Chapter 25

I'm falling slowly from the clouds. The air that flies around me is quick, as if I am falling fast, yet my hair flows as if it's submerged underwater. Graceful.

My feet plant themselves onto a beach. Warm sand encases my toes. My hair is tied back and the pain is gone. I'm happy where I am.

I stare at the ocean and I cannot move. But this is nice. I can live with this. The waves crash and the water is dragged back to the sea. Each wave that crashes comes close to my feet but never quite reaches them. Only a soft breeze catches the few strands of hair that aren't tied back completely.

My serenity is abruptly cut short with the sound of someone else's footsteps in the sand. I turn to my left and see Portia, running towards me in slow motion. She wields a knife in her hand.

I try to move but I don't. I wait for the pain. I wait for her to come to me, and when she does, she stabs me in my side.

I scream but no sound comes out. The only sound is the crashing of the waves in front of me.

Another new set of footsteps is coming towards me from the opposite way. With Portia's knife still inside me, I turn to my right. Delly walks slowly, wielding a knife identical to Portia's. Once again, I don't move. I wait for her to stab me with the sharp blade. When she does, I don't even try to scream.

"Why?" I whisper to Delly. She only stares at me.

I turn to watch the waves again. Blood pours out of my sides where the knives still remain. Delly and Portia are still at my sides with their hands holding the knives to make sure they stay where they are.

As I watch the waves, a searing pain runs through my back and then through my insides.

I look down and stare blankly at the sword that rips through my stomach, covered in warm, sticky blood.

I manage to turn around and see Billee standing there, holding the sword that just ripped through my body.

"I'm sorry." I tell him, tears rolling down my face. He stares at me the same way Delly did.

This is when I wake up.

My eyes open to a bright ceiling.

I'm in a hospital bed. Tubes run from the wall into my arm. I am restrained in my bed and cannot sit up more than a few inches.

Suddenly, someone walks in. An Avox girl with straight black hair walks in with a cup of water and soup on a tray. She lays the tray down on my thighs and presses a button on the side of my bed that lifts me up into a sitting position. I stare at her. I imagine what it would be like to never speak again. It doesn't seem like it would be so bad. Becoming an Avox sounds like a dream right now.

Before I get the chance to really think of anything to say to her, the Avox girl leaves me alone in the hospital room. I look inside the soup bowl and find there to only be broth. This comes as a shock to me, but I soon realize it's probably because the size of my stomach has gone down dramatically, and trying to eat a lot of food after leaving the arena would probably be a bad idea.

I slowly take spoonfuls of the broth and gulp down the ice-cold water. Then, an icy chill runs down my arm, and I find that the tubes leading to my arm from the wall are flowing with a clear liquid. I quickly dose off and fall asleep.

I repeat this cycle many times. I wake up, wait for the Avox girl, eat some soup, and then get drugged up. Finally, I wake up to find my arm no longer has a tube running into it. My restraints are gone, and I'm free to move around.

I sit up and the fabric of my hospital gown crinkles. My skin is glowing. There is no sign of any scars on my body. My nails are cut to a clean, round shape. My hair feels silky and smooth. I reach my hand down and try to locate where the bird jabbed its beak into my thigh. No scar, no scabs, no bruising.

I stand up and sitting across from me is something I absolutely dread seeing.

The outfit I wore in the arena.

This is what they want me to wear out of the hospital room.

I quickly change into the arena clothes and lay my hospital gown on the bed.

Then, I walk to the door of my room and open it slowly.

I find myself in a long hallway, filled with doors on either side. The hall continues straight for a while and then opens up on the right. I can hear a thick Capitol accent coming from down the hallway. I already know it's Miranda.

I try to keep my walk slow to seem calm and collected as I go see my District 5 team, but my walk turns into a run. I turn the corner and find everyone standing there: Miranda, Charlie, Rootina, Garry, Siarrah, and even Billee's stylist. The sight of Billee's stylist kills my excitement. I stop dead in my tracks and am about to turn around and run and hide and cry for hours, but Garry gathers me in his arms and squeezes me tight.

"I am so proud of you." He whispers in my ear. Everyone else hugs me and then Garry and Siarrah lead me to a room where they and the rest of the prep team begin to get me ready for my interviews.

At this point I just want to go home. I want to see my mom. I want to see Annie. I want to be out of this place and start to forget. But I can't. The show continues after the Games. Interview upon interview with the victor. And then there's the Victory Tour. I will be moved out of my house and into a house in the Victor's Village. There, my new neighbors will be Charlie, Rootina, and the other five victors who have previously won from District 5. The Games will never leave me, no matter how hard I try to get rid of them.