Dark Sides//The Hunger Games

People have dark sides. Maybe they can’t be seen, maybe they don’t want to be seen. Even the sweetest, most innocent person could hide a deadly heart. Some you don’t expect just by looking at their faces. And I, Rue Meadows, am one of those people.

I’d thought about the glory of killing someone since I had started watching the games. Seeing the life drain out of their eyes with a jagged knife in their heart. I wanted to volunteer at my first-ever reaping, but I never had the chance because, well, I was reaped.

I guess I was happy to come from District 11 at that point; nobody would volunteer in my place.

That’s how I ended up here, crouching on a treetop in the middle of the Hunger Games itself. With the Career pack below me and Katniss Everdeen, the first volunteer from 12, next to me.

“Psst,” I hiss. No response. “Psst!” I hiss, louder. This time, she turns her head. I motion toward a nest of Tracker Jackers, hanging from a branch on her tree, and she follows my gaze. “Tracker Jackers, cut it down!” I tell her.

She pulls a knife, which was thrown at her during the bloodbath, from her coat and stands in order to cut the branch. One stings her, then another. The branch bends under its weight. I climb farther up my tree until my legs are level with the nest. The branch bends farther, about to snap, and I kick it hard into Katniss’s treetop.

The nest broke in two, Tracker Jackers both attacking Katniss and the Career pack below. After what felt like forever, the screams stopped and three cannons echoed through the arena.

Marvel Livingston—District 1

Glimmer Rosessen—District 1

Katniss Everdeen—District 12.

The feeling I dreamed of for years was now a reality. The feeling of killing someone, the adrenaline rushing through my veins.

Cato and Clove were the ones who turned off their alliance first. Their tech boy was the first to go; Cato snapped his neck so quickly that he may as well have been
a stick.

Then there was “Lover Boy,” as Clove called him. Peeta Mellark was his real name. They only used him to find Katniss and after I killed her, there was no use for him anymore. Clove killed him while he was asleep.

Those two kept by their supplies, never leaving each other’s sides. Perhaps they were the new lovers in the games. Cato and Clove from District 2. The arena’s new lovers and everyone knew.

Outside their bunch were three other tributes. Me being one of them.

Finch was doing well. She knew what was poisonous and what wasn’t. She’s quick and even seems to have very sensitive hearing since she always bolts away when I move closer to her while hiding in a tree.

Then there’s my district partner, Thresh. He acted like my brother. As much as I want to win these games, I don’t want him to die. If he goes, I want someone else to kill him. I don’t want it to come down to me and him.

Days passed without any action from me at all. Finch was stupid enough to eat Nightlock berries. Clove had her head smashed in with a rock, thanks to Thresh, but his celebration was cut short after he was killed by Cato in return.

It was now just Cato and me. One of us would become the victor and be praised by all of Panem.

It went dark, all light quickly draining from the arena. Then a sound I hadn’t heard in a long time—rain. And then another sound, a bark in the distance, then another, and another.

“This must be it, this is the finale,” I thought, hopping down from my tree and sprinting away from the barks. The cornucopia glints in the corner of my eye, so I steer toward it. The rain makes it hard to climb, but I manage it. And I come face-to-face with my district partner’s killer. Cato.

I reach into my jacket, pulling out a knife to hide it behind my back. He’s wielding a machete with hints of dried blood on it, and he wears a menacing grin.

“Why don’t you just give up? You aren’t gonna win. You know you’re not going
to. Just say bye-bye to your family and jump into those mutts,” he says to me in a babyish voice.

“How about something different? What if I stay up here and kill you so I can see my family? How would that be?” I suggest.

Cato chuckled but grips his machete tighter. “Never.”

He never saw the knife coming.

“And here she is, folks! Rue Meadows, the victor of the 74th annual Hunger Games!” Caesar Flickerman exclaims, beckoning me onto the stage. I waltz toward him, wearing my most innocent smile even though everyone knew my
true intentions.

The whole of Panem knows now, never trust the little ones. They all have their dark sides.