A MockingJay Story Part 2 Chapter 3
Finnick Odair and Annie Cresta were married shortly after Katniss's District 2 visit. Coin thought it was the prefect distraction from everything going on. The whole district gathered in the ballroom for the ceremony. Weddings were usually a small affair in the district, but Coin wanted it to be big this time. Finnick and Annie has no objections to this.
After the wedding, a band played fiddler music while some people danced. Shay played the cello with the band for part of the event. When she took her break, Liam quickly pulled her into a dance. He spun her around then held her close to him. She giggled into his shoulder.
Across the room, Clara and Prim were dancing together. Katniss came by, stealing Prim away. Before Clara could react, Finnick swooped in and picked her up. He danced with her for a few minutes, carrying her around the dance floor.
Liam switched partners, moving over to Joanna. "I read her journal." He told her.
"Good." Joanna said.
"I need to know. She said she had the baby but it really true?" Liam asked.
Joanna slowed down on the dance floor. "I heard her screams for labor. Through the vent I heard that baby's first cry. Then they took the baby away. It was still crying when they took it away from her. That's what set her off to poison that guard."
Liam covered his mouth with one hand. "Where did they take him?"
"I don't know." Joanna said. "But he's alive. If they wanted her baby dead, they would have done it before she gave birth. They have something planned with him."
Shay pulled Joanna into a dance before Liam could ask anything else.
Cressida came over to Liam. "Shall we dance?"
He couldn't hide the smile and joined her in a dance.
"I'm not very familiar with this style of dancing." Liam said.
"No worries. It's a wedding. Nobody cares how you dance. Just have fun." Cressida said.
"Did you hear?" Liam asked.
"Hear what?" Cressida asked. She spun him around, and pulled him back in.
"Violet was pregnant." Liam told her.
Cressida paused, halting her dance moves. "Wh-when? Who?"
"Her and Jerome."
"So they did have a thing after all." Cressida said quietly.
"Not exactly." Liam said. "I lived with them. Violet would have told me. She was very closed off to the idea of it given what happened to her. Jerome was practically Clara's father and that was hard for Violet to admit. I think she did love him. Jerome certainlly loved her. We all knew it. But she did have his child. And he's missing. They killed her and we have no idea where this baby is."
"I can't even imagine what you must be going through." Cressida said. She pulled him in close, hugging his. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
The next morning, Liam was set to leave with Boggs and rest of the team towards the Capitol. We woke up early to say goodbye.
He went to Clara's room first, knocking on her door. Clara rubbed her eyes a few times before sitting up. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're leaving?"
"Yeah. I'll be gone a bit longer this time." He said.
Clara looked worried. "How long?"
"A few days." He said.
"Why do you have to go?" Clara whined. "I don't want you to leave."
Liam put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to get your little brother."
Clara lifted her chin. "Borther? I didn't know he was a boy."
"I kind of read ahead." Liam said. "Shay will read more to you."
Clara nodded quietly. "But, you don't know where he is."
"We're headed for the Capitol. He's there somewhere."
"The Capitol? But that's the bad place." Clara said, with worry in her voice.
"Easy." He said, calmly. "I won't be alone. Boggs with be there, and Cressida, Messalla, Castor, Pollux-"
"Fine." She said. She took a breath before speaking again. "Is Shay going?"
"No, she's staying here."
Clara nodded, looking down at her bed sheets.
On her nightstand was her journal. It was still missing all those pages but there was a pen on top of the journal.
Liam left her room, heading for Shay's. He knocked on her door. It took a minute for her to answer, only adding to the anxiety he felt.
"Hey." He said, when she opened the door a few inches.
"Hi." She opened the door all the way. "So, today's the day."
He nodded and gave an awkward smile.
Shay stood in front of him. "Don't worry. This is it. The big moment. You fought for this-or the chance for this."
He gave her a side smile. "You may not hear from us for a few days, or until this is all over, other than what the Capitol says."
"I know." She said, biting the inside of her lip. She sat on the chair in her room, tying up her boots. "It's not too late to change your mind. We could switch."
Liam smiled at her. "You're amazing for that, but I should be the one to do this."
"Because you're a boy?" She teased him. She finished tying her laces and stood up in front of him.
"Because you've done you're fighting." He said. "Because it's my family they've killed. It's my nephew out there, alone."
She folded her arms across her chest. "Who says it's just your family?" She asked. "Violet was like a sister to me. And the Capitol did kill my parents." She looked down at his hand and back up to his eyes. "You and Clara have been like a family to me."
He stared into her eyes as she spoke. His eyes glanced down to her lips. "I can't lose anyone else." He said.
Her eyes narrowed but her lips grinned. Her gaze switched from him eyes to his lips. She grabbed his uniform by the collar, pulling him in for a kiss.
Liam kisses back, placing his arms around her back.
When Shay ended the kiss, Liam was still smiling. His licked his bottom lip and giggled. "I was going to kiss you."
"Well you were taking too long." Shay said, with a flirty look in her face.
Clara snuck into Shay's room, looking in her one drawer. Underneath the grey uniforms was the journal. Clara took it out and hugged it to her chest. She tucked it under her shirt and went back to her room.
She read through all of her mom's thoughts during that time. During those 10 months... her last 10 months. She got the 13th entry when Violet went into detail about her game.
Entry 35,
It's hard to believe that I'm going through this all over again. A baby. Fresh out of the games. The worst case of deja vu. There is nothing worse that getting your name called at the reaping. That instant dread that you will be in these awful games. We had just lost Jane and mom three years ago. I was only 14. I still remember when I got up on that stage, I searched for my brother and prayed he wouldn't be chosen. Liam was absolutely petrified. I wanted to run over to him and hug him. It was another boy who was reaped, Carter Andrews. He was 17 years old. Liam and dad came to say goodbye. So did Emily. Sometimes I forget how much Emily was there for us... I thought being was the worse thing that could ever happen.
Clara's heart raced as she read this per of her mom's life. This was it. This was her mom's story of her game. She was about to get her answer.
Patrick gave us the best advise he could for someone who won over two decades ago. It was so surreal to think that he gave Jane the same advise. It was hard to listen to anything he said. Honestly, I used Jane's game as more training that anything Patrick said. How terrible is that?
I still remember my year so vividly. The panels lifted us up in a thick forest. We couldn't even see all of the other tributes. I ran into the forest once that the timer hit zero.
Clara paused for a moment, confused why her mom skipped the training part of the story.
I climbed up a tree and went up as high as I could. It was probably forty feet up in the air. I had a clear view of the river. I thought I was lucky to have found water so soon... I saw one tribute go into the water. It was deep. She was waist deep in it. She moved slowly through it. Then something pulled her under water. She was screaming. I can still hear her. I couldn't help her. I could only watch. I had to remember that she was an enemy.
A sponsor dropped off some canned fruits for me as the first night came. I stayed in that tree. I was not going anywhere near that water.
The next day, another tribute came over to the water. They saw me in the tree but left me there. Maybe they were unarmed. They grabbed their bottle full of water and left.
I thought the arena seemed so small, at least the part I could see. I have no idea this was all connected to a huge mountain. On the other side of the arena, tributes were scaling the mountain trying to find food and fresh water.
On the third day, I got down from the tree to get some real food. The sponsers hadn't sent anything else. My loud stomach would give me away. I found some bugs on the ground and ate them. I didn't even mind the taste. Then Carter appeared. He had a knife in his hand. He didn't even look like the same person from the day of the reaping. He had blood on his shirt. It wasn't his.
We were close to the river. I kept looking back at it as Carter came closer. He wasn't about to make an alliance. He was going to kill me. We were from the same district. Jane once told me she had a crush on him. Look at him now. I couldn't think about that. I couldn't humanize him. When he was close enough, I kicked him in the stomach. He took a few steps back and leaned towards the river. Then I saw what was in the water when a huge alligator jumped out and grabbed Carter.
Clara looked away from the diary. She took a few breaths to think about what she read. Her mom did sort of kill someone in the games. But he was going to kill her. It's so messed up. This literally happens every year. It's been going on her whole life and all her mom's life and her grandparent's life.
On the fifteenth day, there were only three tribute left. We all knew about the river and avoided it at all costs. The other who tributes found me and centered in. I knew the odds were in my favor. I still had Carter's knife in my hand. One knife against two boys. They ran at me full speed with their weapons. A spear and a vines. I ducked at the right moment and one boy speared the other. A canon went off and it was just two of us left. I knew my family was watching. I didn't want them to see kill someone. I knew from what Emily taught me that most human way to kill an animal was quickly. So I jumped on the other boy's back and grabbed his face. I jerekd it to the side quickly. I had to try it a four times until I heard the snapping sound. It still haunts me.. It seemed like a hour before the canon went off. I had survived, but I didn't win anything.
I wonder what my mom would have thought about me in the games. Would she be proud that I won or ashamed that I killed? Ashamed that I had to endure the horrors of the games just as she did. I wonder what my Clara Jane would think about all this.
Clara burst into tears seeing her name on the page. She started sobbing so much that she had to close the book
