So here I am, waiting for the game to start. I know it's going to be...unpleasant, but at least they've changed the rules from previous years. I won't be killing other contestants, at least, not necessarily. We just need to get to the center of the maze. That alone is going to be horrible, and if you don't get out in time, they don't let you out. However, it beats having to look over my shoulder every second to see if a crazy woman with an axe is after me.
While I wait, the events leading to my selection as tribute keep bubbling up in my head. I wasn't trying to prove anything, or was I? All I know is that I couldn't have let myself do anything else. President Snow had him. My mentor, my friend, I never even knew his name, but he was the reason I'm alive today. I saw snow standing in some sort of clear revolving door with chains hanging in each section. It kept going around and around. He couldn't get to Snow and Snow couldn't get to him, but he didn't need to. I overheard what Snow was saying from my hiding spot.
"You do not desire money, fame, women, luxury, drugs. All you want is power over your own life. You know I won't give you that, and I know you are dumb enough to try to take it. For that, you must die."
The spinning of the door ceased, and the chains sprang to life. They whipped at him, crackling with electricity that I knew was fatal. He dodge the first few, but he couldn't last long. I knew they could only hold one charge. Once they discharged, it would take minutes to load again. Without a second thought, I charged towards the revolving door and crashed into the chains. "GO!" I screamed at my mento. For a second I thought he was going to stay and try to trump my hero play with a hero play of his own, but if there was one thing he knew, it was how to recognize an empty gesture. Staying would mean the death of us both. Miraculously, I did not die from the shock. Snow told me as his minions unwrapped the chains from my smoking body that I had the ability to change the properties of my flesh. In this case, I turned to rubber for an instant. That was a stroke of luck.
Or not, I think, for now I have to go through this stupid game. Finally, the platform I'm standing on lifts me to the surface and into the maze. Strangely, it looks just like a long, hallway full of swamp. I pick my way through it, trying not to gag at the smell. At the end, a door blocks my path. It has a stick shaped hole in it, so I go picking through the swamp to find the proper stick, shove it in the hole, and tada! The door opens. I doubt the rest of the maze will be this easy.
It's now been a few days, and I cannot figure out how to get past my current section. At least the place is beautiful. It has plenty of pink stones to climb around on and hide inside of, and it looks like there's supposed to be a waterfall running through it, though it's dried up right now. That could be a problem. I don't have any water on me, and all I have to eat is...I really don't want to think about what I have to eat. The entire game, this slice of Pizza has been following me. It appears in every room, but it was always inaccessible. Today, it's finally easy to reach. It's just sitting next to the back door for goodness sake. However, it's so putrid that it actually bubbles and oozes a fowl, yellow sludge. I finally get the courage to touch it, maybe see if the crust is edible. As soon as I move the pizza, I hear a beautiful sound, rushing water. I run to the waterfall, drink my fill, wash my hands, my face, my body. Water is AMAZING.
What's even more amazing is that someone else is there with me. I don't know how she got there, and she never explains, but we click immediately. I can't believe how well we get along. I mean, I actually felt happy talking with her and singing songs from The Sound of Music. Then, she was gone. I didn't see her go. I didn't hear anything. I didn't even smell anything out of the ordinary. All I know is that the day she disappeared, the door finally opened. I want to stay and look for her. The moment I cross the threshold, the door will lock again. However, there's nothing for it. I step forward and try my hardest to turn into stone.
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