I am no more alone, I think as I sleep with Katniss in her sleeping bag.

As far as I can remember our conversation started with her telling me,

"You know, they're not the only ones who can form alliances."

The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them,

"You want me for an ally?"

How can I be her ally? I have to kill her to win this game, to win the rewards for my family. But I wonder if my father would have wanted me to win the games. I remember the first time I asked him about Hunger Games.

"Father, what is Hunger Games?"

He's confused. Instead of answering my question, he inquires, "Who told you about this?"

"My friends, they told me when we were playing together."

"Never think of that game. It is the worst game anyone can play, but don't worry. When you turn eleven, we will move away from here. Somewhere very far away from this place".

I wonder if he would have been alive today, would I still have been here or would I have been somewhere far away from these Hunger Games. Now that I am thinking about my father, I wonder how my siblings are keeping up. I wonder if Mother would like it if I let Katniss be my ally? Most importantly, I wonder what my father would have done if he would have been in this situation.

Then I hear Katniss's voice, "Why not? You saved me with those tracker jackers. You're smart enough to still be alive. And I can't seem to shake you anyway."

I blink a few times unable to decide and my eyes shift to that Mockingjay pin that she is wearing. I miss the Mockingjays of my district. I miss singing with those beautiful birds. I miss my family. I don't know about Katniss but I trust the Mockingjay, I think.

She asks me, "Are you hungry?"

I am hungry but I can't eat everything, right? I look at her and I remember the stings.

"I can fix your stings."

"Can you? How? Please fix my stings ".

I dig in my backpack and pull out a few leaves which can heal her stings.

As I press the sting with the leaves, I remember the day no one helped my father when he died on the street of District 11.

Martin, that dumb boy, why did my father have to argue for him? Why? Why did no one help my father? Tears collect in my eyes.

Katniss's smiling face turns into a worried face.

"What happened, Rue? Are you okay?" I can see that she is scared but can I trust her? Should I tell her everything? Tell her how the Capitol killed my father. As I sit there with Katniss sitting right beside me I realise how badly I miss home, how lonely I feel in this arena. I think I can give her a chance, the video did show that she volunteered for her sister. Katniss doesn't give me a chance to explain. She pulls me in a hug and all I do is cry for a while. I look at Katniss and I realise that I have wanted someone like her. Someone I can rely on. I was about to tell her what I was feeling but I realised that the Capitol is watching me. They will kill us and the people of District 11 if they get to know anything.

I look at Katniss's worried face and tell sadly, "I was missing home."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am okay now, thank you," I confirm.

She knows that that is not the real reason but she also knows that I can't share it here. We eat together and we sleep in the sleeping bag that Katniss has.