. Merla let out a long and hard groan as she reached for Bettina's throat again, this time with both hands. Bettina looked up at her with rageful brown eyes, frustrated more than anything. As soon as Merla started to squeeze Bettina's eyes changed. Slowly the fear of death moved into them the circulation was cut to her head.

Merla swore under her breath as she continued to choke Bettina, watching the life leave her eyes. It was too much for Merla to watch. She shut her eyes tight unable to watch. Instead she felt Bettina's writhing body beneath her, the movements become slower and slower-weaker and weaker.

"I'm so sorry she muttered" through a bloody lisp over and over again as she knew the girl beneath her was dying. Suddenly Bettina stopped moving.

BOOM

Merla opened her eyes slowly. She sat on Bettina, the girl beneath her now dead. She could barely breathe herself now. She fell off the girls body and onto the path, rolling to the side. She got up slowly but surely, before looking at Bettina once more. She shook her head, frowning as if she was about to cry. She turned around and ran into the forest, leaving behind both Bettina's body and her old self.

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As soon as the music had started Park had finally decided to get up. There was to be no sleeping that night. He couldn't and so he wouldn't. Instead the young boy got up and wandered out of the cornucopia, sitting on top of an empty metal crate. When he had returned to the cornucopia earlier that day he found everything to be missing. Instead of weapons stood twelve seemingly empty metal crates. He had tried opening them but it seemed near impossible. His mind ran rampant with ideas on what they could be holding.

Park sat on the crate and looked up into the sky, the new symbol of Panem- the mockingjay surrounded by a laurel wreath- being projected with blue light. A grand orchestral "Hanging Tree" was playing through the arena as the tributes who had died today were announced. If Park remembered correctly two cannons had went off that day. One was in the morning right after Park had woken up from a nightmare plagued sleep. The other one went off barely five minutes ago Nineteen tributes were left and seven had already died. Better in past years where nearly half the tributes would die in the bloodbath. It seemed too good for Park. Games where little tributes died in the bloodbath were usually the most dangerous, the most creative.

Park looked up into the sky as the tributes began being projected into the night sky. First was Hunter Gallowind, Park's roomate. Park let out a quiet sigh of relief before looking down at his feet, mouth agape. Hunter had it out for him, he knew it. From the moment they met he could tell Hunter had looked down at Park as a lesser tribute. He thought him to be weak and easy pickings. And yet Park hadn't seen Hunter during the bloodbath, he wondered why. Regardless Park was glad that the boy had died. He no longer posed a threat to him.

Next was the scowling face of Bettina Clark. Park had never held a conversation with the girl. He remembered her interview though. She wore a black and red dress, the red looking like drops of sparkling blood. She seemed harsh, arrogant and ready to kill. He figured she died in a trap or something. She seemed strong even if she had a low training score. The "Hanging Tree" finished playing and the projection slowly faded from sight. Park continued to sit there looking up into the sky, thinking of what to do next. If he was to survive he had to take action.

RIP BETTINA CLARK