Peeta and I hadn't realize how far along Annie was until Haymitch was pounding on the door, ready to take her to the hovercraft that would transport her to the best Hospital in Panem. District Four. The place where my mother was. I bound down the stairs, grabbing Haymitch by the shoulder. He didn't even hesitated, didn't give me enough time to get the words out. "You're not coming. She's still got enough time before the baby is to be born. We're just doing this as a precaution."
"I want to see my mom though!" I said, sounding as if he got the wrong idea. I felt Peeta's hand strong upon my shoulder. He would stop me if I got out of hand. I retracted slightly at the thought.
"No means no. We don't need another mouth to feed over there. Especially one that wont be helpful right now. When she's expecting the baby, we'll send for you, and not a moment sooner." Haymitch led Annie out of the house. I wouldn't bother chasing after him. He may be old, but he was a fighter, a survivor, a Victor. Nothing would change that. Nothing could change that. Not his past, or his future.
Peeta and I started playing 'Real or Not Real?' to help pass the time. When we weren't doing that, we started to take up hobbies. He was spending more time over at my place, filling his free time with cooking extravagent meals while I spent mine out in the woods. It almost felt like home here. One thing was missing. Gale. I'd tried calling him once, but he refused to answer the phone. That proved it. Whatever we had, was gone.
I sucked in my bottom lip, plopping to the ground as I wrapped my arms around my knees. I only ever ventured out into the woods near Victors village. No one would tell me this was illegal. No one would try to stop me from entering the woods. Not that anyone had tried before the Peace Keepers arrived during the war. At this moment, I felt betrayed. Gale had always been like a big brother to me, and now even that connection was gone. Everything was going to hell, even though all the bad things seemed to be over. Perhaps that was a good thing? I'd long since stopped going to the woods by my old house, for a few reasons. The village was rebuilding itself faster than I could keep up with, but a few places were left un-touched. One area, was where my old house once stood. They'd used the medow to create a memorial for those who had lost their lives during the war, going as far as to even bury the remains of those found. Going there just brought back bad memories. Even if I could make it past there, the forest would remind me of my past. The District 8 citizens I'd met, and learned of their death. Of Gale and I hunting. Of the Avox that I met at my first Games. People I didn't help, and people I did. In the end, they were all dead.
My hearing must've been damaged at some point after my left ear had been fixed, because Peeta sitting down beside me startled me out of my thoughts. At first, he didn't say anything, just stared off at the sky through the trees, before letting out a deep sigh and turning to me. "You really should teach me the ways of the hunter one day." The smile that played on his lips hinted towards a joke, but it still sounded serious. I shook my head.
"Can't have you knowing how to shoot projectile's like a pro. That's my job, remember?"
"Yes." Peeta looked away, nodding as his brows raised. "I remember you coming back from our first test during the Hunger Games. They asked what you had done, and you hesitated before saying you'd shot at them." I stifled a laugh.
"I didn't shoot at them. Not intentionally anyways." I was grinning from ear to ear by now, remembering that time.
"Effie had been beside herself. I swear, she would've dropped dead if you hadn't told her you shot an apple out of the pigs mouth that was near them. She still blew a gasket." Peeta shruged.
"Until she saw my score." I pointed out. Peeta's smile faltered.
"Yeah, I'm still surprised you got a score that high. I mean, you shot an arrow at them. Wouldn't they have given you the worse score ever?" Peeta's attention returned to me. Now it was my turn to shrug.
"Why did the Career's enlist you to go after me?" I questioned, raising my brows. This was to prove a point. To prove why they would give me such a high score.
"Because I told them I'd help them find you." Peeta muttered. "If they spared my life long enough to find you, I'd help them. They found you to be a big threat."
"Well, they were right. Look at what I did! I enlisted a traitor onto my team,"
"Hey!" Peeta interrupted, instantly knowing who I was referring to. I rolled my eyes in response.
"And together, we beat the system, won the Hunger Games together, and started a revolution." I finished, leaning back on my hands as I looked out into the distance. "I was the biggest threat around, and they had no idea."
"You have no idea, the impression you give." Peeta said. I looked down for a moment, before looking at him. He'd said those words quite a few times to me before, and it was always before something big happened.
My head slowly moved up and down again as my eyes looked to my knees. Finally I understood what he was getting at. "I suppose you're right." I manage. "Everyone else could see it. Maybe not from looking at me the first time, but through my actions. Cinna saw it when I Volunteered to take my sisters place. The Game Maker saw it when I shot an arrow at the apple. Haymitch saw it with how stubborn I could be."
"No, I'm sure that was when you stabbed the table." Peeta flinched away from my swing, giggling.
"Fine. When I 'stabbed the table'." I air quoted his words. "And the Careers saw it when I got scored. The point is, everyone could see it but me. Everyone!" I was flabber gasted by this point. How could I have been so dense, as to not notice this. "When did you notice?"
"Long before anyone else obviously." That was all he said before I raised my brows at him, urging him to continue. "Probably like, every moment I ever saw you doing something different. Singing, looking at Dandilions, playing...starving." His voice dropped off at the last word. "I think that was the biggest moment that I realized it. Seeing you in the rain, looking like you weren't going to make it. All those memories just crashed down around me, and suddenly I didn't care if I got thrown in the fire because of something I did. You proved to me that a little can go a long way. And here you are now."
"Thank you." The words escaped my mouth without me knowing. Not until they were finally out anyways. "For the bread." I studdered, trying to recoil. "It saved my life."
"It saved mine too! I would be dead in a ring if it weren't for you." Peeta sounded bewildered, like he couldn't believe the impact such a small act could have. "Speaking of food, I came to get you for supper. Lets hope its not burning by now."
"I'm sure we'd smell it if it were. And still eat it. No point waisting food." I grunted as I rose to my feet, helping Peeta to his. Sitting on the ground in the middle of the woods made it near impossible for him to get up on his fake limb. I stopped a moment, eyes fixed on the imposter limb he called a leg, then onto my hand which was still holding his. We were both mutts in our own way. My skin looked how it always had, minus a few scars that were visible only from certain angles in certain light. His on the other hand, was almost always noticable. He didn't need his cane anymore unless he was walking on unfamiliar ground. Gravel, dirt, wood. All that he was fine with. Grass and moss on the other hand, not so much, but his cane was no where in site. "Did you come here without your cane?" I questioned, sure it was just hiding some where.
"Yeah. Thought I'd try to get used to the ground out here. I'm surprised you didn't hear me coming. I fell down a couple times." I gave Peeta an incredilous look as I lead him back to the house. He just cracked up at that.
Later I found out the reason I hadn't seen him with it since we returned to District 12 was because he'd smashed it during his month-long fit. On accident of course. Rage had fueled through him over the loss of his limb, and he'd thrown it against a wall. I made a mental note to myself to find a make-shift one for him until a replacement could be found. Evne then, I wondered why Haymitch wasn't already on that.
We were sitting in the kitchen, eating quietly when the television buzzed to life. At first, Peeta and I sat stunned, eyes transfixed upon it. Had all that happened been a dream? The Capitol's crest was vivid upon the screen, and fear boiled up inside me. Until Lyme's face popped up, then I was relieved. But why was she on a local broadcast? I looked at Peeta confused, and he returned the look. So we were both in the same boat.
"It is with great Honor, that I announce the rebuilding of Panem, into a unified state, divided into Thirteen Districts of equal value." This confused me more. What did she mean by that? "Starting today, every District will work together to make sure that they are up to standards for us to move forward together. My goal, is for every District to be stable and self-sustaning in case of emergency by the end of the year." That gave us four months. It was almost August now. "Until then, every District will be expected to trade certain amounts of their products in even amounts, to the remaining Twelve Districts. Payment to workers will be in goods until January, to which we will have figured out proper wages for each type of work.
"By January, we also hope to have the railways up and running again. This will bring about faster trade, as well as more job opportunities for the citizens of Panem. Citizens are also free to travel between Districts as they see fit, and create homes in which ever District they so desire. Children under the age of Eighteen will be given free Education, as well as healthcare. Citizens above the age of Sixty-five will no longer be required to work, and will also recieve free healthcare, paid by the state. Anyone between the ages of Nineteen and Sixty-four will recieve free heathcare so long as proper taxes are paid from their wages. The following jobs will also recieve free heathcare; stay at home mothers, nurses and doctors, members of the military or peace keeping agency, miners, and the remaining living Victors, so long as they choose to accept it."
Peeta and I looked at eachother, unsure of what to say. This meant that all the wealth was to be spread around. We would all get electricity, working showers, soap, food. Luxuries that we'd only experienced in the Capitol.
"Further more, from taxes, any surplus will be distributed amongst the Districts, starting with the poorest, and working upwards until ever District is concidered equal, then it will be distributed evenly. This money if for the citizens of each District to decide the purpose for. It is not in the hands of one individual to decide the use of, unless the collective decides upon it. Next, a good majority of the Capitol will be left as Vacation area's for Citizens to use. Citizens must rent houses for a specific period of time in order to use them. Lastly, a poll will be taken from now, until January, to decide the fate of previous Hunger Game arena's. If voted yes, they will all be destroyed. You cannot vote for some to be destroyed and a few to remain. If voted no, they will be left, but altered so that nothing may hurt anyone, and certain area's are untouchable. You may vote in person by coming to the Capitol, or by phone at..."
I turned to Peeta. "I'm voting yes." I spit out. This takes him by surprise. He must've thought I was going to vote no. To have them remain there. "I don't want to be able to visit a place where I can revisit every moment of those horrible Games. Where I can vividly remember Rue's death."
Peeta concidered this for a moment. "I agree. But keeping them means we could make conditions. We could ask that they no longer be a tourist attraction, but a place for the children of the future to learn about our history, about the things that had once happened. They wont be able to see the deaths, to reinact them. They'll only know that this was an arena where people fought to the death. Where only one could survive."
Peeta brought up a good point. Lyme did say that they would be altered so that no one got hurt, so that certain area's would be untouchable. That meant no one would be able to touch the area Rue died. They'd only be told of her untimely death, how I tried to avenge her, and went on to win the 74th Hunger Games with Peeta. I rubbed at my eyes, removing the tears that had gathered there. My answer was still the same, and I shook my head to prove that. "I agree with what you are saying, but I still don't want them to exist. Just knowing they are there makes me angry and sad. The children will still learn about them in their books, and I'm sure we have more than enough footage to fill a five-hundred page book with images. They don't need the arena's to prove that what happened, happened. They don't need them to learn."
"Then I suppose we see which side wins?" This almost sounded like he was upset with my answer, but he continued. "Even if they are destroyed, I wont be mad. You have a point. They don't need to be there for them to learn. Even if they stay, I have a point too, and I'm sure you wont be mad. Upset, yes, but not mad. I'm sure for years, you wont go and visit them, but when you're an Eighty year old woman, hobbling along, I'm positive you'll want to go back to where Rue said good-bye and let her know you're comign to see her soon."
I bit my lip, concidering this. At the moment, that sounded painful. Returning to that horrible place. But it also sounded like something I would do. Hadn't I told Gale I wouldn't kill anyone? And yet, I'd killed a handful of kids during my first Game. Many of the things I said and did contradicted eachother, and this was no different. "You're right. I probably would if they were still standing. So, if the trains aren't up before voting ends, shall we phone in our answers?" I asked. I knew we both wanted to voice our opinions and idea's to Lyme in person, so that she had them to concider. I felt like she would take them to heart, and put them into motion. Surely she too, would not want them to stay standing. And if they did, she would want certain area's to be protected from outsiders. A reminder to herself of a lost friend. Only certain people would be able to enter the arena's. I just wondered how they would go about that. Make it seem like they too are tributes? I stopped myself there. If there was another way into that arena, some one would have discovered it during a Game. Which meant the only way in, or out, was through our pods. Who would stand on mine to re-live my Game? Who already had? Or had anyone?
"Sounds like a good idea to me." The phone ringing made both of us jump in our chairs, but Peeta was on his feet before me, picking up the phone. He nodded at it, agreed, then his face went pale. He hung up so fast it sounded like he'd slammed the phone down, then he was at my side.
"Annie went into labour early." And suddenly, the world around me was cold.