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The Hunger Games: One way to the top

The kiss, the interview, the whip

-------------Zayn’s P.O.V.-----------------

While Perrie is in for her interview, I go over and talk to district 8. I have to learn some of the other team.
“Hey, I’m Zayn from district 5” I say a little nervous.
“Hey Zayn. I’m Justin, and this is Anna,” Justin says, and continues, “Where’s the girl from your district?”
“Well, Perrie is in for her interview,” I say, and look at the hall that goes down to the stage. God, she has been gone long.
“Are you exited for your interview?” Anna asks, and let her clear eyes find mine.
“More scared, actually!” I answer.
“I’m excited! This is one of the smallest challenges well face. After all, it will get much worse!” Justin says, with a confident voice.
“You’re probably right, but I have never been good with the whole talking public thing.” I say, and it’s true.
“Well, I’m sure…” Anna begins, but gets cut off by the sound of a gunshot; from the stage! Perrie is on the stage! I know I don’t know her that well, but I still care about her. I turn around, and begin to run towards the stage. I get stopped by a guard, that tells me that Perrie is OK. I feel the relief run through my body, and a little smile comes on my face. A little minute after, she comes from the stage, with Mr. Thomas right behind her. When she sees me, she runs over to me, and we hug; It a kind of feels good, having her in my arms. It a kind of feels safe. We stand there until Mr. Thomas comes over to me and says:
“Mr. Malik, just the man I was looking for. It’s your turn; now get your sorry ass on the stage,” Mr. Black tells me. He starts to go up to the stage, and make signal for me to follow him.
“Go over to district 8, and talk to them, OK. I’ll be back in a minute,” I tell her, and kiss her forehead. God she smells nice. She walks shaky away, and I go up to the stage.
“And now, we got the other contender from district 5, Mr. Zayn Malik, on the stage. Give him a big hand,” Mr. Brigs says, and people clap, as I go on the stage. I sit in the chair, in the middle of Mr. Brigs and Mr. Thomas.
“Thank you!” I say, and try to sound confident.
“Welcome to the 900 annual Hunger Games!” Brigs say, and look over at me, “You must be excited to be here!” He adds.
“Well, excited is a big word. I mean, I am about to die, how can I be excited about that? I would mean that scared are the right word” I say, and look feared at him.
“Well, who knows; maybe you’ll win,” He says, with a smirk on his face.
“Well, I hope so,” I answer, and look at the audience. I see a blonde girl, and she reminds me of Perrie. Those ocean eyes, that curly long blond hair and that perfect skin. I hope she’s all right.
“So Zayn. If you can’t win The Hunger Games, who do think should?” Mr. Thomas says, with a smirk on his face; he’s up to something, I can feel it.
“Well, that’s not a hard question… It would be Perrie Edwards from my district!” I say with a little smile on my face when I say Perrie’s name.
“And now we are talking about Perrie. How is your and hers relationship?” Thomas asks me, with a big smirk.
“Well, she seems a like a real cool person,” I say, and take the glass on the table in front of me, and take a little sip.
“So what are you guys dating?” Thomas asks me, and I spit out the water. WHAT?
“Well, why would you ask that question?” I ask, and actually being excited for the answer.
“Well, we got this picture of you two lovebirds from around two minutes ago,” Thomas says, and a gigantic picture of me kissing Perrie’s forehead pops op on the screen behind me.
“That does look convincing,” Brigs says, and the audients begin to whistle.
“That’s taking completely out of connection! I was comforting her, because you made her shoot a little boy!” I say angry.
“So you always kiss girls, who kill little boys? You must be a real heartbreaker!” Thomas says, and lets a little grin out.
“Oh come on! It was a kiss on the forehead! It’s not a like we’re a couple or anything!” I say, trying to control my anger.
“Well, I hope for you it’s not another Katniss/Peeta story!” Brigs say, and look at the audience.
“Who the hell are they?” I ask wondering.
“Well, many years ago, the two contenders from district 12, Katniss and Peeta, fell in love. They got through the game, and won it,” I cut Brigs of.
“Two winners?” I ask.
“Yes. None of them wanted to die, and they wouldn’t kill each other. So they both won,” Brigs continue and I nod, “But then, they got recruited for the Hunger Games reunion and the story goes on. While attending the reunion, they told the world that Katniss were pregnant, and that they were engaged,” Brigs says, but I cut him of once again.
“What does that have to do with me and Perrie?” I ask interested.
“Well, you see. The whole thing was fake, and Katniss actually was married to another man called Gale. At a point, the secret got out, and Katniss, Peeta and Gale all got killed. There we’re shown no mercy,” Brigs end, and he looks at me.
“Soooo…” I say, waiting for the way that that connects to Perrie and me.
“If this thing you have going on is fake, there will be no mercy, and there will be people losing their ability to breath!” Thomas ads and they both look at me.
“But if its real…” I say.
“But if it’s real, it’s fabulous!” Brigs say, and clap his hands.
“All right, no more Katniss/Peeta talk. We’re here for you,” Brigs says and look at me, “Anything you want to tell the viewers?”
“I want to tell my mom and my sisters to keep going strong. I know you will make it. And I want to congratulate Kristof, my best friend, with his engagement with Amanda. You too make a beautiful couple,” I say, and it reminds me of all of the great things me and Kristof have been through. Once, when my family didn’t have money for food, he killed an animal for me. Another time, I was in love with a brunette named Eleanor, and he helped me ask her out; unfortunately she had a boyfriend, and when he found out that I liked her, he came to my house and smacked the crap out of me.
“How sweet,” Thomas says with a sarcastic voice, ripping me out of my thoughts.
“Now, we also have a challenge for you,” Brigs says, with a dark voice.
“Please don’t say I have to kill somebody!” I beg, with a scared voice.
“Not exactly…” Thomas says, and a girl on my age comes onto the stage. She tries to scream, but she got gaffer tape lipping her lips together.
A guard walks onto the stage, with a rope. He ties the girl to a pole, so her stomach is pressed into the metal. He takes her clothes of, so she stands naked. The guard comes over to me, and hands me a whip.
“Whip her!” Thomas says, with desire in his eyes.
“What?!” I ask, freaking out.
“Mr. Thomas told you your challenge. Now, you take the whip, you go over to her, and you smack her to bloods,” Brigs says commanding.
“Why the hell would I do that?” I yell angry. The girl begins to cry, and every time a tear hits the floor I can feel it stabbing in my heart.
Mr. Thomas stands up, and whispers in my ear:
“If you don’t do this, you will be the one tied to the pole, and you will be tortured way longer than you have ever imagined, and you will end up dead” he sits down, and pushes me on my way over to the girl. I slowly make my way over to her. I stop when I’m around two meters from her back. She still cries, and it is heartbreaking to hear. But I can still hear Mr. Thomas words in my head. I don’t want to die; I have to do it. I lift the whip, and the whip brushes her fine skin. She crumbles, and a guard comes on the stage, pulling her up. The guard makes a sign to me, and I continue. Now, I have to get this over as fast as possible, and that involve hitting her twice as hard. I lift the whip, and give her a hard smack in the back. The smack gives echo in the hall, and I see blood streaming down her back, making a little pool on the floor. I close my eyes, and hit her one more time. When I open my eyes, her back is a bloodbath, and the blood pool is getting way bigger. I hit her again, and this time the whip touches her head, and I make a deep rip, making blood rain from her hair. I cannot take it anymore, please make this stop! I look back at Mr. Thomas, and he makes a sign to me that say: You better not stop now, or I will kill you!
I hit her once again; Way harder! It makes a very deep rip, and shows some of her bones. I smack her quick three times, and the blood is now covering her back. The guilt is building up in me, and I can feel a tear running down my chin, making its way to the floor. I smack her again, and right after it touches her back, she falls to the floor. A guard comes on the stage, goes to her, and takes her pulse.
“She’s dead,” The guard announce, making the audience clap.