Katniss POV

The silence is maddening. It's been hours since I returned from my interview, maybe even an entire day. The ever familiar gnawing of hunger has returned to the pit of my stomach, but I'm used to ignoring that. What I can't ignore is the constant murmuring from Annie and the exasperated sighs from Johanna. When food finally does come, its a small portion of white rice and a cold chicken leg. Johanna and I are hesitant, but Annie scarfs it down. When she does not drop dead, we decide it is okay to eat.

When the food is gone, the Peacekeepers come. Two of them come with a single chair. They take it into Johanna's room and sit it in the middle of her cell. She puts up a struggle, but ultimately, she is chained to it. Her hair is shaved off. Johanna shows nothing but pride at the fact that becoming "undesirable" won't break her. The peacekeepers leave. "You'll have to do better than that!" She yells at their retreating figures.

But then it happens.

Two more peacekeepers enter, each carrying a bucket of water. They pour it onto Johanna. I watch as she shivers. The two peacekeepers from earlier enter with silver poles at least five feet long. One of them warns her. "This is your last chance to share information about the rebellion."

"Over my dead body," she says through gritted teeth. The same peacekeeper presses a button on the pole. The end of it zaps to life. I can't watch, so I turn and attempt to bury my face into cold, hard ground. I cover my ears, but I still hear her scream. Annie follows my lead and desperately tries to drown out the torture before us.

This goes on for a long time. The peacekeepers shock Johanna, let her rest, ask her questions that she refuses to answer, and repeat. As the ask her questions, I try to answer them in my head. There is still so much that I don't know. I have to do something to distract myself from my inevitable fate.

"Who recruited you?" I have no idea who would have recruited Johanna. Perhaps Haymitch when he agreed for us to become her ally. Suddenly, a glimmer of a gold pocket watch flutters into my memory. The ghost of the Mockingjay, the description of time, midnight. The hand holding it belongs to Plutarch Heavensbee, head gamemaker.

"Where are the rebels?" Apparently not in District Twelve. There is no District Twelve. I try not to think about my dead mother and sister. It hurts, and I have to preserve all of my strength. Its better to believe they are still alive than reduced to ashes.

"How did you communicate with the rebels? When did you know to execute your plan?" This is a question that I have wondered about too. Why was Finnick so strange when it came to the odd amounts of bread. Was that the communication method? Did the bread tell them when to execute the plan? Is that why the plan occurred at midnight?

There are so many things I want to ask Johanna when the peacekeepers leave, but I know that we are never truly alone. Cameras have watched us out entire lives and in the games, so who's to say that Snow isn't watching as Johanna screams her lungs out. It may even be broadcasted across the nation. A warning.

When its over, the chair and chains are removed from her room. Johanna is left in a heap on the floor, shivering and damp. She's exhausted, and it isn't long before I hear her breathing even out. I am surprised when another voice calls out my name, "Katniss?"

My head snaps at the sound. Its fragile, and it reminds me of Prim. But its not Prim. Its Annie. "Annie?" I've never heard her speak before.

"Do you think they will do that to us even though we don't know anything?"

I'm stunned. Since Annie won her games and went mad, I assumed she would talk mad or unintelligible things. But instead, she is soft and deliberate with her words. She shows no signs of the rambling and mumbling girl that was in that cell an hour ago. "I-I don't know."

Annie smiles at me kindly. "It'll all be okay. Finnick will save us." She turns away from me, hugs her knees, and begins to rock back and forth. The sane Annie leaves as fast as she appeared.

I whisper back, "I hope so," despite the fact that I know Finnick is locked up in a cell just like ours.

The next peacekeepers that come are for me. I scramble to my feet at their orders only for one to punch my in the face. I'm knocked to the ground, and I see stars. A kick to my stomach knocks the wind out of me, and I attempt to hug the ground for safety. It doesn't work. One peacekeepers pulls me to my feet but has to hold me up. The other holds a syringe and injects it into me. I'm dropped to the ground and left alone.

"Katniss?" Johanna calls out. "Katniss, talk to me."

I immediately feel off. Whatever was in the syringe tingles through my veins at a rapid pace. My head begins to swim. "I don't feel good," is all I can tell her. I feel like a child again, telling my mother that I am sick.

"Describe it," Johanna demands.

"Why?" I ask. My life has become a series of questions, and I want answers.

"So when it wears off, I can tell you about it," she says like it is simple. "You're lucky they didn't electrocute you. All it does it hurt."

"I fell..." I trail off as I try to describe what is happening to me. "Not drunk...Dizzy."

"What else, Katniss?"

"There's..." What is that? There's something in my cell, coming towards me on the ground. "Ants?"

"Ants?" Annie repeats to me. I hear someone move. "I don't see anything in your cell."

I can't do anything but look at the ground. All I see is an army of big, black ants coming towards me... to eat my eyes out. "Wait!" I exclaim. "This has happened before," I tell them as my eye lids begin to droop. The ants are almost to my face.

"Stay with us!" Johanna pleads. "What is it?"

I manage to whisper, "Tracker Jackers."

When I wake, there's a bowl of water, a small portion of white rice, and a half eaten chicken leg. I'm so hungry that I decide to push how disgusting it is out of my mind and just eat. While I eat, I survey my surroundings. Annie is asleep in the corner of the cell. I can see the outline of her body against it. Johanna is doing something similar, but I can see that her body looks different wet. Johanna was tortured again.

I feel bad for waking her, but I have to. I have to know what happened before and after I lost consciousness. All I remember is the beating, the syringe, and ants. I tap on the glass.

Johanna groans, "What?"

"I'm awake," I tell her.

"Thanks for the update, Brainless."

I ignore her rudeness. She's been through a lot lately. "What happened?"

Johanna sits up, but she doesn't stand to look at me over the partition. I do the same to give her privacy. "They injected you with something, you started talking about ants and tracker jackers. Then right before you lost consciousness, you said Peeta's name. A lot."

I blush, and I'm glad that Johanna cannot see me. "I was stung in my first games."

"I remember," she says. She was mentor that year. "You slept for days. This time, you were out for maybe twelve hours. But then again, we have no perception of time in these Hell boxes!" She yells and bangs on the cell at the last part. I can see that her temper is going to start showing a lot more than it already has. Johanna's patience has run out.

Before I can say anything else, Annie asks, "Was it real?" She climbs to her feet and looks over at me.

I'm confused. "What?" I see bruises are her biceps.

"The star-crossed lovers?" She says with a giddy smile. "Finnick thought it was fake, but I thought it was real."

There's no point in lying now. I open my mouth to talk, but I close it. I still haven't figured out my feelings for both Gale and Peeta. But for now, I decide to just tell the last thing I knew for sure. "It was fake."

Annie frowns, and Johanna snickers.

"It was real for Peeta, but I used it to get us through the games, " I admit. It feels good to be able to talk about this to someone other than the hurt lover, drunk mentor, and innocent little sister. "He was angry, and we didn't talk again until the Victory Tour."

"The engagement?" Annie asks.

I sigh. "My idea. Snow was watching us. Said we needed to defuse the districts."

"It didn't work," Johanna says, stating the obvious.

"The baby?" Annie asks. Her voice is growing sadder, and I fear that my lies might push sane Annie back into hiding.

"Peeta's idea to stop the Quarter Quell."

"But-But when his heart stopped..."

"My life was saved in the first games, so I thought Peeta deserved it this time. I owed him. I've only ever owed him." I take a deep breath and add, "Peeta was pure and kind and everything that I am not. He deserved to win."

Johanna says, "You're talking like he's dead."

"It would be better if he were."

The next peacekeepers that come enter my cell with nothing but chains. I'm forced to stand, chained, and commanded to walk. I don't look at Johanna and Annie as I leave. I want to remember them as strong. I want the last time that I saw them to not be mired by pity.

Elevator up. Out the doors. Shiny, black car. Traffic like life is normal in Capitol. Snow's mansion.

I'm paraded into a bedroom and sat before the same prep team as before. They hide their gasps and looks of horror, but I see their eyes go wide and their skin pale. One of them bathes me in a tub that is not even halfway filled with water. Maybe they think I'd try to drown myself.

It takes many, many serums to get the knots out of my hair. I've chewed my nails down to the skin, and the one with emerald green hair looks at them with disgust. Nevertheless, my nails are filed, shined, and painted a light coat of pink to give them life again. My face is scrubbed, and a cool mask is laid on top. The man with blue eyeshadow tells me, "This will refresh your face." It feels nice.

The same man is tasked with applying my makeup, which I know has never been an easy task. I'm pained and repainted until he is satisfied. The bags under my eyes were especially difficult. I wouldn't be surprised if I have a black eye from my beating. The last member of the team, the girl with white hair in a mohawk, does my hair. Curled again. I assume I look similar to the innocent angel the portrayed me as last time. Finally, a white gown is slipped over my head. This one has long sleeves to cover my bruised vein.

When all is done, I am left alone in the bedroom with one peacekeeper. We stay silent. The room is luxurious. I'm sitting in a chair, but I know the bedspread is more elegant than anything I have ever touched. The curtains alone could cost more than all the food I've ever ate combined. Hues of red and gold glitter the room.

The door opens, and it startles me. I'm even more startled when it is Snow who enters. But then again, who else did I expect?

"Miss Everdeen," he coos. "Its lovely to see you again."

He waits for my to reply. I find my voice and say, "Yes, it is."

"I need something from you..." he says, trailing off. A playful smile graces his puffy lips.

I mirror it. "What?"

"Another interview-"

"I want proof of life," I blurt out before he can finish whatever he is saying.

This doesn't surprise him. Snow doesn't miss a beat. "Of whom?"

I have to grit my teeth to stop myself from saying something I might regret. "Peeta."

Snow smiles a white smile. "I imagined you would have asked for that sooner. But then again, you are... indifferent towards him."

"I'm not indifferent."

He counters me quickly, "But you're not in love."

I don't know how to respond to that. I may not have been "in love" with Peeta, but how could I after only knowing him for a short amount of time. Even if I did love Peeta, I could have never given him what he wanted- a happy family. But what I do know is that I was willing to die for him. "I'm not doing another interview until I know that he is alive."

Snow abruptly stands from his chair and exits the room.

I let out a chocked sob. I ruined it. I ruined everything. My vanity may have cost Peeta his life. I sit in the room and wait. And wait.

It feels like forever when the door opens again. Snow returns with a single item that makes my heart stop beating. The blood in my veins runs cold as he says. "I don't negotiate with insurgents. But for you, Miss Everdeen, I will compromise."

He hands me a silver parachute.

With trembling fingers, I open it. Tears well up in my eyes as I see the spiel, the medication, the pear, and Peeta's gold medallion. I can't bare to open the medallion, so I place it around my neck like Peeta's hands once did. His final gift to me. Next, I take the pearl and roll it around between my fingers. It feels good and calms me instantly. Like this tiny pearl is able to ground me.

I look up at Snow. "What do you want from me?"

I run the pearl between my fingers as Caeser Flickerman greets the camera like he has a thousand times before. When the camera pulls back, I catch a glimpse of myself for the first time. My face looks like I have aged ten years. The make up may cover the irregular colors on my face, but it can't hide the bags or puffiness of my black eye. I'm too far to be sure, but I think my right eye is bloodshot, like I've popped a vessel. I think I've heard my mother say something like that before.

I try to smile, but it doesn't work.

"Katniss," Caeser says, cuing me in. "Its nice to see you again."

I nod. "I'm sorry it has to be under such terms," I say, reciting exactly what Snow told me to.

Caeser turns from me to the camera. "For those of you who don't know, District Twelve has fallen victim to this war. The rebels used it as their hiding place and launched an attack. The good news is, the Capitol was able to gain control. What are you thought on this, Katniss?"

Snow and his military advisors have concocted a lie to explain the loss of coal production, which stems mostly from Twelve. If I want to see proof of Peeta's life, then I must lie too. Twelve was not burned to the ground, but had to be strictly overtaken. Curfews, halt in productions, increased security.

"I think the people of District Twelve were always proud people, but we were the poorest district. If the rebels offered a great prize, the people of District Twelve could have easily fallen victim."

"Katniss!" I hear, and the voice surprises me.

Unable to control myself, I whisper, "Peeta?"

"This is what remains of District Twelve," another voice says. Gale says as if he's talking to a friend. "These ashes are all that remain of District Twelve."

My head spins as I look around the room for the source. Peeta and Gale are not in Snow's mansion with me, but on the screen that shows the broadcast. I see them- Peeta, Gale, and Finnick. They stand in grey and white rubble.

"I'm not sure what is going on," Caeser says in an attempt to draw my attention back to him. The camera crew is scrambling behind the scenes to regain control.

"This is what is left of my parent's bakery," Peeta says in a sad tone that breaks my heart into a million pieces. "They didn't make it out."

Next, I hear Finnick's voice. "Only 900 citizens made it out." The camera zooms in on a human skull. It's bone. It's white. I feel the blood rush from my face, and I fear that I may vomit.

The camera screen returns to my face. I look pale and have tears in my eyes. "Katniss," Caeser says gently. "Can you continue with what you were saying?"

"There is no District Twelve?" I ask him.

Caeser blanches as I go off script. He rushes out an explanation. "I'm unsure. Perhaps we are receiving mixed signals. Rebel propaganda. Katniss, is there anything you would like to say to Peeta... to the rebels."

You're alive?

"Peeta," I say with a shaky voice. "Think about what you're doing. Think about what will be lost. Ask yourself, do you really trust the people you're working with?" I say it for the sole benefit of Snow not killing me. I clear my throat and pray that he will get my message. Then, I say it. "Do you really know what's going on? And if you don't... find out."

The screen goes black.