Final Goodbye [Cam]

[Ray]

Lakota Denning

“Charas Harp!”

Lakota closed her eyes, replaying the reaping over and over in her mind. How could this have happened? She had been so concerned with worrying about herself, so sure that she would be reaped, that she hadn’t even been thinking about Charas. She hadn’t thought it was a possibility that Charas would be reaped; and yet, there Charas had stood, up on that stage in front of all of Panem, accepting her position as the District 12 female tribute.

Lakota had wanted to say something, do something, anything. She had wanted to scream, run up to the stage and volunteer. She had wanted to shake the mayor until he took it back, chose another girl to be taken, so that Charas could stay; but she couldn’t. She was frozen in place, as if her feet were nailed to the ground. She was too shocked to do anything until it was too late.

Lakota knew she had to go to the justice building. She had to see Charas one more time before she left forever. While she was on her way, though, there was a little voice in the back of her head, urging her to turn around. Go home. Forget about her. She had sex with your father for crying out loud! You should not be friends. Lakota shook her head, trying to get those thoughts to go away. No. She would not think this way. Charas was her friend, regardless of what happened in the past. Lakota marched on, more determined than ever. Today wasn’t about her, it was about Charas.

A couple minutes later, she stood on the steps of the justice building. She knew Charas was there, waiting to be taken to the train. She probably wasn’t expecting anyone to visit her. Well, wouldn’t this be a surprise. Lakota pushed open the heavy wooden door, and was pointed in the direction of the room Charas was waiting in. Lakota sat down in a chair in the hall outside of Charas' room, waiting for the escort to tell her she could go in. After a couple of minutes, the escort told her she could go in. She had the same high pitched voice, the same annoying accent as everyone else from the Capitol. Lakota couldn’t help but crack a small smile at that most insignificant detail she noticed when Charas' life would soon be on the line.

Lakota stood and moved over to the door of Charas room, stalling slightly. She knew that going in there was like a final goodbye. It was like accepting the fact that Charas would die. She put her hands on the door, slowly pushing it open. She peered in to see her sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, staring out the window. Lakota knocked quietly on the open door to get her attention. “Charas?” Lakota walked in and sat down next to her. Lakota looked at Charas, trying to figure out how she was feeling. Fear, anger, excitement? She couldn’t tell at all.

[cameron]

C H A R A S

[/size] H A R P[/center][/size]
the times we had when the wind would blow with the rain and snow

were not all bad, we put our feet just where they had to go

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"Oh, yippee! Here we are in your waiting room in the justice building! Isn't it just scrumptious! Oh, goody goody, I could just eat this room up! Oh my, it's fantabulous! Oh, joy!" Gingerbread Krumms's amazingly aggravating high-pitched voice pierced her ears, and Charas grimaced behind the lady's back. The entire walk over here, the escort had continued to speak in her horridly nasally, ear-splitting pitch, and Charas could do nothing but make faces. She assumed the male Tribute—Jimmy, or something—was in as much pain as sure, but she couldn't really tell. In fact, the redhead hadn't even glanced at her district partner a single time. She was scared he would try to take advantage of her like all of the men that purchased her. She couldn't handle that.

The ferociously lime-green haired woman grinned a giant, painfully white smile, stuck her surgically elongated tongue out and waved bye. "Toodle-loo, now, m'dear! It's time for your visitors to gobble you up! Oh, tee hee! This should be magically delicious!" Her excruciating voice shot through Charas's ears like the scraping of silverware, sending shivers down her spine and causing her to clench her eyes shut.

If this is what the Capitol was like, hopefully the train would wreck on the way there.

Once the effervescent personality exited the room and shut the wooden door behind her, Charas plopped down on the plush couch of the justice building. She didn't expect to have any visitors, so she imagined the next hour to be completely dull. Her eyes trailed off towards the window, and she stared out of it for what seemed like days, when in fact mere minutes had passed when she heard a shy "Charas? pass through her ears much more pleasantly than Gingerbread's had. Looking up, she saw Lakota, her only friend, walking towards her and taking a seat next to her. Charas wanted to smile, but she couldn't bring herself to do so in the imminent face of certain death. Lakota steadily stared at the girl, and finally she opened her mouth to speak; but, much like on the stage of the reaping, no words came out. The girl managed a look of distress, before burying her face in Lakota's shoulder. "What am I going to do? Nan is going to be left—" —sniffle— "all alone, and you know as good as well as I do that she can't care for herself!"

Charas picked her head up and stared into Lakota's eyes, an idea having popped into her head. She knew it was a horrible one and they'd likely end up in trouble, but it was the only chance she had. "Let's run away, Lakota. You and I. Look out that window over there, we have a clear shot to the woods! We can escape, and then one day we can come back and I can return to Nan, and you your father, and we'll be alright, everyone will be alright! Everything will be exactly how it used to be!" Her glimmer of hope was short lived as she realized the idea was preposterous, and she let out a wail as she fell into Lakota's shoulder once more.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Ray]

Lakota Denning

When Lakota sat down and looked at Charas, she leaned over and put her head on Lakota’s shoulder. Lakota could tell now, she was clearly stricken with grief. "What am I going to do? Nan is going to be left all alone, and you know as good as well as I do that she can't care for herself!" Lakota listened intently. So that was it. Charas may have feared for her own life, but right now she was only concerned with how her grandmother was going to make it without her. Contradictory to what Lakota had thought when she first met her, Charas seemed completely selfless now.

Lakota was extremely aware of the ticking of the clock hanging on the wall next to them. No matter how much she willed it, she couldn’t stop time. Soon enough, that obnoxious escort would come in, yammering on about how exciting it was, and they needed to get to the train, they didn’t want to be late getting to the Capitol. Lakota could just see it now. The seconds she had left with Charas were draining away, and there was nothing she could do about it.

She knew she had to think up something to say, she didn’t want to waste the time they had left, but before she could, Charas started to speak. "Let's run away, Lakota. You and I. Look out that window over there, we have a clear shot to the woods! We can escape, and then one day we can come back and I can return to Nan, and you your father, and we'll be alright, everyone will be alright! Everything will be exactly how it used to be!" Lakota smiled at Charas enthusiasm, but soon she went back to despairing. She had given up hope, realized that the plan could never work, and leaned her head back on Lakota’s shoulder.

Lakota sat up straighter, a plan starting to form. “Wait, Charas, that’s actually not such a bad idea,” she muttered, going through it in her head. The escort was probably down deep in conversation taking care of some really important arrangement. She didn’t think there were any cameras in this room or in the hall. It would be so easy to just slip out and get away. Lakota looked out the window at the woods Charas had pointed out. It all seemed so… free. Free from the Capitol, free from the Hunger Games, free from everything. She wouldn’t even care about leaving her father. Drae maybe, but Lakota knew her well. Drae could take care of herself for a little while, until it was safe to come back. “We could do it, you and I,” she said, lowering her voice in case there was anyone in the hall. “If anyone can make it, we can.” Lakota grabbed one of Charas’ hands and stood. “What do you think?”