Chapter 4: Katniss
My cell is sparse. Dull grey walls, a large metal door. There is a small window in the door, allowing for food and water to be delivered. Not that I have received either in what feels like days. My mouth is so dry my tongue feels like sandpaper. How long have I been here? My fingers go to my cheek, gently. The right side of my face is swollen, my lower lip split in three places. When I was backhanded, my teeth cut the inside of my cheek. I can still taste and smell my own blood. The swelling has not gone down, and it's hot to the touch. My teeth ache and feel a little loose. My knees are sore from being dragged back to my cell. I'm glad I don't have a mirror to allow me to see how I look. As long as Peeta is safe, everything is worth it.
"Katniss!" I hear someone whisper frantically. "Katniss! Are you alright?"
I'm disoriented, confused. "Peeta?" I whisper, before my brain clears enough to remember that Peeta is no longer with me. Who is? Who was left behind with me? "Finnick?"
"It's me, Katniss. Are you ok? You've been moaning and screaming, and I could not get your attention before now," he says.
I must have had nightmares. Only Peeta's arms were able to lessen the nightmares. "I'm ok Finnick. Just a little beaten up," I respond. I don't know what to say to him. How do you tell someone you are expecting to die any moment? How do you tell someone that you deliberately provoked the anger of a powerful man to fuel whatever fire was roaring within the districts, and to let the boy you love know that you would sacrifice everything for him, especially now that your family is dead? "How are you?" I ask. It seems insincere coming from me now, while we are both locked in cells.
"A little beaten up, like you. I wish we were dead," he says, and though it's morbid, I understand the sentiment. Death would be easier than life, when life is like this. Locked in a cell, beaten for voicing opinions. I let out a breath that sounds like a snort. I laugh softly without humor. "Hopefully this won't be bad for you. Since you don't know anything," Finnick says. He obviously has no idea what I've done. He has no idea that I've been beaten for ignoring President Snow's command to call for a cease fire, instead using the platform of Caesar Flickerman's show to accuse President Snow of exactly what he's done. Burning my district to the ground. Forcing me into a second Hunger Games when I was unable to calm the districts from an uprising.
"I don't think that's true Finnick. I've done something…" my voice trails off as we hear the sound of army boots marching towards our cells. My door is wrenched open, and four peacekeepers stand above me. Two grab for my arms, two for my legs, as I'm carried out. I fight my captors. "Let her go!" I hear Finnick scream, as I'm strapped to some sort of table.
President Snow snarls at me, "Miss Everdeen. I understand you have chosen not to help me. I thought we could be allies. But I know now that we can't."
"Have I at least convinced you that I love him?"
"It's the people we love the most that destroy us," President snow says in reply. It's at that moment I feel the needle going into my arm.