My Little Bit of Hope
I saw my dad lose his life in the Games. I watched Rue lose her life in the Games, after she volunteered for me. I've watched Finnick fight for his life twice in the Games. Now the Capitol wants to know who else's life I am willing to give up in the Rebellion.
This is the sequel to I Volunteer, so it is not necessary to read it, but it would be better if you wanted to know who some of my OCs are. This fanfiction is set around the exact same time as the books are- The 74th Hunger Games, until the end of the Rebellion.
Enjoy!
Prologue- My Little Bit of Hope
The moon is high in the sky when Hope sits in her new garden, her legs crossed in front of her and her hands folded in her lap as she stares at the sky. A small smile flickers across her lips, joined with tears in her eyes, when she spots the group of stars together that she has been searching for: the constellation that they named Orion, long ago.
Unknown to her family, she left her house to go into the garden as soon as she heard the sounds of sleep from every other member of her family. She knew that, like every night since her return to her house, she would not be able to sleep without nightmares. That night, if she were to sleep, they would be worse because she will leave her District, again, tomorrow.
She sighs and shuts her eyes as she allows the comfortably warm wind to breeze across her face, rubbing her stomach gently in an attempt to calm the nerves already running high. It does not work. She's made it clear that she's not happy that she's alive without her best friend, so she sees no reason to celebrate. Why put herself on show for something she's not proud of?
After a few more moments of complete stillness, the serenity not even disturbed by the thoughts that should be occupying the young girl's mind, she carefully gets to her feet and walks back inside. She knows that, even if sleep will not make her feel any better, everyone else will appreciate that she at least tried. If she won't sleep, she can always lie in silence in the "safety" of inside.
However, as she quietly shuts the back door, before heading upstairs, she realises that she will never really feel safe again. She's seen and experienced too much to know that the world isn't as innocent as people always try to make it out to be. She doesn't even have her one anchor to the world to keep her safe anymore. The Games took him away, too.
When she flops onto her huge bed, tucking her knees up to her chest and looking around, she spots the silver key on her bedside table that she was given, but didn't want to use. Wrapping her pale green dress around her legs to compensate for the loss of her arm's warmth, she reaches over and picks up the key for her best friend's old house, turning it over slowly within her fingers.
A few days ago, his mother had come over to talk to her on her own. She explained to the younger girl that she had been the one to look after her whilst she was barely conscious of the world around her, because she had known that her son would not have wanted to see his best friend suffer, but also because she knew that there must have been a reason for her being on her own.
She then went on to say how sorry for her loss she was- although Hope soon argued that her loss was nothing compared to the mother's- but she had her mind set on the fact that it would soon mean more to Hope that he had gone. She gave no more information on the subject, however, because she did not think that it would be right to fill the girl's head with worries.
She finished by giving her the key to the window of his room, and another to the front of the house, saying that she would be welcome to come around whenever she wanted, especially if she wanted an escape from her life as a Victor. She was given the key to Orion's room because she didn't think that anyone else would use it after him, but they didn't want to have to clear the room out.
Hope stares at it for a few minutes before jumping silently onto the floor and slowly walking out of her room, then back downstairs. She picks up the key for her own house and leaves it without a second glance, stepping into the warm outside once again. Her footsteps on the path should be barely noticeable but, for her in the silence, she feels as if anyone could hear her, and then find her.
Due to how she is wary of every sound around, she walks carefully and slowly on her way to the Square from the Victors' Village. She pauses for a few minutes there, looking around her, before she turns away and heads towards the part of her District that used to be where both her and her best friend lived. She takes longer to walk there than she should, but it is because she takes in everything around her as she goes.
After just over half an hour, she spots the two houses that used to be home to them, before she stops and sighs. She wishes more than anything that they could both be still living there, instead of only one of them living in the Victor's Village, whilst the other, unfortunately, does not even live at all. Before she sets off again in their direction, she finds the key within her pocket and holds it tightly.
When she reaches the ground beneath the window to his old bedroom, she holds the key up and finds the lock in the darkness, replacing the key into her pocket once she's heard it click. She pushes the window open after she's calmed her nerves, and then pulls herself up, into the room, not looking up straight away when she lands silently on the floor.
After a few minutes of preparing herself for what she will see, she looks up to see the room in complete darkness, apart from the little amount of silver moonlight that makes its way through the window. Therefore, she gets to her feet and walks to the far wall- careful not to disturb those that actually are asleep in the house- and shields her eyes from the bright light that she switches on.
When she finally uncovers her eyes, her breath catches in her throat and she has to bite her lip to stop herself from crying. Unfortunately, his mother was right: they aren't going to clear out his room. It looks as if he is still living in the house. The room is ready for him to walk into, where he'd smile, and then laugh at the girl in his room, who would have blushed at being caught looking around.
The dark blue bed sheets are still folded back onto the bed, somewhat crumpled from where he had been laying the last time he had slept there. When he had last been there, it would have been hot during the night, so he would have slept on top of the covers, why his form is still present on the sheets; there, too, because he had left the house in such a hurry that morning to wake the girl.
The sky blue painted walls reflect his influence on everyone in his life, particularly the girl who had been his District partner in the latest Hunger Games. Photos were meant to be a rare privilege in District Eleven, but his parents were lucky to own an antique camera from their families long ago, from District Four. Every birthday, his friends and family had printed out pictures for him to stick on the walls.
The main subject of his pictures with him was his best friend, who would appear laughing and smiling with him. She was the only one who did not give him a photo for his birthday, so the inside of his bedside cabinet is filled with things exclusively from her. In fact, as she stands in the room, she remembers his latest gift that she had been saving up for before, and bought early that day. She makes a mental note to bring the cushions to their house one day.
Once she stands next to his bed, she glances in its direction, before switching the light back off and returning to sit down on the edge, which is when the tears begin to slide down her cheeks. She tucks her knees up to her chest and rests her chin on the top of them, staring at nothing in particular. Without even realising what she's doing, she reaches to the side and feels the form of her best friend that is still present there.
On the morning of the Reaping, Orion woke up with the sun and smiled, thinking of what he had planned for the next few upcoming weeks. He quietly got out of bed and dressed into his smart clothes for the Reaping, although he didn't worry about making them too perfect, because he was sure that he'd spoil them, somewhat, when he would go out with his best friend.
Once he finished getting ready, he jumped out of the window and locked it behind himself, smiling when he began to walk towards the girl's house. In comparison to his, her room was a little higher off the ground, so he had to climb up the side of the house to land on the balcony, leaning against the railings without making a noise to wake her. Instead, he tipped his head to the side and watched her sleep.
It took less than a couple of minutes for Hope to wake up and see her best friend outside, smiling when she saw him. "You woke me up," was the first thing she said to her best friend after she opened the window to her room, allowing the boy to climb in.
"I did not," Orion argued, folding his arms over his chest when he sat on the windowsill. "You simply woke up when I arrived."
Hope laughed lightly, kissing his cheek. "Good morning, Orion. Was there any reason for disturbing me so early on such an important day?" she asked, turning away to sit on her bed, meeting her friend's eyes when she looked back.
"I thought we had agreed to go out this morning," Orion began, a smile still on his lips.
"Yes, but not necessarily so early," reasoned Hope, waving away his comment. "Some people need their beauty sleep."
"What are you doing, then, still sleeping?" challenged Orion, causing his friend to blush bright red.
However, Hope chose not to say anything, playing with the ribbon on her nightgown instead, before focussing her attention onto the lace around the sleeves.
"I can go home if you want me to, though," Orion pointed out, getting to his feet and unlatching the window.
Hope was by his side in a flash, taking his hands away from the window and holding them tightly in her own. "I never said you could actually go."
"And since when have you been in charge of me?" replied Orion, laughing.
"Well, it was never officially dated, but for a while, I think," Hope decided, spinning away from her best friend, although one of her hands was still linked to his. "But when have you ever complained?"
"That's true." Orion sighed. "I've never been able to complain about you."
"Exactly." Hope stayed still as Orion kissed the back of her hand, before bowing deeply. When he stood back up, she smiled and said, "If you wait here for a moment, I will just change into my dress for the Reaping, so that I don't have to do that later. I cannot imagine for how long you plan to steal my time." She pulled her hand out of his and walked to her dress, taking it into the bathroom to get changed into.
When she came back out, she was wearing one of her mother's old dresses from District Four: a soft coral dress, which fell to her knees, with a turquoise lace overlay- part of the back cut out- the little button at the back to do it up the same colour as the lace.
Before she got the chance to ask if it was too much, Orion had already smiled at her, complementing her on the dress. He then moved straight on to point out, "You always lie on your right side when you sleep, don't you? It's the only side that you can sleep on."
Hope frowned slightly. "And what if that's true? What does that mean, oh-so-great-and-genius Gradwell? Am I going to die suddenly when I lay on my left side, or will I trip when I walk on the left side of a road?" She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for her friend to answer.
"Actually, Hope, I was just going to say that the only side I can sleep on is my left, because I'm worried I'll miss something that happens to you if I sleep on my right," he admitted. "When I lie on my left side, I'm looking towards your house."
"That's creepy, Orion," Hope complained.
"When you lie on your right, you're looking towards mine," reasoned Orion, before the girl got the chance to add anything else.
As Hope sits on where her best friend slept for the last time in the District, she realises that he was right. Not only was he laying on his left, but he would always lay so that he was facing her, no matter where they were laying or how uncomfortable it would be for him. Too, she has not been able to sleep, no matter what direction she's been laying in, recently.
She sighs, sitting back further onto his bed, wrapping the covers that still smell of him around herself. Although she does not want to rid the room of any evidence that he was real, she will do anything to make it seem as if he's still with her, even if it involves resorting to wrapping herself in his old covers, so that it seems as if he is still protectively holding her.
As some of her tears begin to soak into the covers, she squeezes her eyes shut and hugs her knees closely to her chest. She lies there, feeling somewhat more relaxed if she imagines that her best friend is still laying with her, too, and allows a faint smile to find its way onto her lips, still through the tears. It doesn't take long, therefore, for a peaceful sleep to soon take her for the first time in months.
When Hope opens her eyes in her dream, she sees her best friend nearby and she walks over to him, a smile on her lips. She reaches him and realises that he has a similar smile, although possibly bigger. Just as she goes to ask him what he is so happy about, he softly holds her hand within his own, pressing a finger to his lips with his other hand as he begins to walk.
Following his wishes, Hope stays silent when she walks through the District from her house in the Victors' Village, until they reach Orion's house and make their way into his room. He smiles and lets go of her hand, picking up a slip of paper, instead, and handing it to her. The girl glances down, reading the words on the paper but, when she looks up to ask him what it means, he has disappeared.
She rolls her eyes when she sees this but continues to smile, anyway, lifting the skirt of her floor length, strapless indigo dress, the skirt falling in many ruffles from beneath her silver beaded waistband. As if it's the first time she has seen her dress, she shakes her head at its extravagance, leaving her best friend's house to follow his clue.
She reaches the next one and pauses, half expecting Orion to arrive. When he doesn't, however, she sighs and reads it, spinning around quickly when she hears whispers coming from around her. She has no idea where they're coming from or who they're from, but she knows that they aren't something that she wants to listen to. Although she can make out little, she can make out the message: the hostility aimed towards "baby".
Hope tries to run away from the voices to the next clue, but the voices follow her there and continue their taunts. However, this time, Hope reads the clue and covers her ears, walking away and trying not to listen to the hard words, even though she can still hear them through the covering of her ears. She continues this, until she stops when she sees those in front of her.
She instantly recognises them as Fearne and Elijah, the brother and sister that were entered as the two tributes for District Seven. When she was in the Games, she felt sorry for the situation that they were in- because she heard that they had left behind a disabled sister on her own- but, as they stand with looks of anything but sadness on their faces, she cannot anymore.
"It won't last," they say together. "You won't love them forever. Something else, something more "important" will come up and you'll abandon them. You won't care, however, and you'll leave them to fend for themselves for a while. A while can easily turn into forever, though, and you'll never return. They'll never get to live a proper life, just because you were too unloving to realise or care."
Hope doesn't have the chance to try and work out what they mean, before they have disappeared and she's on her own again, soon setting out after the next clue. However, as she goes, she continues to try and work out the meaning behind their words and the words of the other tributes, because she has no idea who "baby" or the person that the brother and sister were speaking about is.
At the next clue, her back hits an invisible wall when she tries to run away before she has heard the next tributes speak. This time, it is Belle and Logan, the mother and father of her Games, although they no longer look like that. Even though Logan still has an arm around his wife and they have wedding rings- which they didn't have during the Games- Belle no longer has her baby bump.
Like the tributes before them, they speak together, saying, "There's no point in them. Too much trouble will happen to you because of them, even before they really come into your life. In fact, everything happens as it shouldn't do. And you can't escape it. You will lose everything from before, and then you'll lose them, too. Nothing will stay the same."
As soon as they have gone, Hope can suddenly move on again, trying to quickly move through the orchards without disturbing anything. No longer has she got to avoid listening to the tormenting voices that followed her from the first clue, taunting her all the way, because she knows now, instead, that something worse will come when she reaches the next clue.
The first thing she notices when she reaches the final clue is the setting of it is remarkably similar to what Orion, in the Games, said it would be. There is, like the clearing in the Arena, a green spot of land, surrounded by a circle of trees. In the middle is a river, fed by the huge waterfall, near which are the groups of rocks, placed carefully as seats.
Seeming to forget all about what she just struggled through, Hope smiles and walks into the clearing, expecting Orion to arrive at any moment, too, reappearing at her side and holding her close to his chest. She heads towards the seated stone area, humming to herself when she does so, and allows the smile on her face to grow when she sees what she guesses to be the final clue, waiting for her there.
"So then, who finally got Miss Hope Demers in bed?" Hope spins around when she hears Ranger's voice coming from somewhere in the clearing, instantly fearing for her life when she spots him drawing closer to her, a weapon in his hand. "Who broke all the boundaries that she had set herself, just to say that they were the one to overcome what she had promised?"
"I bet you're regretting it now," adds Stella, his District partner when she begins to come closer, too, taking a knife from beneath her jacket. "We'll make sure you remember it, though. First, we'll kill whoever it was, and then we'll kill you. But, don't worry, we'll kill it before it's born, as well. We don't want you to fear for it. We won't make it see its mummy and daddy murdered before its eyes. We're not that cruel."
"But you killed us both." The two Career tributes say the last sentence together, both pointing their weapons towards Hope.
Before they manage to do anything to her, Orion comes into the clearing, seeming to make them disappear when he appears. He catches Hope before she falls, sitting down carefully with her on his lap, stroking her back gently. His best friend wraps her arms tightly around him and buries her face in his neck, wanting to say something but unable to find the words.
"It's okay, Hope," he whispers for the first time in a while. "I promise that they won't get either of you. I will protect you both with my life, like I have since forever. You didn't ever want this, but I did, and I'm sorry. You don't deserve to have to go through something that you don't want. But, realise that I will still love you, however you choose to react to them."
Hope wakes up before the sun has even begun to really rise, feeling something like a muscle twitch in her stomach. She sits up and rubs where she feels the 'twitch' coming from, as if she is trying to relieve the tiny pain, but she only feels the slight movements more clearly when her hand is pressed against her stomach. Confused at the slight tickling sensation, she tries to think of what it could be, until she begins to cry.
"No," she sobs, her face in her hands. "I can't- It- No. I can't be." As she sits still, she remembers how she, many times, told Orion that she would never have children, until they were in the Arena and she said she could change her mind for him. But it couldn't have happened. It didn't, really. It was just once, the night before the Games, when she said she loved him for the first time, properly, in years.
When her tears have finally lessened a little, she looks around, placing her hands protectively over where she can still occasionally feel tiny movements. Although she somewhat dislikes the prospect of having a child at all, let alone one when she's so young and without their father there, she supposes that there's no better way for her to remember him. She just won't let anyone else know, somehow.
Soon, she dries her eyes on the back of her hand, before she stands up, looking around the room for a final time in the sunlight. Suddenly, she smiles, thinking about, as this is solely her room now, how she could put pictures around the room, with the other ones, of her and their child when they're born, just so that it will seem that he'll eventually see them.
Having decided that she will definitely do that, she walks back to the window, pausing for a second to breathe in deeply, noticing a small folded piece of paper there. She stops going to open the window and picks it up instead, unfolding it and seeing the writing of her best friend. She knows there's no need to be wary- for what she saw was just a bad dream- so she, eventually, carries on, anyway.
Okay, you probably think I'm mad- and the truth is that I am- but trust me. I've already spent the day with you, and now I've brought you back home again. I've given you this piece of paper and run away. Not the politest of goodbyes, I must admit, but you should understand soon. When you find me. First clue? We should have been working there today, but the interviews we missed are more important.
Hope allows a small smile to cross her face as she raises a hand to her stomach, gently rubbing the currently unmoving area. "That's right, baby, you don't need to worry anymore. We're going to go to find your daddy, and I swear on my life that, whilst you're still with me, I will let no one even contemplate hurting you." Hearing herself speak to no one makes her smile grow because she is beginning to love the idea of it now.
She carefully climbs out of the window, still not wanting to disturb anyone in the house, least of all the little person inside of her, and then locks the window back behind her. She quickly glances at the rising sun and decides that she most definitely has enough time to continue to the end of the trail, even though she's probably only got a couple of hours until she needs to be home again.
Immediately, she sets off in the direction of the orchards, in which all the children are meant to work in, until they turn eighteen. After that point, they would be assigned another, more important job, which needed more advanced skills, which could come from a quick couple of hours training session. The Government were just lucky that they could learn so quickly.
She decides to take the less used and less publicly viewed streets on the way there, not really because she wants to put herself in higher risk, but because she doesn't want everyone to see the Victor and wonder what she's doing so early in the morning. This thing, originally, would have just been for her and Orion, so why does it have to be seen by everyone, now that she's famous?
Because she is in such a rush to get there, it takes her much less time than it usually used to. Although she does not know why she does, she smiles when she sees where she used to spend most of her time with her friends, when she was meant to be working. Now, an hour or so before work starts, it's currently empty, but the bright colours of the trees and the fruits still make it seem appealing.
Instead of looking through the whole area of orchards, she heads straight to where she and Orion spent most of their time, even though it wasn't their official designated area. Often, they would spend days lying on their backs, soaking up the sun, before they would rush around at the end of the day, taking turns to climb the trees and throw fruit to whoever was on the ground.
When she climbs through a fence into the area, she sighs, realising that, obviously, no one has gone in there since they left, because it's now so overgrown. However, she becomes not quite as sad when notices the huge tree that they would spend their few breaks under, much of the fruit from its already heavy branches having, unfortunately, fallen to the ground beneath.
As she walks closer, she sees a piece of paper pinned to the trunk, its probably original crispness disappeared, due to the long months spent outside in multiple hot spells, with the occasional storms thrown in, too. She does not mind, however, and touches a hand to the wood just above the note, looking up at the dappled light through the leaves, before she picks up her next clue.
So, you're finally one step closer to finding me. I thought you might have given up, just because my last clue was so difficult to solve. And I'm sure that you're no closer to working out why I'm sending you on an unexplained trail around the District. It should all make sense eventually, so, whilst you're trying to work out how it will, I'll send you to where you promised that you'd live with me.
A tear slips down Hope's cheek as she, once again, regrets that she always said that she never wanted something like he wanted, even though she had told him when they were younger that she did. So much more could have happened but, as she has found out recently, she supposes that she won't necessarily be missing out on everything, she just won't have him with her through it all.
She pockets the second clue and takes off again, taking slow, deep breaths to compose herself, just in case someone from the District sees her and wonders what she's suddenly got so emotional about. This time, luckily, she doesn't have to take a way that will be seen by many people, as she can just move through the orchards, anyway.
No doubt, everyone wants her to stay away from the meadow, after what happened last time. However, she knows that she cannot spend more than four months there because, for one thing, she will have to be back at her house soon, but, mainly, she wants to finish whatever her best friend has started. Thinking about this, she speeds up her pace a little more, to get there a bit quicker.
When she steps onto the final path to get there, she pauses for a moment and looks at the route that she did not really pay any attention to the last time she came. Now that she's on her own, without her best friend holding her hand all the way there, it looks so much longer. Not one of the original people she went there with for the first time are left.
Sighing, she carries on her walk, up the remainder of the path, until she appears in the grassy meadow. Obviously, no one has been there to attend to it- she makes a mental note to employ someone there as a gardener- but, here, the wild, overgrown plants suit the place. The tall grass, which now reaches above her knees, reminds her of what it was like when she was younger, and the random flowers add to the mood of the place.
She tries not to look around at too much of the surrounding area as she heads towards the house, knowing that it will slow her down and break her as well. Instead, she focusses on the small house that is the only thing that appears unchanged as she unknowingly looked after it was whilst she was there. She just wonders how out of it she must have been to not notice the clue he left her.
As she reaches the front door, she finds the key in her pocket that hasn't left her side since she was reunited with it in the Arena. She pushes it into the lock and turns it, slowly opening the door when she's replaced the key back into her pocket, breathing in deeply, before she walks into the house, trying to prepare herself for what she didn't really see last time.
When she finally walks in, she has to bite her lip to stop herself from crying. She can't have noticed it when she was staying in the house- all the details must have passed her by- but it does look considerably more habitable than before. On the other hand, the last time she was there, perhaps she was just more worried about herself and the fact that there were other people in their house to notice any details.
First, she searches around the two chairs in the living room and the little table, finding nothing under, on top of or near them. Then, she looks behind the curtains at the windows, also checking in all the seams she had sown at the bottom, just in case he persuaded his mother to unstitch and then restitch them, with a note inside. Unfortunately, these guesses are wrong.
Next, she moves into the other part of the room, which acted as a kitchen, whenever they needed it. It has no more than the basic things they'd need: an oven, a sink and draining board, and a few cupboards with, now, nothing more two sets of dinner necessities and cooking utensils, but she checks every detail of them, just in case. Again, she finds her search unsuccessful.
Although she is absolutely certain that there will be nothing in there, she checks in the bathroom. There's less than there was in the other room, so, once she's looked in all the obvious places, she slows down her pace of searching throughout the rest of the room, therefore taking more time to look. It doesn't take her long before she gives up and walks into the final room.
The first thing she does when she walks into the bedroom is she sits down on the bed, crossing her legs up in front of her on the mattress and wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. She sighs softly and shuts her eyes, breathing in deeply as she thinks about the simplicity of the house, but all it meant to them. She realises that the room she sits in holds so many memories on its own.
Without thinking about it, she gently rubs her stomach, glancing down when she opens her eyes. "I was going to live here with your daddy," she whispers. "It would have been your house, too. We would have slept here and you could have had a little homemade bed on the other side when you were older. I guess you can still live here, but just not with your daddy."
As the tears land on her cheeks, she drops the blanket onto the bed, carefully smoothing it back out, and climbs onto the floor. She reaches beneath the bed, without really knowing why, and draws a small wooden box from under it. She slowly flips the lid open to reveal the contents of the box, most importantly, for now, at least, the third clue that she's been searching for.
I bet you're really missing me now, aren't you? You took your time with that last clue. No, I'm joking. I must admit that one was probably a bit mean. I only told you where it was basically; I gave you no details. The next one should be easier, I hope. There, we sat in one place only, whilst we watched something that only people like our family could do here.
Hope wipes her eyes dry on the hem of her dress after she has rested her head in her hands for a few minutes following reading the end of the clue. No matter how much she desperately wants it to be true, she knows that he is not writing them as she goes along the trail; what she's reading are messages from her dead best friend. It's just unfortunate that it sounds as if he is still alive.
She takes her time to get back onto her feet, resting against the wall for a moment when she is standing. Eventually, it takes all her willpower to move her out of the room, back through the front room and out of the front door. There, with shaking hands, she manages to push one of the keys back into the lock, keeping the contents of the house safe for a little while longer.
It takes less than a minute for her to cross to where her best friend's father went to for an hour or so, whilst the two young children enjoyed the meadow for the first time. She spots the reasonably sized lake and sighs softly, the still surface sparkling, reflecting the early morning, golden and blue sky. She wonders why she didn't come here when she was unaware of the world.
Dreamily, she makes her way to the edge of the calm water, only sitting down when she finally reaches the little platform into the water. When she's sat on it, she remembers how she and her best friend would sit there, together, watching as the boy's father taught them to fish, just in case they would need another way to gain money.
What he taught them, she now realises, was his only remaining link back to the world he had to leave. He wanted to teach his son and his son's best friend it, so that they could continue to use what they would have used if they had stayed in his home District. Unfortunately, she realises as well, if they had stayed in Four, they wouldn't have had half of the problems they had in Eleven.
Becoming wishful, she brushes her fingers over the surface of the water, breaking its stillness. However, in contrast, the ripples that spread across the lake from the one point of contact from her fingers calm the girl, allowing her to smile just a little. She hasn't been in control of much recently, so just being able to make water move seems like a great achievement to her.
Soon, when she sees the golden sky beginning to turn more of a pale blue on the horizon, she snaps out of her thoughts, reaching beneath the platform without looking. As she thought she would, she finds another piece of paper stuck to the bottom of the wood and she carefully pulls it away, desperate to neither let it rip when she takes it from its hiding place, nor let it break, if it were to touch the water.
I'm sorry if I disappoint you, but this will be your final clue. It's not because I can't be bothered to make anymore, but, and I don't know about you, I just can't wait to see you now. However, this is going to be the most difficult of all to find. You know the trees behind our house and the tree we could climb to the top of and see the whole District? Continue walking straightforward after that and you'll find me.
This finally breaks Hope completely because, no matter how much she wishes for that to be true, she knows that she will not find her best friend at the end of a treasure trail. He had it all completely prepared, as if he knew he wouldn't get the chance to on the day, because they were both taken away from it all, before they even had a chance. Actually, they did have a chance before, she just chose not to take it.
Now, like many times before, she feels as if it's her to blame for her best friend's death, the reason why he's not standing next to her anymore. She was too selfish to realise that what he wanted was also what she wanted before. If she had realised, they could have had so much longer together, not just the final few moments when she needed another's comfort.
She does not have the time to pity herself or mourn for her best friend because she quickly gets to her feet, walking away, even with tears still in her eyes. No longer does she care what people may think about her because she's sure that most of them know that the Games broke her. If not, after her interviews in the Capitol, at least, they certainly will.
When she steps back onto a normal street that leads through and around the District, she ducks her head down, trying to avoid most of the confused glances in her direction. Because it's still so early in the morning, people could, if she was lucky, mistake her for someone else, someone less important. If not, they should know better than to disturb her.
Perhaps, she thinks, some of them even knew about her best friend's plans and kept them a secret from her then, as he would have wanted them to, and have decided not to break her further since her return from the Capitol. Or they just haven't had the chance to tell her is a possibility, too. If that's the case, she wonders, will they guess where she's headed, or did he manage to keep that a secret?
It takes her a few minutes to reach their two houses again but, as soon as she has, she changes the direction of her feet, so that she is headed towards the trees behind the houses instead. She carefully pushes through the branches, ducking under the lower hanging ones, walking towards the tall tree that she cannot yet see. When she does see it, she only stops when she can touch the trunk.
She rests her forehead against the cool wood for just a second, before she begins walking forward, into part of the District that even she has not been into before. As she does this, she slows her pace a little, treading warily, unsure of where to go and what the area is actually like. She just hopes that, when the clue said to go straight forward, it actually only is straight forward.
Soon, she realises that her pace here is similar to what it was like when she was in the Arena, but she just hopes the circumstances will not be the same. Instantly, she tenses up, reaching behind her for a bow and arrow that she no longer carries. She tries to brush away this reaction with a laugh, but she cannot convince herself with it, hoping, instead, that no one will actually come for her.
Suddenly, after pushing past a particularly overgrown tree, she glances forward and spots another small slip of paper. Confused as to why there's another clue after her final one, she hurries over to it, anyway, and picks it up without a moment's hesitation, not only desperate to read something from her best friend again, but also wondering what he is going to say.
I know that I said that the last clue was your final clue and, really, it is. I just wanted you to know that you are heading in the right direction to find me. Congratulations for making it this far on your own- my last clue was not too helpful either- so I am just going to tell you that you'll go past this final wall of trees, and then you'll find me. I'm sorry it won't be much. I just hope what I will say will make up for it.
Hope smiles slightly as she wipes away her tears, as if she believes that she will still see him behind the trees, so wants to look the best possible for him. Then she sighs and shakes her head, believing that she has certainly gone mad- because he won't be there, no matter what she would give for that to be true- before walking forward and through the final trees.
She steps past the trees and catches her breath, convinced that she is now back in the Arena. Too close to what was recreated there is what she is standing in. It is also uncomfortably similar to what she saw in her dream and was nearly attacked in. This time, however, she knows that she should not be fighting for her life, but she also knows no one will be there to save her if she does.
A slightly smaller circle of land to what she was used to is surrounded by the tall protective trees, which shelter her from the reality of the outside world. Unlike all the other untended pieces of land, the grass and its little flowers have not become overgrown in her best friend's absence. The most obvious parts that have hardly changed from the Arena are the stone pieces of "furniture" and the river, although, here, not fed by a waterfall.
Tears flood her face when she walks towards one of the stone seats, sitting gently on it and wondering how many hours her best friend would have spent there, trying to make it perfect for her. And he never got to show the actual one to her properly. If she had never gone to his house last night and found that note, she may never have seen it.
She can hardly see through her tears when she feels something brush against her hand and she looks down to see a slightly larger piece of paper. She wipes her eyes dry, and then breathes in deeply, calming her nerves as she picks up the paper, her dry eyes allowing her to read the note, without her tears smudging the words on the already somewhat damaged note.
Hope,
If you're reading this, I'm sorry. You can only be reading this if I'm not there to hide it from you. And, if I'm not with you, I'm going to hope it's because I'm a stupid, horrible person that did something unforgivable, so you never want to see me again, and certainly not for a reason like you just can't see me again.
If I did do something incredibly stupid, I'm going to say sorry here, just so you've got it in writing, in case I won't actually say it in words. I will actually mean sorry, even if I can't form the words. But, if that's the case, I beg you to go and find me and make me say it. I don't care in whatever way you get me to say it, but I deserve to die if I hurt you so badly that we'll never speak again.
In the other case, if I'm not with you through no fault of my own, I am still sorry. I don't want to imagine why I wouldn't be with you, but there's only one really reasonable justification of why I wouldn't be there. I don't want to say it, however. I just know that it's got to be the only reason because the Government wouldn't let one of our families leave a District again, and I wouldn't leave without you, anyway.
I can't avoid it, though. If I went into the Games on my own and didn't come out alive, I'm sorry. I should have fought so hard and won, because I had all the opportunities handed to me that should have ensured my Victory. As well, I would have had you to return to. You and a life that you never wanted to live, but I still do. You alone should have provided me with enough motivation to come back.
If I did fight to the best of my abilities and still didn't come back, that would mean that I wasn't fighting for myself. I would have been fighting for you, over myself. If the world turned against us and reaped us both for the Games, I cannot blame myself. However, I will have been protecting you with my life, which would be the reason why you could read this message, but I couldn't hide it from you.
So, if you can't go and find me, to demand that I come and show you where you are and mean it, I tried. I really did. But, now, I should probably tell you why I would have brought you to the clearing. That is, if you haven't already guessed, which I hope you haven't, because that would spoil the surprise. By the way, it's your seventeenth birthday surprise.
I'm writing this message on the night before the Reaping, and then I will set all the clues out in the District, which will be the reason why I won't be with you tonight. No doubt, soon I will regret the decision to not spend it with you- especially if you're reading this- but I plan to make up the time tomorrow morning. However, I have no idea if or when you'll read this.
I should move this out of your sight on the night of interviews, the night of my birthday and the night before yours, before you reach me. If you are reading this, perhaps I just didn't hide it well enough. To reach here, you will have at least found the clues I left out for you, even if I didn't want you to or didn't have the opportunity to present them to you.
I wanted you to be here after a week or so of me telling you just how much I love you and how I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Maybe that'll be the reason why we're no longer speaking, but I sincerely hope that's not ever the case. I wanted this to be the perfect end to a perfect week, which would, ideally, provide the start to a perfect life with you.
Honestly, I don't care how clichéd it's going to sound, but I seriously want to spend the rest of my life with you, so I'm sorry if that won't happen. I was planning- for more than months, admittedly- exactly how this would happen, including all the smallest details. I was really hoping that they would all happen exactly as I wanted them to but, if you're reading this, they obviously haven't.
Now, the important things. I may have kept this clearing from you for too long, but for a good reason. I've been preparing this for you to the finest details again. Although it may look beautiful now- and it did before, too- I've been helping it look so good. Only I have been caring for the flowers, keeping the grass short, and building things of stone.
Because I've been building everything, I can hide something that I should keep on me at all time, but I won't, just in case something like this happens, when you could be here without me. Really, I want to be with you when you find what I'm talking about, so I can see your reaction, but I won't if you're reading this. Saying that, however, maybe I've gone for the Games and you've found it before I've got home.
If you have found this note, you will have looked under the sofa-type stone structure. Can you see a group of stepping stones across the river? Go across them- carefully, of course, because I won't be there to catch you- and you should see a stone with a hole in the middle, but a piece of material covering the front. Lift it up and you'll find your birthday present inside.
What do you think you'd say?
After Hope follows his instructions exactly and she lifts out a little box, she sits down heavily on the ground and stares at it. "Not again," she whispers. "Please don't do this to me again." Despite saying this, she holds her breath, sliding her finger around the edge of the lid, and allows the warm tears to slide down her cheeks, landing on the dress that lies across her knees.
When she finally braves flipping the lid off of the box, she first looks at the short note on the inside of the lid, explaining where the money for the surely expensive gift came from.
I'm sorry that I didn't save up for years to buy this for you because, if all goes to plan, we're going to need the money that I've been saving. This was my mum's great grandmother's.
Slowly, almost regretfully, she looks down at the little ring, which must have been carefully placed on a soft, old cushion. The band is made of rosy golden colour of gold, tiny leaves made of the precious metal. Held at the front of the ring is a small, clear diamond, which reflects the bright early morning sunlight that has begun to appear above the trees.
She smiles wishfully as she unclips the clasp of the locket, so she can slip the ring onto it, too, where the long chain will sit against her kicking baby bump. She rubs it gently and says quietly, "Of course I'd say yes, you desperate little boy. I may have been crazy then- and of course I'm crazy now- but I would never say no to that. I loved you so much, even if I wouldn't admit it, and I need you here, now, to help me with our baby. Please."
A few months after she returned from her Victory Tour, Hope gave birth to a blonde girl with brown eyes, called Oriana Gradwell; to everyone else, she was called known as Evamore Nightingale, because they all believe that Hope adopted her to keep her preoccupied, during the time when she was "ill". During Hope's "recovery time", her family went to stay in the Capitol, but they never returned.
However, two and a half years later, she finally went out with Oakley, after receiving constant "warnings" from Snow that she took as threats towards her daughter.
Four years after Oriana was born, Hope married Oakley, and she slept with him three months after that; at this time, she was taking Capitol drugs to prevent a pregnancy, whilst still making the person seem as if they were pregnant, so that Hope could adopt later and convince everyone that the child was actually hers.
Five months later, Hope gave birth to a second daughter called Aspen because the drugs did not take effect as soon as she realised. Because of the fact that the drugs were working against the pregnancy, on top of her months premature birth, Aspen was born incredibly small and frail, with problems with normal things occasionally, like trouble with walking and breathing.
Author's Note: The sequel's finally up- yay! I hope that it's everything you wanted it to be so far, although it hasn't really begun. For the prologue, I thought I'd just throw in a twist, and then the actual story will begin about eighteen years later, when Oriana/Evamore (I'll call her Eva, just to make it easier) is seventeen years old *hint: that's the year of the Seventy Fourth Hunger Games*
In the next chapter, Eva spends the last day/night with Aspen and Hope, before Aspen's first reaping.
There's not really much else to say, but I hope you enjoyed this and continue to enjoy it in the future! Review!
Quickly, however, I need to find out if Miss RadMalfoyCookie has been, somehow, finding all my notes for this story and I Volunteer, so that she can "predict" what will happen... As well, I wonder if there's anything else she'd like to predict?
Review (again?)!