Hey everyone! Hope you like this chapter!

-iLoveTheMellarks

Sometimes I wonder what my life would've been like if I didn't find the passage. Well, I know I wouldn't be here in this moment. I know I wouldn't have run away from home. Mostly, because there was one main person to stay here for.

I place my shaking hands on the doorknob and look at Haymitch. He nods and I turn it. I slowly open the door and hear it creek. I stand in the doorway for was seems like hours. I take a step in with the help of Haymitch gently pushing me forward. The air feels cold. My parents are nowhere to be found.

"Mom?" I shout. "Dad?" My mom comes out of the kitchen with red puffy eyes. Her expression looks as if she doesn't think I'm real. Her braid is messy and she's pale.

"Capri?" she says softly to confirm my presence, and to make sure she's not going insane. I nod and begin to cry. I drop my backpack and run into her arms. She begins bawling.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" she shouts coming eye level with me. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT COULD'VE HAPPENED TO YOU?" I nod and look down.

"I didn't know at the time." I say with a stutter. She shakes her.

"Of course you did! You just-" she stops her self and takes a deep breath. She looks at Haymitch. "It's your fault you son of a bitch!"

She walks over to him and punches him in the face. Haymitch has no reaction. "What? Your not going to say anything after KIDNAPPING MY DAUGHTER?" shouts mom. Haymitch looks at her.

"Where's Peeta? He's more…reasonable." says Haymitch. My mom looks baffled.

"PEETA IS IN DISTRICT 2! LOOKING FOR OUR DAUGHTER! I stayed here to make sure that someone was here in case you came back! And if you think Peeta will be more reasonable then me then your wrong! Believe or not, he wasn't really feeling the emotion of 'reasonable' when he found out his daughter was kidnapped by our old mentor!" she yells. I sit on the couch and lean my hands on my forehead and look at the floor while sobbing.

"I'm sorry." He says. She laughs.

"Oh okay, you're sorry. That just fixes everything! Let's just pretend this whole thing never happened, and a 13 year old boy isn't going to get tortured in the capitol!" shouts mom. I shrivel at the thought of that. Haymitch doesn't answer.

"I'll make up for all this. Somehow." says Haymitch. Mom rolls her eyes.

"And how exactly do you plan to do that? It's going to be pretty damn hard." She says. He nods.

"I never said it would be easy." He says then he comes over and sits next to me and touches my shoulder.

"This is my fault." I say with a sniffle.

"No its not-" Haymitch begins.

"Yes it is! I could've stopped Colby if I just…ran faster, was more determined, and thought about the consequences. I guess I just didn't really think they could take him until it really happened." I tell him.

Mom comes over and brushes the hair out of her face with her fingers.

"Stopping Colby wouldn't have changes the fact that Haymitch is an idiot." says Mom. Haymitch gets up and sighs.

"Well…I guess this is good-bye. Your parents probably will never let me see you again." He says. He holds out his hand for me to shake, so I take it.

"Bye, Haymitch." I say. "Thanks for…clearing my mind." I say trying not to sound rude, but it did. He walks out the door closing it behind him.

"I'll go call your father." says Mom walking into the kitchen. I slowly make my way to my room. Being the daughter of the victors isn't about being rich, having nice things, or getting publicity. Maybe in another life it is. But in my life, it's about suffer, heartbreak, and hurt. Kids in school used to ask me all these questions about myself and my parents. Some of the questions, I didn't even know the answer too. One girl called me a rich snob who gets everything I want, which is odd because I can't remember doing something nice for myself in a while. Well, something that didn't end badly.

I lay on my bed with a million different things going through my mind. Every new topic I think of, makes my stomach hurt more and makes me cry harder. I look at a picture of me and Colby on my phone. It was the night before I got told I wasn't allowed to talk to him. We looked happy. We looked as if nothing in our life was wrong. I've been told that there was no such thing as a perfect life. I have now found that to be true. But with him, everything was perfect.

I now stare at a picture of me and Ashley I found in my draw. It was from when we were kids. It was my 8th birthday party. I still can't put together the last day with Ashley at the mall. She just left without saying goodbye.

My whole world has basically crashed and burned. If I could go back in time, I'd make the peacekeepers take me instead of Colby. I love my parents, but besides them, there is no hope left for me. I have absolutely nothing.

"Capri?" I hear mom creek open my door.

"Yeah?" I ask softly, still looking at the picture of Ashley. Mom sits on the side of the bed.

"Tell me what happened." She says. I pause before answering.

"How did this all happen? What if we just left it alone. What if we just ignored the fact that Matt was getting trained? Would things be different?" I ask.

"I don't know." she says. They probably wouldn't be. My fate was already decided.

"Dad will be home soon." She tells me.

"Will he be mad?" I ask. She sighs.

"Probably overjoyed to see you and that you're safe more then anything." She says kissing my forehead. My father has never yelled at me. He's so gentle and kind. He has gotten mad at me but he has never raised his voice. My mother is a different story. Before my mother exits my room, she says one last thing. "Oh yeah. You're grounded for a month." I nod. I'm lucky that's my only punishment. "And you're working extra hours at the bakery." Ugh, working at the bakery is so boring. I don't really get to bake because my dad has official employees for that. I just work the cash register about 2 days a week. But I deserve it. I admit I was completely stupid.

"How many hours?" I ask.

"Monday through Friday 3:30-6:00" she tells me. I sigh but nod my head.

"Why'd you run?" she asks. I look up at her.

"Haymitch told me it would help clear my mind." I tell her. "I guess that didn't really work out." She closes the door softly. I lie in my bed and slowly fall asleep.

At 2:00 in the morning I'm awoken by my door opening. It's my dad. He slowly walks over to my bed and sits down and touches my shoulder. I roll over and meet his eyes. My eyes begin to water.

"I'm sorry." I say softly. He brings me into a hug. I stay in his arms for a few moments before he begins to speak.

"Why? Why would you scare us like that?" he asks.

"Haymitch said-"

"It doesn't matter what Haymitch said. You went along with it. You know better. You know the world is more dangerous for you then any other ordinary 13 year old." He tells me. I don't respond for a few moments.

"I wish I was like every other 13 year old." I say not making eye contact. He sighs.

"I know it's tough being the daughter of the victors. But you're the best daughter we could have asked for. I can tell it's a lot of pressure and the fact that you had to go into the games, killed me, but we still have to ground you." He tells me.

"Yeah, I know. A month grounded and extra hours at the bakery." I say with a sigh. He looks confused.

"Extra hours at the bakery? Don't you like working at the bakery?" he asks. I hesitate and bite my lip. I never really told that working at the bakery is one of the most boring things I do.

"Uhh…okay?" I say. He laughs and gets up. Before he leaves he gives me a kiss goodnight and closes the door. I stare at the ceiling until my eyes close and I fall asleep again.

Morning light comes. A new day usually means a new problem lately. I get up and take a shower and change my clothes. I noticed I never changed my clothes from last night, so I throw on some pink shorts and a navy blue shirt. It's still raining out so instead of the shorts I just put on some sweatpants. Today I have school so I make my way downstairs and shove some cereal down my throat.

"Bye." I say to my parents.

"See you at the bakery after school!" says Dad says trying to annoy me. I stop walking and sigh then I continue walking. As I walk to school, I get death stares from all around. I have a feeling I know what it's for. I enter the school trying to act like I don't notice.

"Hey! Look! It's Capri Mellark, the killer." Says a girl named Tara. Tara is basically the most popular girl in school. Her parents own a thrift shop so she's got money, and all the boys drool over her. I walk over to her.

"What are you talking about?" I ask. She giggles to her preppy gang.

"You basically killed Colby." says one of Tara's sidekicks. I roll my eyes and walk away.

"So, you're just going to act like it never happened?" Tara calls from behind me. I ignore her and keep walking. "Well, I guess running away has always been your thing." I stop and turn around.

"Excuse me?" I ask. She smirks.

"You heard me. You think you're all tough just because you were in the games." She says.

"Please. If you broke a nail, you'd basically be laying your death bed." I tell her. She looks at me with mean eyes. She looks angry. I thought she was just going to make another nasty comment but instead…she punches me in the eye.

I fall backwards but pick myself up instantly. I look at her for a split second before returning the punch back to her. She screams and I hear gasps from all around. Of course since she screamed and I didn't, everyone only saw me punch her.

"CAPRI MELLARK JUST PUNCHED ME FOR NO REASON!" she shouts. IS SHE KIDDING?

"Are you kidding me? You're such a liar! Seriously do I have any witnesses?" I announce and nobody responds. Next thing I know, yet another announcement comes on the loudspeaker regarding Capri Mellark.

Capri Mellark, please report to the principles office.

I glare at Tara. "Hope your makeup can cover that up." I tell her then I walk away. I step into the principles office and sits there with her arms crossed. I sit my backpack down and take a seat.

"You understand this is you're second time hitting someone in the face since you got back from the games?" she asks. I nod.

"Sorry. I've been kind of distracted lately." I tell her. She grins.

"Did Colby really pour the mixture into Alessia's experiment?" she asks me. I look down and shake my head.

"No…but it's not like anyone would believe me or Colby." I say twiddling my thumbs. She hesitates to answer.

"Let's start with why did you punch Tara Walker?" she asks. I look at her.

"How did you find out so fast? It happened like 2 minutes ago." I tell her.

"Gossip travels fast around here, Ms. Mellark." She says. I sigh.

"No one will believe me if I told the truth." I say. She looks at me with a blank expression. "Okay, so I came into school and Tara was giving me all crap about-"

"Language." she tells me. I correct myself.

"Tara was giving me all this garbage about how I technically killed Colby so like a good person, I walk away. But then she had to go comment on how I ran away from home and how I think I'm tough and I told her if she broke a nail she'd basically be laying in her death bed…then she punched me. I swear I didn't punch her first." I tell her.

"I'm sorry. There are no witnesses so far to tell me other wise. I'll make an announcement and ask if anyone saw her give the first punch." She tells me. She reaches for the microphone and makes the announcement.

As you all probably know, there was an incident with Capri Mellark and Tara Walker just before. If you saw anything that regards Ms. Walker starting the incident, please come down to the office, now.

"Okay. So now we will wait 10 minutes to see if anyone claims they saw her start it." She tells me. The longest 10 minutes of my life, it feels like. I do anything to make time pass. Until about 8 minutes later, Sean Berkley walks in.

"Uh, hi, Mrs. Beckmoore. I'm here to report that I saw Tara throw the first punch." He says. Sean was in my 3rd and 4th grade class. He has dirty blonde hair and tan skin. His dark green eyes make his way over to look at me. I give him a smile and he smiles back.

"Sit down, Mr. Berkley. Tell me everything that happened." says . Sean might've just saved me a few weeks of detention. And even better, gave Tara more weeks of detention. He sits down next to me and begins the story.

"Honestly, Capri was just defending herself. Well maybe not defending but Tara was being obnoxious and I saw Capri trying to walk away from it. Tara was pushing her buttons so Capri had to talk back like anyone else would do. Then that's when Tara threw the punch. She didn't like that she lost at her own game." he tells us. looks at the both of us.

"Okay. That's the same story I heard from Capri, so it must be true. Capri, you're off the hook…sort of. I'm adding 2 more detentions for physical contact with another student. I understand it wasn't you're fault but it's school policy." She tells me. "You both may leave."

Sean and I walk out in silence. "Thanks." I say with a smile.

"No problem. I'm Sean." He says putting out his hand. I shake it with pleasure.