Hello everyone! I would just like to say thank you to everyone reading and reviewing this story, I'm so grateful for all of you. This chapter is not as long as last week's and I'm sorry about that. Hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.
The whole crowd goes silent when she says this including my mother and I. The sound of the timer breaks the silence and Caesar says, "I bet you will, but that's the end of our time Miss Everdeen, can everyone please give our 'Girl on Fire' a big round of applause?"
The applause lasts even after Katniss sits down next to the other tributes and Caesar has to motion to the audience to stop because they're still clapping when it's time for Peeta's interview. Peeta comes out wearing a simple black suit with red accents to complement Katniss's dress. His curls are slicked back and his bright blue eyes shine from the stage lights. He walks over to Caesar with a smile and shakes his hand. Peeta's interview is very entertaining to say in the least. He has this natural self-deprecating humor and he plays up the 'baker's son' thing which makes his interview even more enjoyable for everybody watching. Him and Caesar have a very funny moment where they each take a whiff of each other because Peeta claims that the showers in the Capitol are much better than the ones back in District 12, and who's going to argue with him about it. Towards the end of the interview Caesar asks Peeta if he has a girlfriend back home.
I sit up straight when I realize that he doesn't have a girlfriend but from what I know he does have a pretty big crush on my sister. I wonder if he will say anything about his crush on Katniss although I don't know if it would do anything besides get a few sighs of sympathy from the audience and let my sister know that he really likes her.
I doubt that Katniss returns these feelings even though I know that she has kept tabs on the baker's boy and she really does care about him somewhere deep in her heart, but I don't think it's love. Katniss has always said that she doesn't believe in love and when I've tried to convince her otherwise, she always tells me that love just ends in tragedy. Even though I disagree with her, I do understand why she feels this way, she loved our father so much and when he was blown to bits in a mine explosion she was devastated. Not nearly as much as our mother though, when my father died it seemed like my mother died along with him, she stopped doing anything except staring at the wall all day and left an eleven year old Katniss to take over as head of the family.
It took awhile but our mother slowly came back to us. I was ecstatic that she came back from her awful depression and I forgave her almost immediately, but Katniss stayed guarded and kept waiting for the day that our mother left us once again. If only she could see our mother now, instead of falling apart completely when Katniss volunteered, she became stronger. I think we both have become stronger in that sense because if Katniss can be as strong as she is and go into The Hunger Games, then we can be strong while we watch her.
My mind circles back to Peeta's interview as he hesitates for a moment and gives Caesar an unconvincing shake of the head.
"Oh come on, a handsome man like you has to have someone back home. Tell us!" Caesar exclaims.
"Well, there is this one girl I've had a crush on forever but I don't think she even noticed me until the reaping," Peeta says with a sigh.
"Well, I'll tell you what, you go and win the Games then when you get home there's no way she can reject you," Caesar answers reassuringly.
"I don't think winning will help in my case, Caesar," He replies, his face turning redder and redder.
"And why ever would it not?" Caesar asks as the camera shows the audience leaning towards the stage in curiosity.
He's really going to tell him. He's going to tell Caesar, in front of a crowd of thousands and the entire country of Panem watching on their televisions, about his crush on my sister who is in the Games with him. This is bound to be interesting.
"It's because… she came here with me."
You can see the crowd physically freeze when they comprehend what he's saying. The camera zooms in on Katniss's face as she realizes that he is talking about her. Her jaw drops and her cheeks turn beet red before she sees herself on one of the screens in the building and ducks her head so she is staring at the floor.
"Did she know before?" Caesar asks.
"No, she didn't," Peeta mumbles as he looks over at Katniss who is still staring at the ground.
The timer rings and Caesar says, "Now I bet you all want Katniss to come back out and tell us what she is thinking but sadly rules are rules."
The audience cries out in disappointment from not being able to hear what my sister is thinking. Although, I know she wouldn't tell them exactly what she is thinking anyways.
As Peeta leaves they do another close up of Katniss's face and her expression is blank but her cheeks are still burning red. She and all the other tributes leave the building in order to rest up for the day that most of them have been dreading. The start of the Hunger Games.
The reality of the fact that my sister might be flat out dead in less than twenty four hours, hits me like a train. My sister who literally saved me from starvation. Who took care of me when our mother couldn't. And my sister, who is putting her life on the line just to save mine; might die.
I want to stay strong for Katniss's sake because that's what she would do, but right now I just want to lie down and cry myself to sleep. I want to wake up to Katniss telling me that I was just having a nightmare and she is fine. But I know that that won't happen.
I can tell my mother has been thinking about tomorrow because a few tears have escaped her eyes, but she hasn't slipped into one of her episodes for which I am grateful. It seems like the medicine that we got from the Capitol is working way better than what she had previously which is not surprising.
I stand up from the couch and help my mother up. We both silently get ready for bed and when we are both done we wordlessly climb into her bed and I fall asleep in her arms.
My nightmares are awful tonight. Most of my dreams are of Katniss dying from different causes like dehydration and infection. There are also some where another tribute tortures her before brutally murdering her. The worst one I have is of all the people I have ever cared about inside of the mines when they explode. I had to sit by and watch as Katniss, my father and mother, Rory and the rest of the Hawthornes, and there was even Buttercup; erupt into flames. Everybody kept yelling at me to come and save them but my legs wouldn't move. I wake up screaming when everyone I ever loved turns into ashes.
My mother isn't there when I wake up which makes me start to think that it wasn't a dream but when I rush out of bed into the living area and see my mother sitting on the couch I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I run over to where she is sitting and climb into her lap. She runs her fingers through my hair gently until she says that we should get ready for the day.
Since school is cancelled for the first day of the Hunger Games and you are required to watch them my mother and I are going to go to the square with most of the town to watch the Games. We are going to meet the Hawthorne's and walk to the square together.
After my mother and I have gotten ready we head across the Seam to the Hawthorne's house. As we walk I try to keep my mind off of the Games but it's impossible. I keep thinking about all the ways that Katniss could be killed and by the time we reach the house I've bitten through all of my fingernails. When my mother knocks on the door I manage to push all of my thoughts and just focus on Hazelle Hawthorne.
When my mother was really deep in her depression, Hazelle was like a second mother to me and Katniss. I really respect her because when her husband died in the same mine explosion that my dad died in, she was days away from giving birth and not even a week after giving birth she was out on the streets looking for work. She loves her kids more than her own life and she is always doing everything for them so she was immediately finding ways to keep her children from starving when she had to. It made me a bit jealous of the Hawthorne kids when I was younger because they had a mother who made sure they almost always had something to eat, meanwhile my mother just watched as Katniss and I nearly starved to death.
I'm brought back to the present when Hazelle wraps me in a huge hug.
"How're you doing, hon?" she asks softly.
I shrug in her arms and she pulls away in order to embrace my mother.
"Hey."
I look over to the doorframe to see who is talking and find Rory.
"Hi," I reply lamely.
We stand awkwardly for a moment before little Posy darts out from behind Rory and clings to my leg with tears streaming down her face.
I gently pull her arms off of my leg and lean down to her level. "What's wrong Pose?" I ask.
"I-I want Katniss back," she sobs as I pull her into my arms.
"I do too," I say into her pale red hair.
She pulls away and looks me right in the eyes as she asks, "Will she come home?"
I have to think before I tell her an answer because I want to believe that Katniss will come home, but I also don't want to give her false hope. I don't have to answer because suddenly Gale is at Posy's side and is whispering stuff to her that I can't hear. When I stand up I find Rory in the same spot that he was in before Posy came to me.
"How has she been doing?" I ask Rory about his little sister.
Katniss would always be around the Hawthorne's and has gotten very close to all of them. Posy looks up to Katniss like a big sister and when Katniss left for the Capitol you could tell that she was extremely upset.
"She has been really sad and she just started having nightmares," Rory answers, shooting a concerned look at Posy.
I look over at her too and instead of the happiest child I've ever met, I see a little girl who is hurting so much more than someone her age should be hurting. The sparkle of happiness that she has always had since the day she was born, is replaced with a look of complete heartbreak.
When Vick comes outside and everybody is ready, we set out to the Square. With one hand I grasp onto Posy's tiny little hand and my other hand is holding Rory's. As we walk I think about if this was a regular Games, Katniss would be walking next to Gale and joking about something from that morning when they were hunting. Hazelle would be carrying Posy while she talked to my mother and Rory, Vick, and I would be talking about school. But this year we are all silent.
When we get close enough to the Square to see the screens filled with Caesar's face, I grip onto Rory's hand until my knuckles are white. When we get into the Square I notice that lots of people are staring at my mother and I. They probably expected us to stay at home to watch the Games like most relatives of the tributes do, but I knew that my mother would be less likely to slip into one of her episodes when we are in public.
The Games won't start for a couple hours so we just wait. As we wait, some friends of Rory and I come over to us and talk. We talk for a little while before they leave to go find their families.
As the time nears for the start of the Games I start to freak out more and more. What if Katniss steps off her platform too early? What if she tries to go for a weapon in the Cornucopia and someone finds her and kills her? What if she tries to run but someone throws a knife or something and it finds its way into her neck? While I think about all the possibilities I bite my nails nervously and when I turn my head I find Posy staring at me with tears in her eyes. She probably could see that I'm very worried which is making her worried too.
"Are you okay Pose?" I ask the little girl who is gripping her mother's hand like a lifeline.
"I don't like seeing you sad," she replies.
I hold out my arms and she drops her mother's hand and runs into my arms. I hold onto her tightly as we cry. After staying in each other's embrace for a few minutes before we break apart and I wipe the tears off my face before wiping off her's. I grab her hand and look up at the giant screen where the tributes are being lifted from underground, onto their pedestals. The entire crowd goes silent, it's so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Then the countdown starts.
Ten. My mother grips onto Hazelle.
Nine. Vick bites his nails.
Eight. Gale glares at the screen.
Seven. Rory puts his hand on my shoulder.
Six. Posy sniffles.
Five. The lady in front of me silently prays.
Four. A mother shields her young daughter's eyes.
Three. The crowd freezes.
Two. I suck in a breath.
One. The Games have begun.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. If you want to let me know what you think then please leave a review. Thank you for reading! Stay safe and healthy! :)