Darius's Point Of View

It has been over a three and a half months now, and we still have not found her.

This is not from lack of searching; we have been searching tirelessly in the woods for any sign of her but have come up empty handed. No arrows, no footprints, no trace of her presence whatsoever.

We soon began to fear the worst, and started looking for signs of a shallow grave or a dead body. Once again, we came up empty handed.

Then a new Headpeacekeeper arrived at District 12, an overzealous lawman who is too blind to see that the laws made in the Capitol do not work here. Because he is enforcing them without exception, people are starving.

He suspected a case of running away, but his bloodhounds found nothing. His theory was ruled out once evidence failed to surface.

The only good aspect of Thread coming to District 12, or at least the only one I noticed, was putting Cray under lock and key. He'll either hang or burn, and quite frankly either of those punishments would be too good for the son of a bitch.

In any case, neither I nor any other Peacekeeper or civilian in District 12 has the slightest idea what happened to Katniss Everdeen. It is as though this close friend of mine, for all intent and purposes, vanished into thin air.

Having a close friend go missing would be hard enough on its own, but it is clear that the other people in her life are also having a hard time with this.

Gale continues to worry over the fate of his hunting partner and friend. He searched for her in the woods every day, up until the electric fence went on and prevented him from hunting anymore.

Now, all he does is worry himself sick. When I talked with him he told me that he was having nightmares; this would explain why he does not look like he is getting any sleep. It is clear he misses her, but not everyone sees how much Gale is bothered.

I am walking on patrol, like any other day. As I walk, I can hear people talking. Two people in particular are saying things which makes me upset.

"Did you hear what happened to that hunter girl?"

"Everdeen? Yes, she was murdered."

"I'll bet the Hathworne boy did it. He's the only other person who'd be in the woods."

I am grinding my teeth together in anger. How dare they accuse Gale of such a thing! If they could see how worried he is over Katniss's fate, they would not be thinking he did it.

I wish it was just a rumor, but I have been hearing crap like this for the last month and I am sick of it. The only reason I do not give them a piece of my mind is that I already got a Non-Judicial Punishment for getting in a fistfight with another peacekeeper after he called Gale a murderer. If I get thrown in the brig, than it will be a bit hard for me help the Everdeens pay for food.

So I hold my tongue.