Disclaimer: I do not own THG or MR so… just to be clear… ok… yup.
I curled up in a ball on my bed, an image of James face flickered in my mind, even though it had been a year since the Games, a year since I had lost James, the ghosts of the chaos still haunted me. I could see us, all of us, Miri, Diana, Aden, James, and I sitting around a fire at night talking about our hopes and dreams, never knowing when someone could jump out with a knife and decide our fate. I'm not going to mention Dawn in any of this, she was a traitor, she was a big part of why my friends were dead.
I shivered and pulled the covers around me, even though it was only 7:30 PM I was already getting ready to say goodbye to conciseness and slip into a nightmare filled slumber. But that plan was ruined by my mother who waltzed into my room and reminded me that the district picnic was that night and that I was going with Luke.
Luke. I groaned silently, ever since I had gotten back from the Games, people told me to just forget about James and find a new boyfriend, my nine year old sister Rosie pointed Luke out to me and begged me to talk to him. I gave in after ten minutes of her whining when I had refused and walked to him. He was really nice and kind of good looking, but he just wasn't… James. I know that people wanted me to forget about James, but it was hard not to, he had been everything to me.
"Come on Dessity, get up and get ready," my mom said as she walked over and shook me a little.
"Do I have to go?"
"Of course you do Dess, now hurry up," my mom said as she walked out of my room.
I sighed, I wasn't in the mood to hang around people, much less watch the Capitol News and make fun of it. Which was something that they did at the end of the picnic, don't ask me why, they just do.
I sighed, sat up, got out of bed, and then walked over to my closet, I grabbed a black T-shirt, a pair of jeans, and I quietly slipped into them. I smoothed down my shirt, walked over to the mirror that was on my wall; I grabbed a hair thing and quickly put my hair in a braid. I grabbed my blue jay necklace and clipped it around my neck.
"Dessity, are you ready?" My mom called from downstairs.
I check to see if any of the feathers of my wings were out of place, "I guess."
I ran out of my room and down the stairs, my mother met me at the bottom with Avery and Rosie next to her. My mom smiled and nodded at me, then we were off to the picnic.
. . .
"Dessity, you made it!" Luke ran over to me.
My mom, sisters, and I had just walked into the center of town, were the year before I had been reaped. There were people standing around tables that had food on them, some were talking, kids were running, and there were no peacekeepers around.
"Yeah, we made it…" I managed to smile.
Luke wrapped his arm around me, I stiffened, he didn't notice though, and he brought me over to one of the tables with food. I smiled at Celeste who was handing a little girl a piece of bread, she was the woman who had offered me the blue dress for the reaping.
"Here," Luke smiled at me and handed me a lily.
I nodded and politely smelled the flower, I jumped back when someone giggled loudly behind me.
"Hey Dessity, I am so happy that you made it to the picnic, a bunch of my friends didn't really think that you'd make it because you're still grieving over the G – "
"Hi Missy," I cletched my teeth and put a fake grin on my face.
Missy beamed, "Yeah! Well how are you? Are you and Luke a couple yet? You would make a GREAT couple. Of course… you and James had it pretty AWESOME too, I mean he was so dreamy don't you think? I guess you can say you were lucky just to be – "
My face reddened, I clenched my fists, Missy saw my expression and stammered something about how pretty my hair was, and then she walked away.
"Why don't we sit down and get ready to watch?"
"Watch what?" I asked slowly.
"Capitol TV."
"But we aren't supposed to do that for hours!" I said shakily.
Luke took my hand, the blood drained from my face, "Are you ok?"
"I… I just thought that everyone would eat and hang out before we did this… I thought it would be dark by the time – "
"It's pretty dark already, and it's only 7:50."
I sighed; Luke led me to a group of people who were sitting in front of a medium sized TV that was plugged in to the same power source that the Capitol used on reaping day. I shivered as the Capitol crossed my mind, pictures of President Snow flashed through my mind, I remembered his disapproving glare like it was just yesterday.
A little girl who was sitting down smiled at me, and then took a bite of the apple she was holding, I was starting to feel hungry myself, but before I could say anything the TV started to play and Luke found us a spot to sit down.
"Hello everyone!" Caesar Flickerman said.
"I bet I know what everyone is thinking about," Claudius smiled.
Caesar laughed, "Yes, well the votes are in!"
"What votes?" I asked Luke in a whisper.
"It's the Quarter Quell this year and – "
"Are you ready to see who will be back in the arena?" Caesar asked.
"What?" I said, startled.
"Before you reveal who will be going back this year, let me remind you what we are voting for! This year, as you all know, is the Quarter Quell, and we have decided to bring BACK your favorite tributes from Games years before."
I swallowed, I suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.
"Are you ready?"
I gasped as pictures of dead Tributes from The Hunger Games flashed on the screen, out of all the pictures six were familiar. Emma Lander, Carter Wepple, Dawn Sage's faces flashed on the screen, I looked over at Luke.
"These people are dead, how are they – " My heart stopped when I glanced back at the screen.
Miri Drewn, Sapphire Raremity, and James' faces flashed on the screen, and then they disappeared, other faces flashed on. I let out a cry, how could this be? What had happened?
"We would like to thank the Capitol Hospital for bringing these people back to us for this year's Hunger Games!" Caesar smiled.
I stood up, I felt like puking, James was alive, and they were going to kill him all over again… unless…
"Dessity! Where are you going?" Luke called out to me as I started walking away.
"Home!" I yelled back.
"But you haven't even eaten – "
I snapped my wings open and took off, there was no way this was happening to me again, this time… this time I wasn't going to let James die.
Sorry that this chapter was short-ish, and some things happened purty darn quick, don't worry, the next chapter will be longer!
~Stargazer122456
