Chapter Thirty-Seven

The small girl groaned as the bright light fought past her closed eyelids. She debated for a moment if it had all been a dream, if she had dreamed the Games and would now have to go and actually compete. The idea lasted only moments before she decided it was impossible to imagine the tightening in her throat as she thought about Cathella's bloodied body. She tried to raise her hand to wipe the sleep from her eyes but she was met with the rattling sound of handcuffs keeping her hands attached firmly to the bed. She noted the strange catheters poking through her skin.

Panic surged within her; what the crap was happening. She soon found her other limbs stuck tight to the bed. She rattled them louder and louder, desperately trying to break free.

"Johanna, Johanna just breathe," Blights voice struggled to be heard over the sound of metal on metal. He placed his hand on the side of her face and forced her gaze to look at him. "It's all over, you're safe," he lied and watched as the girl as her now sedated body grew limp and wondered how he was going to prepare her for the real games the Capitol had created.

Johanna awakened feeling tired and groggy, she noticed that this time her hands and legs were free from their previous restraints and she sat up and looked around the room properly. Her muscles ached from their lack of use; she guessed she'd been out for a few days. Upon examination she noticed her leg had lost it's barricades as well and she was completely free to move.

She rubbed her face with her hands, noticing that they felt softer than before. She shook out her short hair, which had definitely been washed since the arena. She noticed the sleeping figure slumped in a chair at the opposite end of the room.

"Blight?" she asked, not sure how deeply he slept. He mumbled slightly but otherwise seemed unstirred. She swung her legs round out the bed; debating how easy walking was going to be. She slowly began putting her weight on her legs but the pain she expected didn't come.

"Blight," she said a second time, this time reaching to shake him but his hand snapped round and grabbed her before she got the chance to.

"God don't do that to me," Blight sighed releasing her hand. "How you feeling sweetheart?"

"Don't call me sweetheart," Johanna returned to the bed, rearranging the pillows so she could lean against the wall comfortably.

"Wow you are charming aren't you?"

"I do try."

"You're not going to make this easy are you?"

Her only response was to tilt her head at him and allow a half smile to spread over her face. He sighed and debated if there was going to be any easy way to explain the situation to her.

"Johanna you need to listen to me. I know you're annoyed and upset and confused but your anger can't even begin to match that of President Snows. You can't afford to do anything wrong now. Even just the slightest wrong move can lead to something worse than those games."

Now Johanna just looked annoyed. He knew how she was feeling; he'd felt the same way when Holt had warned him of the same dangers after his games. But he had to warn her, everyone needed to have some idea what they were up against being a victor.

"You mean he can take more than my sanity?"

"Johanna he can take things you didn't even know you had. You have to play their game."

"They have more?"

Blight couldn't help but smile at her then; but not one of his genuine smiles and not a smile that said he was trying to reassure her. It was a smile that portrayed only one message: That she would have been better off losing the first game.

Author's Note: Hola readers! Ok I realize this is a very short chapter and not much is happening (again) but this is due to an unfortunate amount of jet lag and sleepiness (and a little bit of hungoverness) on my part, which I apologize for now. On the other hand was so happy to come back and find that even though I've not updated all week new people are still continuing to subscribe and favorite! Awesome job guys, made me ecstatic coming back and finding that in my e-mail :D So now for the fun part I am now very close to 50 reviews and well… it would be absolutely AMAZING (yes so amazing I even used caps lock) if we could get that pretty review number up to 50 before the next chapter gets up. So pretty please (more than ever) can you guys give some feed back? Anything at all you feel like you need to say, or correct or suggest go nuts! I promise I will try my best to answer any questions you guys have.