Chapter 1: Ashes

The meadow. Its lush green grasses and bright flowers sway lightly in the gentle breeze. Gale is to my left, and he is smiling to himself as he stares at the stem of grass he toys with in his hands. To my right, Rue, staring at the trees off to the side of the meadow where Mockingjays come out to sing. She sings softly to them and they don't hesitate to take up her tune.

I'm happy. Content. Somehow I feel safe and warm.

I see Prim, then, as she bounds over the top of the hill, laughing. My sweet sister, her blond hair in two braids and that stupid cat scampering after her through the plants.

I reach out my arms as she approaches, her eyes shining and her laugh resonating, blending with Rue's song and Gale's soft chuckle. This moment couldn't be happier for me.

When she bursts into flames.

I scream instantly, but the most horrible sound comes from Prim, who shrieks in agony. "Katniss!" I instantly push myself to my knees, ready to spring over to her, to try and extinguish the flames that surround her thin form, to do something.

"Prim!" I am about to leap for her when a sickening sound brings my attention to my right. Its Rue, the four foot long spear of the District 1's boy buried directly in her heart. Blood splashed from the wound, landing on my face, my arms... I recoil sharply, trying to get away from the sticky salty spray when I collide with something.

I fall flat on my back in shock, staring up at a sky dark with stormy clouds instead of the bright sunny weather I once saw. My dream had turned into a nightmare and it was only just beginning.

Gale looms over me and he reaches a hand down as if he were to pull me up. I reach for it in a panic, but instead, I see a round black object attached to a silver parachute in those familiar fingers. Its a bomb. The same kind that killed my sister.

His smile is predatory, the kind he has when he spots a deer when we're both hunting together. "Go on, Katniss. Its time for the Girl on Fire to get a taste of real flames."

Just as the bomb explodes in a flash of burning light, I find myself back in my home. Gasping for breath and sweating, but definitely back in my home in District 12's Victor's Village.

I can feel the salt from my tears stinging my cheeks as I try to catch my breath. The blanket had fallen to the floor from my thrashing. The fire in the hearth had burnt down to a few dying embers in a bed of ashes. Ashes.

And so began the process of my heart breaking to pieces all over again.

My fists clench the edges of the chair, my nails gouging little marks into the wood. I hear a guttural groan somewhere but I can't focus and figure out from what. I can feel it again. The flames burning Prim's flesh. The spear entering Rue's body. And the pain of countless others who died in vain for the Mockingjay. Too many lives.

I barely hear the front door open and crash against the wall as my sadness seizes me, paralyzing me. Tears blur my vision as a face appears, but its unclear on who it is. Until I catch the faint scent of alcohol.

"H-Haymitch..."

He barely manages to keep his balance when I fall into his arms and hold onto him for dear life. He's the only one who hasn't left me, whether its by choice or not. I can tell he's trying his best to console me, but he's clearly uncomfortable and only manages to rub my shoulders a bit. "They're gone," I whisper when he pauses to push some loose tendrils of hair back from my sweaty forehead.

"I know, sweetheart," he mumbles back before snaking an arm around under my arms and helping me to my feet. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

He helps me up the stairs. Both of us teeter slightly, me from the horrors of my nightmares and him from the side effects of the alcohol, before he pushes me into the bathroom and mumbles something about a bath. He turns the water on and helps me over to the tub before setting me down on its edge carefully.

Just before he closes the door so I can undress, he says quietly, "Hang in there for just a few more days, sweetheart." The door shuts firmly and I drop myself down to the cool tile floor, exhausted.

That's the best advice you can give me? Stay alive? Hang in there? I clench my eyes shut, wishing that it was as easy as he says.