Deadly Game - Chapter 2

Hey again! This upload is for my friends, @theone13 and @DengekiDaisy for giving me opinions on my stories yesterday! Thank you guys, you truly are amazing and I love you! This is also for everyone who I love, and for everyone who have ever read, commented, voted or fanned me.

Can't wait for The Hunger Games movie to come out, I hope they make it good! Is there anyone else who can't wait?

So, please comment, vote and fan!! It makes me more motivated to write :D

<3 Anna

Chapter 2

"Cassie!" My head spins around, searching for the source of the voice. It is Melisea, her light brown hair whipping in the wind. "Where are you going?"

"I'm just going to..." I stop, trying to come up with an excuse that doesn't sound too suspicious. "I'm going to see Willow."

"Can I come with you?" She asks, still standing in the doorway. I groan, but I can't exactly tell her no. I am going to meet Riccy, but now I will be late.

"Yeah, if you want to." She nods and comes forward, her beauty looking so misplaced in this ugly surrounding. Right then the door opens again, and Denlay appears.

"I believe that it's your turn to watch the children today, young lady!" She says, trying to sound stern but failing miserably. Firstly I think she means me, and start to panic, but then Melisea sighs and calls out,

"Yeah, sorry Denlay, I forgot!" I roll my eyes, surely Melli forgot; she just doesn't like to watch Eric and Adina. Then she turns to me.

"Tell Willow that I'll come meet her some other time."

"Nah, I won't go there today, I'll wait until you can come with me, okay?"

"Then where are you going?"

I don't answer, I am already running away from her. I can't exactly tell her that I am going to meet her brother and discuss suicide plans with him, now can I? No way. So I'd rather not answer at all.

When I come to the old house on the outskirts of the town that is our hiding place, he isn't there. I slump down onto the floor, weak from lack of food. When more minutes pass, I start to get nervous. Riccy is never late to a meeting. Surely he is just caught by his father and trying to make up excuses like me, right?

It is always like this when someone doesn't show up in time. I always start thinking about my parents. Now I fear that Riccy won't come. I just can't stand to sit down, and I am starting to rise when he steps inside.

"Thank God, Riccy!" I throw myself at him and hug him tight. He answeres the hug and I force myself not to cry.

"I'm so sorry, Cassie-girl, I just had to sneak out the backway, dad almost caught me." Riccy knows this reaction, it has happened before. But it was worse back then. Since that he has always been on time.

"It's okay, Ric, I just can't help it." I pull away and sit down again. He sits beside me and takes something from his pocket.

"Here. This is for you." He holds out a small piece of bread, but I push it back.

"I can't take it. Save it for Melli. She deserves it more." He just gives it to me again.

"Well, we can't exactly make up plans if your passed out from lack of food, right?" And then we keep passing it back and forth until I finally agree to eat it.

"Alright, I'll eat it, happy now?"

"No. But happier than before." I eat the piece of bread, and I just can't stop myself from gulping it down in like five seconds. I instantly feel guilty, and wonder if I should have eaten just half of it and saved the rest for Adina.

"I don't know how you always manage to win our arguments."

"Of course you know. It's because you love me too much to say no."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"You're right, I do." I roll my eyes, and then get serious. "The clock is ticking." His eyes meets mine, and I see that he is just as terrified as I am. 'The clock is ticking' is our way to say, 'Our death is closer'.

Suddenly fear rushes through my veins, and I realize that death is so close now. So much closer than before. Our time is running out, our lives nearing their end. I feel him stiffen, and then he pulls me into a hug. A few warm tears drop into my hair, and I know that silent tears are running down his cheeks. My face is pressed against his chest, but I just can't cry. The pain is unbearable, too strong to be let out in the form of tears.

"You're not alone, Cassie." His soothing voice instantly calms me down, and I remember that I have him by my side. We will face our fate together, hand in hand, and that way, we can make this. We'll be strong and brave enough to take our lives, if we do it as a team. I feel guilty for letting him kill himself, but I know there is no way out. And I also know that if I forced him to keep living when I am dead, it wouldn't work.

I can kill myself for the others, because I love them. They can get over the loss of me, keep on living. The same counts for them losing Riccy. They love us, of course, but we love them so much that we are ready to let them go, if it means that they survive. I will gladly kill myself saving Will, Melli or Adina. But I will never kill myself to save Riccy.

'Cause if I die, I wouldn't have saved Riccy. I would have doomed him to a much worse fate than dying, forcing him to live without me. A half life. A life with pain of losing his sister.

I know that if he'd die, I would not want to keep on living. My life is worth nothing without Riccy. Riccy has opened me up after my parents death, and he knows me better than anybody else. Without him, I would have no feelings at all.

So we will die together, and no one will suffer.

"So what's the plan, Ric?"

"Two weeks after the reaping day. That way we'll get enough of time to collect more food for them and plan it properly."

"Where?"

"The Dolphin cliff, at midnight. It's not hard to get there, sneaking past the Peacekeepers won't be too tricky."

"Okay." The Dolphin cliff is at least fifty meters high, no way anyone can survive jumping from there. And there are also sharp rocks in the water by the cliff.

"So fifteen day left to live. We better make the best out of it."

Fifteen... oh God, the reaping day is tomorrow! Bile rises in my throat, and I feel like throwing up.

"Riccy... what if one of us is chosen tomorrow?" I am ready to jump of a cliff, but my death is not going to be entartainmet for stupid people in the Capitol. Nor is my death going to be watched by Melli, Will and Adina on TV. The Hunger Games are my biggest nightmare, and I already have lots of tesserae. Riccy has even more. The chances that we are chosen are big...

"We won't be, Cassie-girl. That's all we can hope for."

*************************************

I wake up early the next morning, quietly sneaking out. On reaping days I always have a hard time looking at Melli, Will, Riccy, Denlay and Brendt, knowing that I might lose them. Will, Riccy, Brendt and I are the only ones that I have allowed to take tesserae in our family. The chances of getting chosen grows bigger every year, but I have never really worried this much. There have always been volunteering tributes in our District, Careers that will take the place of me or my family members if we are chosen.

But now no one will be taking our place.

I sit on the porch steps, and no one comes looking for me. They know my dilemma, and leave me alone on reaping days. I watch the sun rise higher in the sky, and see people moving around the streets of our town. Pearly, a friend of mine from school, passes by, and stops to say hello. She looks weak too, but her chestnut brown hair still shimmers in the sun, and her smile is as friendly as usual.

"Well, I'll see you at the reaping," she says before leaving. "May the odds..."

"...be ever in your favor." I answer, and she nods, her smile fading.

"Cassidy? You need to get ready." Denlay's soft voice calls me inside. I brush my hair, wash myself. When I am ready Denlay calls me and Melli to her and Brendt's room. Curiously we step inside.

Denlay holds out two gorgeous dresses to us. One red for Melli, and a light blue for me. The fabric is amazing, nothing like the fabric that our normal clothes are made of. It wis silky and smooth, and the colors are bright and beautiful. The whole dress is beautiful.

And that's when I realize.

This dress is made in Capitol. And there is only one way that Denlay could have got hold of these dresses. Sorrow washes through me, and Denlay's next words confirm my suspicions.

"These were my sister's, Viveca's, clothes. She wore them while in Capitol. These and a few more were returned to us along with her other belongings. I thought they would fit you this year."

Denlay's sister was chosen into the games six years ago. Viveca didn't make it out. First it seemed like she had a chance, but then a tribute from District 5, who she had an alliance with, killed her with poisonous food. It broke Denlay, but she never shows it to others.

We thank her and get changed. When Denlay has finished helping Eric to dress she comes over to us, her eyes quicky checking us both. Her gaze freezes when she looks at me, and a tear runs down her cheek.

"You girls are beautiful." Then Suzanne needs help from Melli, who quickly walks away to help her mother. Denlay takes my hand and drags me into her room again. She hurries over to one drawer, and takes out something.

"You can wear this, if you want to?" The item is a silver chain with a seashell hanging from it. I nod, and she fastens the necklace around my neck. I look closer at the seashell, and discover that the inside is completely cream white, and a '4' in silver color is drawn on it. I am about to let my thumb slide over the smooth surface, but she stops me.

"Don't," she says I nod, and hug her.

"Thank you," I say.

"You look so much like Viveca that I can't find even one difference between you two. She acted just like you do."

She kisses my forehead, and we walk towards the door.

 So, the next chapter will be the reaping. There will be a recap from the prologue, but please read it anyway, cause there might be changes in the details. Then there will most probably be the goodbye's (if I have time). Oh, and you'll get to know who the male tribute is.

<3Anna