Mary's confession is also a product of my crazy imagination. And Maysilee being lazy.. if you read the second paragraph carefully, you'll see.
"Good morning, Maysilee." Mary's cheery voice enters my ears and wakes me up.
"Nngh. What's wrong, Mary?" I mumble, keeping my eyes shut. Now is no time to be lazy, you sloth. You've got to be up and about, because the Hunger Games is not a place to be lazy, I could almost hear my mother telling me. Creepy thought indeed. But I shut my eyes even tighter, refusing to open them only to see living hell.
Wake up, Maysilee. Wake up. Wake up. How can you win this and come home if you're too slothful to even wake up! You should be alert, because when you're not, you can be ambushed! Father's voice.
"Nothing. It's breakfast time, that's all. I gathered a few berries we can eat." Mary replies. But I don't, so she gets up and shakes my shoulders. "Wake up, Maysilee! Wake up!"
With my hands, I finally pry my eyes open. "Sorry, Mary." I apologize.
"It's all right." Mary answers. She holds out her hand, which contains a few delicious-looking berries. "Here are the berries I found. They look delicious, don't they?" Mary asks me. "Don't worry I haven't eaten a single one." She laughs, and pops one into her mouth.
Suddenly, I remember. Those berries… they're poisonous, as everything in the arena is! "Mary!" I shriek. "Spit that berry out, right now! It's lethal! You'll die." And she does spit it out. She looks at me in understanding and… appreciation. Then she wipes her tongue with her shirt, just to be safe.
When she's done with that, she hugs me. "Maysilee! You saved my life! Thank you." Mary wipes a tear streaming down her cheek.
"Mary, didn't you know already? Everything in the arena except for the rain and the supplies is poisonous!" I inform her, surprised she did not know. It was extremely obvious, from the clean river to the berries—similar to what Mary gathered—on the bushes. For me, at least.
"I didn't." Mary tells me glumly. "I was focusing on keeping Perry alive." I ask her a silent question with my eyebrows. Why? She blushes and stammers her answer, which was a barely audible whisper: "I—I… I like Perry. A-As… As in, more than a friend kind of like."
Perry. Perry Mason, one of Mary's district partners. Personally, I think it's a funny name. But apparently, Mary doesn't. Her cheeks are turning from scarlet to deep crimson. "Oh…" I don't know what else to answer. Now I feel guilty for making Mary tell me why.
"But he died…" Mary continues. "He d-died because… I was a coward, and I didn't fight the Careers that were attacking him." Mary bursts into tears. She cries over and over again: "I'm such a coward!"
I let her cry. But when I could not stand it anymore, I tell her firmly, "Mary, we all know that you're not a coward."
"Why? I am!" Mary insists. "It's my fault that Perry died!"
"You're not a coward…" I say. "You're not a coward because you're brave enough to admit that you love him and that it was your fault Perry died." Did I actually say that? Oh my gosh. I actually said that.
What a big, insensitive jerk I am. And the whole nation of Panem knows it now. And most importantly, Mary knows it now.