TAKES PLACE AFTER CATCHING FIRE, IN DISTRICT 13. THIS IS HOW I IMAGINE KATNISS COULD BE IF SHE NEVER GETS OVER THE HUNGER GAMES. I OWN NOTHING.
I know I'm crazy. It's the only way to explain the things I see, and I see them all the time. Most of them look the same as the last time I saw them, mangled and broken and…gone. I know I'm crazy to fear them, because I know they can't be real. I used to think they were, but when no one else could see them, I knew that I had finally lost it.
Now, I sit on my bed in my room in my new house, curled up into a ball, bow and arrow in hand, waiting for them to come again. Wholes line the walls where my arrows have gone right through them, only provoking them further, making them moan my name, asking me to end the pain, or worse, to bring them back. All those faces, screwed up in masks of rage and terror, haunting me. I used to make Prim sleep with me at night so I didn't have face them alone, but that quickly ended when I nearly shot her.
It had been a torturous night of memories and haunting, and when I screamed out, startled awake from my nightmare, Prim tired to calm me, but I was too far gone in my hallucinations to discern her from the monsters that claw at me day and night. Her terrible scream was the only thing that roused me from my dementia enough to tilt my bow at the last second. I leave the arrow in the ceiling as a reminder that I am now a danger to myself and to others. Prim, being the angel that she is, has forgiven me; even opted to sleep with me still, but I won't allow it.
They're back again, now. I know them all by sight, even though most are unrecognizable. Cato, once large and strong, now cries out to me, asking me to end his pain. Blood trickles endlessly from multiple wounds on his body, and he uses it to smear a target on the dead, gray skin of his forehead, begging me to shoot my arrow, to end his suffering. I resist the urge because I know from past attempts that it will not work, and my mother will just have to sedate me again.
Now Glimmer emerges from a shadow in the corner of my room, creeping slowly, her body changing from woman to wolf as it escapes the shadows. Her eyes stare into mine, and I swear I hear her whisper; One day, this will be you. I stifle a scream and hope that no one will hear my whimpering. Glimmer paces slowly in front of my bed, making escape impossible as she stares me down further.
I have to cover my mouth quickly as I let out a startled shriek when an eerie gurgling sounds from behind me. I turn my head slowly, knowing what it is, but still to scared to look at it. Foxface climbs up onto my bed from under it, foaming at the mouth, moaning softly as the poisonous berries she ingested over a year ago take their toll on her body from the inside out. I scamper to the farthest corner of my bed, my hands tremble violently as I try to use my pillows as a shield. Foxface perches herself on the opposite corner of the bed and wretches over the edge onto the wooden floor below. When she finishes, bloody saliva and a bit of green-purple froth remain on her mouth as she gaps, incapable of sound, at me. The only word I can read off her lips is "death".
I cower further into the corner as the bodies of other dead tributes begin to clutter my room, each terrifying in their own way, but the worst has yet to come. She always saves herself for last. I know she is coming when a sinister whistle rings in my ear. It was once a lovely four note tune, meant to mean safety and the end of a hard day, but now it only announces my greatest fear. I feel her before I see her, small hands grip my shoulders from behind, and I know I have no escape. A chill goes down my spine as she leans in to whisper in my ear; You should have saved me…
This time there is no muffling my scream. The rest draw closer, as if excited by my fear, and begin to climb onto my bed, joining Foxface and the ghost of Rue. I hear hurried footsteps outside my door and squeeze my eyes shut tightly, waiting for the demons to disappear. My door is thrown open, and someone rushes inside. I open my eyes, and the spirits are gone. They never stay for company unless I'm too tired to fend them off. Before I know what is happening, Gale has wrapped me up in his arms, and I am sobbing.
Finnick, who followed Gale in, turns on the light and then leaves, probably to tell my mother that everything is okay. I'm just having another "episode". Gale is saying something, his tone suggesting that it is meant to comfort me, but I can't listen to him because a Mockingjay has landed atop my dresser, and I know Gale can't see it. It spreads its wings and sings a four note tune before flying straight at me, causing me to scream and thrash about in Gales arms. He tries to wrestle me down, making sure I don't hurt my self like I have so many times in the past, but it's no use. I only stop when my mother manages to jam a needle into my arm, and I am subdued, banished to my nightmares that are so much worse than reality.