I actually felt rather emotional writing this chapter. I cried at one point. Oh dear. Nevermind! Enjoy nonetheless and don't forget to R&R!
-Bethany

'Sabella!'

I could hear her soft voice from outside where I was sat, lying on the make shift lawn that I had made at the front of our small shack-like house at the bottom of District Six.

My mother and father were out working leaving me and my older sister alone for the day, like we usually were. Not that I minded, I love Maryana a lot and I know that without her, my life would be insanely boring and empty. She's not only my sister but my best friend too.

When we were younger, we used to sit together and make up stories together, mainly so that she could comfort me before it was time for bed in case I had a nightmare about being brutally murdered in the Games. Which was sad because I was only six at the time and wasn't eligible for the Games yet.

Remembering those times made me smile, they were simple and we didn't fully understand the terror of the Capitol just yet. We heard things about it from people in conversations but we couldn't piece them together to build up the horrifying picture. I missed those times, a lot and I could never fully understand why I had these nightmares.

Maryana and I look a lot a like, we've both got long dark hair, hers is usually kept in a messy bun at the back of her head, occasionally strands becoming loose, making her look like a worn out mother whilst my hair was usually kept down. We both have petite faces and build, we've both got almond shaped, hazel eyes. The only real obvious differences is the freckles that covered Maryana's face and the way I looked very young in comparison. I had a baby face and she had a mature one.

I got up off of the ground and plucked a dainty daisy out of the earth. I carried it indoors with me, twisting the stem between my muddy thumb and index finger.

'Sabella!' her voice called out again.

I let out a small laugh and walked in to our tiny living room, Maryana laid across our battered sofa that was kindly donated to us years ago.

'I'm right here, don't have a heart attack!' I laughed a bit harder and climbed on to the sofa with Maryana.

She laughed with me as I laid my head on her chest, still twisting the daisy.

'I got bored. It gets lonely sitting here, you know?' she told me, resting her chin on my head.

My mouth turned slightly in to a sad smile and I slowly stopped spinning the daisy.

'I can imagine.' I sighed. 'Sorry.' I mumbled, holding her close, even though I knew she wouldn't feel it.

I felt her chest move as she let out a half laugh, half sigh.

'It's okay, Bells.' I grimaced as she called me that, she saw and chuckled lightly. 'I don't mind if you go out. I wouldn't want you stuck in here too.' she told me.

Maryana kissed the top of my head and I smiled. I looked at the daisy and got up off of the sofa, I placed it down on the table carefully. Then I gently pulled out the band that held my sisters hair in place.

'What are you doing?' she asked, lifting her head back to see me, making her hair dangle over the edge of the sofa.

I picked up her wooden hair brush from the table and began brushing through her hair.

'Making you look even more beautiful than you already are.'

She smiled and lifted her head back up.

I carried on brushing it through until it was completely untangled. Looking over at the daisy, I had an idea. I dashed back outside, picking more of the flowers out of the mud and grass and carrying them inside, lying them next to the original daisy.

Using my hands, I gently put Maryana's hair up in her usual bun style, purposefully leaving it fairly messy. I left a few strands free at the front by her face, to frame it. Finally, I picked up a daisy and thread it through her hair and did this multiple times until her bun was decorated with a spiral of daisies.

'There.' I said, stepping back and looking at it. 'Absolutely beautiful, just like you.' I could feel tears stinging in my eyes, I wiped my eyes quickly so Maryana couldn't tell I was crying but unfortunately, a sniffle gave the game away.

She turned her head round as far as she could to try and see me.

'Bells, come 'ere.' she said sadly. I walked over and laid back on the sofa with her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and weeping.

Maryana tried to calm me down, kissing me on the forehead and telling me everything was okay.

'If I could hug you tight, I would. You know that.' she said, a hint of sadness and worry present in her speech, even though I could tell she was trying to hide it with a strong and unbreakable tone.

I nodded and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. Even though I was too young to remember and I had always known Maryana this way, it didn't effect the way I felt about her situation.

Whenever I asked mum or dad when I was little, 'Why can't Maryana move?' they just told me that she was in an accident and that's what I grew up to know. It's all I've ever known about it. That's just what I accepted.

I thought that asking her directly would be rude. Now that I'm older, I understand that she was in an accident that damaged her spinal chord when she was very young, hence why I don't know much about it, I was even younger. Now she's paralysed from the neck down.

She's never been able to hug me when I'm sad and when she's sad and I hug her, she's never been able to feel it. However, she knew that she was being hugged because she could see it. She'd often pretend that she could feel it though, or say she can remember what a hug feels like and she's imagining it or that she can feel a numb sensation that told her she was being hugged. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I knew she was lying.

'I know...' I muttered and then laughed nervously, looking at my sister. 'I think I should do your hair like that for the Reaping tomorrow. It suits you.' I sniffed, wiping the remaining tears from eyes.

Maryana nodded and smiled.

'That's my girl.' she said as I began to regain my composure. 'I would love you to do that. Thank you.'

That's one of the many beautiful things about Maryana, she doesn't want to let her paralysis get her down or me down or anyone else down. It's just something that happened to her that she's learned to deal with and she won't let it stop her from doing what she wants, like getting married to her fiancé, Aleksander.

Almost on queue Aleks walked in holding a bunch of flowers and beamed across at Maryana.

'Hello there, beautiful!' he chuckled, walking over and placing a kiss gently on her lips and then hugging me.

Maryana stared at the flowers in his hand.

'Those are lovely!' she cried out, her smile covering her face.

Aleks looked at them and back at his bride to be.

'Only the best for my girl!' he laughed, stroking her cheek.

I couldn't help but look at them too. They were lovely, they were fantastically gorgeous. There were all sorts of colours in them, blues, reds, purples. They looked oddly out of place in our dreary house.

'They must have cost a fortune!' I couldn't help but cry out as Maryana did. Aleks shrugged and told us that it was worth the money. He walked out and found a pot to put them in and placed the pot on the table so Maryana could always see them.

Aleks and I both pretended not to see Maryana start tearing up. We both just cuddled up on the small sofa with her.

He smiled and played with the few strands of hair that were framing her freckled face.

'You should wear your hair like that at our wedding. It suits you. You look jusy like a princess.' his voice was calming and Maryana often told me that it made her feel safe.

She agreed to it and asked us both how many times our names were going to be at the reaping tomorrow.

I sighed and gave her my grand total of thirty two. Aleks had his name in there thirty eight times. It didn't look good for either of us.

I'm only sixteen and Aleks was eighteen. If he escaped tomorrow without being picked, he'd never have to worry about it again. He could live his life with Maryana like he wants to. Maryana is nineteen and was exempt from the Games. Even the Capitol knew that it's unfair to put someone who was paralysed from the neck down in the arena.

When we awoke on the morning of the day we were all dreading, it was very early. It was hard for any of us to sleep at all any way.

I sat and brushed through and placed the flowers back in Maryana's hair in silence and helped her in to one of her favourite white dresses before getting changed in to my own beige coloured dress. I left my hair down, hanging off my shoulders.

My mother and father gushed over us both, the both of them dressed in their best clothes too.

The next hours flew by in a whirl and before I knew it, me, mum, dad and Aleks were all helping to carry Maryana to the square like we did every year.

One we were there, Maryana kissed both me and Aleks, told us that she loved us and wished us luck before mum and dad took her and stood with the other parents and family members too old to take part.

Me and Aleksander bravely walked over to where we should be standing and a few minutes later, it was time for the Reaping to begin.

Everything our escort said was blurry and I could barely hear what was being said. My head was filled with too many terrifying thoughts. The thing that made me stand and listen properly was my name being called out through the speakers.

No no no no no! Not me! It's not supposed to be me!

I walked up to the stage slowly and stood there, ignoring what was being said by our colourful Escort.

My eyes went straight to Maryana who was incredibly distraught. However, I was not prepared for what was to happen next. I don't think any one was.

The Escort crossed the stage to pick the male tribute and he read the name out clearly.

'Aleksander Liberato!'

Maryana let out a loud cry. It almost sounded like a scream. I just wanted to run to her and hold her and I'm sure Aleks wanted to as well, as he greeted me on stage, he too looking for Maryana in the crowd. Her sobs were so loud and so heartbreaking, I had trouble not breaking down on stag, it was damn near impossible.

My sister was going to either lose her little sister or her fiancée or maybe even both and I could still hear her loud painful cries from the crowd. No one was going to suffer more about it than she was...

I woke startled and looked around. I was back in the arena with Elana, I was apparently crying and I remembered my dream.

'How long was I out? What happened?' I asked, sitting upright and looking around at my surrounding.

Elana smiled at me, she looked better than I remembered before I passed out.

'About a day or two. You were in danger so I helped you.' she explained, shrugging and handing me a bottle of water.

I drank from it deeply, not realising how thirsty I actually was until the water had passed my lips.

My ally took the bottle off me quickly and put it away, trying to save me from drinking it all.

'You look so much better.' I told her, inspecting her closely.

She grinned.

'I feel better. I got more medicine and cold water from my sponsors and I feel great. I think it was the stunt I pulled with Casper that got it for me.' she shrugged once more and handed me some snake meat.

We didn't have any of that when I passed out. She must be well enough to hunt now too. Which is great in a way. We could both collect food when we needed it but now that she was healthier than before, It'll be even harder for me to kill her.

I ate as slowly as I could, trying to savour it, but I was so hungry, I couldn't help but shovel it in to my mouth.

Lana shook her head.

'You look terrible. What were you dreaming about? You screamed a lot.' she asked, she sounded concerned, like she really cared.

The dream flashed back in my head and so did Aleks's death. His hand reaching for me at the end of it all.

Suddenly it hit me, Aleksander was gone and Maryana saw it on live television. She wasn't going to get her fairytale wedding and I was all she had left. It felt like the weight of the world came crashing down on me as this realisation came to be.

I remembered why I was so driven to win. Maryana needed me now more than ever and I was not going to leave her alone on that battered sofa, in that dreadful little shack house. Not again.