For those of you who have read my writing, I am glad to finally publish this. I have incentive to finish it quickly, as well. HG3 comes out in AUGUST!!! =D=D=D=D=D they haven't released the title yet, but I can't wait! So I am starting this story and I promise that I will finish it before or around August 24! It has taken me awhile to write this first chapter, but I think I've done well!! Enjoy!
As the ladder releases me, I step off and look around. Gale comes down beside me, followed by Finnick Odair, Haymitch Abernathy, and Plutarch Heavensbee. We stand there for what seems like forever when Gale breaks the silence. "District Thirteen? Really?"
We are standing in what is supposed to be the ruins of District Thirteen. The hiding place for Revolutionaries. I am surprised by what I see. The District's Justice Building is tall, so tall that it seems like it is touching the sky. Everything shines bright white in the afternoon sun. I have to squint my eyes so I can see better. All the houses look like the ones in Victor's Village in District Twelve, before the district was destroyed by the Capitol.
"Katniss," says Gale, wrenching me from my thoughts, "Isn't it amazing?"
I nod. "I'm sure we'll all be nice and safe here until the Capitol is done destroying the world!" I frown, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from crying. For the past few days, I've had this feeling constantly. This feeling that makes me want to run away to the woods and not come back until the patient is gone. But I can't run now. This gut-wrenching feeling eats at me day and night.
"Now, Katniss, you know we'll pull through." Haymitch, my mentor during the Hunger Games, tries to comfort me, putting his arm around my shoulder. I shrug it off, running from the stench of liquor and vomit.
"Nothing good can come of this!" I yell. "Look at what it got us last time! The Hunger Games! For seventy-five years children killed each other to death in that godforsaken arena! This time, I lost my district, my life, and two of my best friends! It's only going to get worse!" The tears come without approval. "And it's all my fault… it's all my fault…" Gale puts his good arm around me and pulls me close to him.
"Please, Katniss," he whispers. "Don't cry. Please, don't cry. You were trying to save you and Peeta. You were right. They were wrong. It's gonna be okay." I push myself away from him.
"You don't understand. You don't know what it's like to lose two people you love to those people!"
Plutarch Heavensbee's eyes grow wide. "Two?" I never told them.
"Peeta, of course. And Cinna." I tell them the entire story, right from when the glass closed between us. "They were beating him to a pulp right in front of me. They did it on purpose, I know, but… now they have him and I know they're going to do something dreadful." I break down crying again and then I remember where we are. I sniff a few times and wipe the tears from my eyes. People, very few at first, but the hoards of them, are emerging from the gleam that is District Thirteen. They all look the same, but different.
There are several from each district scattered everywhere. Blonde haired, blue-eyed people; Black haired, brown-eyed people; Gray eyes I recognize from District Twelve; The gleaming green-eyed brunettes and blondes from Districts One and Three; Everyone, even Bonnie and Twill, who escaped from their districts, stand in front of me. They are all staring. It makes me wonder why. Suddenly, I remember.
I am the mockingjay, the spark, the rebellion itself. Beginning with those berries from what seems like an eternity ago; in that distant arena that haunts me every waking moment. These people, this revolution, is all because of me. All because I tried to save me and Peeta. Memories flood back from only days ago. A force field. Peeta dead. Peeta under the influence of the poisonous gas. Peeta's locket. Peeta.
I brace myself for the tears that are sure to flow when I see Rue. No, wait. Rue is dead. Her sister I had seen ages ago on the Victory Tour stands there, the image of her sister. Her dark skin and black hair, her brown eyes, her arms slightly extended as if she could take flight at any moment. But I only see her. Her mother, her father, her sisters, are nowhere. I mourn for the little girl. First Rue, now the rest of her family. Who takes care of her?
I search the crowd some more and see Thresh's sister, her eyes red and teary, her grandmother nowhere in sight. She holds her head high and stands tall, as they all do. But there is no doubt that each person here has suffered multiple losses, some more than others.
Suddenly, Rue's sister steps forward. She even walks like Rue. "Katniss," she says, her voice light and sweet, just as if it, too were going to fly. "You'll be okay. Now that you're here, we'll make it." Then, quietly at first, she whistles her sister's four-note tune. The crowd soon catches on, and I hear the same joyous noise I heard in the arena, with Peeta.
Notes overlap and complement each other, ending in a large crescendo of notes and coming to a sudden stillness that seems as though it can never rupture. Rue's sister still stands before me. "Thank you," I whisper. She nods and smiles slightly. It must be hard for her. She turns and takes her place in the crowd once more.
At a silent agreement, the crowd leads me into the city. I stare in awe at the glorious buildings with multiple levels and tinted windows and large metal-and-glass doors that spin when you push them even the slightest bit. It's more than I ever saw, even in the Capitol. There is no Justice Building in the town square. These people are their own people. A little ringlet of shops outline the edge of the square, so like the ones in District Twelve, that I can't help remembering little things that will always remind me of home. The trips to the lake with my father, eating berries in the woods with Gale, following Prim to look at the beautifully decorated cakes in the bakery window, everything.
Then I remember what Gale had told me. He told me that he had gotten them out of there alive. He had saved Prim. Where were they, Prim and my mother? I search the crowd for a brief moment before Rue's little sister grabs my hand and pulls me and a few others into a building.
We are seated at a plain metal folding-table and told to wait. I sit next to Rue's little sister and eventually can't help breaking the silence between us. "You're Rue's sister," I say. "I saw you on the Victory tour. What happened to your family?" She sighs, and I can see her eyes tearing up.
"They wouldn't go. I said 'the district is being destroyed. We have to go! We have to save everyone!' And they wouldn't listen. They sat there, all of them, saying that they were going to die for her, for Rue. She died because of the Capitol, and they intended for it to be the same way for them. I couldn't stop them." She pauses as the first tear drops from her eye and falls down her face, soon followed by another. Instinctively, I wrap my arms around her.
"You did your best. Don't worry. They're with your sister now. And as long as you remember them, and I know this from experience, they will always be there for you." I whisper. We sit in silence for awhile and memories flood back to me. Rue in the Training center. Rue at the interviews. Rue eating a groosling leg. Rue wrapped in a net. Rue covered in flowers. Rue. "What's your name?" I ask the little girl. She looks up at me, a smile playing at the corner of her lips.
"Avella," She says. "But you can call me Ava." I smile.
"I'm Katniss," I say, trying to lighten the mood. It would have worked, only if not for the fact that someone comes into the room and motions for everyone to follow. I stand up, taking Ava's hand, and walk in, Gale, Plutarch, and Haymitch following.
There are two redheads in there, standing in the corner. The one girl I hadn't saved. The Avox. And Darius! I am so glad they escaped. I run up to both of them and hug them. They smile, and then do something I never thought possible. "Hey, Katniss." It was Darius' voice!
"Darius! You can talk?"
"We both can," says a female voice. It's the Avox that I didn't help. "I'm Naomi. Naomi Wilde." She holds out her hand, and I run up and hug her.
"I'm sorry," I whisper. "I should have saved you. We should have saved you."
"No," she replies. "You saved yourselves. All that would have happened is that you would have ended up an Avox and we wouldn't be here to thank you for the opportunity. Little mockingjay, you did the best thing you could have done."
"Okay," I say. "But I'll never stop being sorry." I smile sadly and then turn to look at the table in the center of the room. There is one empty seat, the rest already filled by my friends. At the head of the table, a girl that looks no older than me sits, her head held high. She has dark brown hair, pale skin, and freckles. Her eyes are closed. I sit down at the table quietly, and suddenly her eyes open wide. I gasp and slide an inch from the table, taken aback. Her left eye is blue and her right eye is green.
"I am Meredith. You can call me Meri. AS you may or may not know, you now sit in the former Justice Building of District Thirteen. We are glad to have you here alive and well." She pauses, gazing directly into my eyes. "We did our best to save everyone. I regret to say that our best was not good enough. However, that is why you are here." Again she pauses, still gazing at me, her eyes boring into mine. I blink and turn my head away. "We are here to discuss the best possible way to save Peeta." I gasp as I look up and see her staring, and smiling.
Okay, so there you have it! Please review!! If I get... 5 reviews on this chapter then I'll post the next one! That's reasonable, right? Right!!! So please review!!!
