The door creaks open. I try to make my expression presentable for Bailey's sake. I recognize her footsteps. I turn around slowly, as if not to break the fragile calm that has set in me. Bailey looks worried. She sits down next to me, on the velvety couch.

"Will you be alright without me?" I ask, not vainly, but genuinely concerned for her and her family.

"You should be worrying about yourself. You're the one that has to go to the Games," she replies quietly.

"That's exactly what Takeda said," I murmur, almost to myself. I look up, and find tears in Bailey's eyes.

"I was only worrying about myself. I never had a single thought about you. This is all my fault!" she says.

"It's not your fault. You can't control the Reaping. If I'm alive now, it's thanks to you. I will owe you forever. I have Takeda's word that you will never be hungry."

Bailey squeezes me, and I'm crying too. She has been family for the past few years. I look up.

"One last thing I want to say."

"What?"

"For as long as it lasted, I enjoyed being your cousin." This makes Bailey smile and cry, and we hug again. All the time, I'm thinking about how I'll miss her. I tense again at the sound of Peacekeepers, prying me away from my loved ones once again.

She screams one last thing: "Miles! Don't forget me in the arena!"

"Never, cousin."

The door snaps shut, a terrible sound. Effie will soon be here with her enthusiasm to take me to my death.