I know I just signed my own death sentence, but I'll be damned if I let Katniss die in the arena. The peacekeepers scort me to the stage, but a hand stops me halfway, it's my older brother Rye, "What the hell did you just do Peeta?!" The other boys hold him down before the peacekeepers have any chance to beat him. He only stops yelling when I reach the stage.
Effie Trinket asks my name but I ignore her. I push her aside, maybe with a little more strength than I should, to hug Katniss. "You can yell at me later," I whisper in her ear.
"What a turn of events!" gushes Effie, she pulls me away from Katniss to a mark on the floor at her right side. "Two volunteers from District 12! That has to be a first in Panem's history!" Her overly excited tone disgusts me. "Now, what's your name?" I swallow hard.
"Peeta Mellark," I say.
"Wonderful! I bet the entire country is going to pay attention to you two. Come on, everybody! Let's give a big round of applause to the volunteers from District 12!"
You could hear a pin drop in the square. Even the people that uses the reaping to place bets on the lives of the children doesn't make a sound. Gale is the first to do it, he stands on the front row and places three fingers on his lips and holds them up for us. Then my friend Delly Cartwright, my older brother Gram and his wife, then another person, and another, until every single man, woman and child in the square does the gesture. It's something we do in funerals, it's a way to show love, to say thank you, to say goodbye.
After the anthem ends, Katniss and I enter the Justice Building holding hands. The peacekeepers try to put us in seperate rooms. There is a scuffle about to turn into a real fight when Effie shows up. "No, that's okay. It's just standard procedure. You won't be separated anymore, I promise." Her voice is surprisingly calm, so we do as she says. Before entering the rooms we're inform that we have an hour to be with our friends and family.
I'm surprised to see that the first people that enter the room are either. Eight boys stand in front of me, two of them seem to be from merchant families, the other six could pass for Katniss and Gale's cousins, clearly from the Seam. "We won't take too much of your time," the one that looks like he is the oldest says, "It's that we're all name Clover." I get it after a second. Clover was the name that Effie took from the reaping ball. By volunteering to be with Katniss, I unintentionally saved the life on one of this boys. "They didn't say the last name, so we all came here to say thank you."
I have to drink water to shallow back the tears after they leave. Now truly no one can convince me that what I did was a mistake. Another knock at the door. A hand slaps me on the face as soon as I open it.
"How could you be so stupid?!" My mother's voice is so loud I'm sure they can hear it from the main square. "You're going to kill yourself because of that trash from the Seam?!" My brothers hold her down on the couch while she starts to sob.
After some time my mom manages to control her tears. No one says a word. My father's tears forms a wet spot on his shirt. I feel terrible, but the image of those eight boys still lingers on my mind. "You have to eat as much as you can before you enter the arena," Rye is the first to break the silence, "There is no guarantee you'll find food easily, so you and Katniss need to gain as much weight as you can."
Both our parents look at him like he's crazy, but Gram and his wife jump in, "He's right, with the extra weight you'll have more energy until you find a food source."
The air in the room seem to lighten up a little, but my mother is a professional pessimist. "Don't be silly, they'll both be dead on the first day!" she says, starting to cry again. Our time is nearly up, so I hug my family as they leave the room. My dad is the last one.
"Don't you listen to your mother, do you hear me? You fight to the end. As long as you're alive there is hope." I take his words to my heart. I hug my dad once more, before he leaves the room he says one last thing, "I'll make sure Prim has food." That lifts some of the weight on my shoulders. There is hope, there is always hope.
The hour is almost up, someone knocks on the door and I have a feeling that those are the last people from the District that I'll see. The door opens and it's Delly, followed by Madge and Gale. Delly usually has an uplifted attitude even on the direst situations. Today she's no different. "You're so brave!" she says with a half smile.
"You really are Peeta, and we'll help out in any way we can," Gale says, he and I were never really close. I always felt jealous of all the time he spends with Katniss in the woods, but at this moment, I realize that Gale is my friend.
"Listen, the people from the Capitol are naive and giddy," Madge starts, "You can easily persuade them to sponsor you with the right words." Madge's harsh words about her own people surprise all of us.
"You do have a way with words Peeta," Delly says, pondering the idea. I don't know if I have that kind of power of speech, but I guess anything is worth trying to bring Katniss back home.
"Look I don't have a lot of time left, but I need to ask you guys something." All three lean in, paying close attention. "I know that if we manage to bring Katniss home you'll look after her. But if we can't, if we die," Madge lets out a soft choked sob and Gale holds her hand consoling her. "There's a small lake, deep down in the woods, it's one with a house made of concrete. Please make sure they bury us there, under the large oak tree." I hope Katniss doesn't mind that I'm telling them about the lake.
"We'll do it Peeta, whatever it takes," Gale says.
A peacekeeper enters the room telling us that our time is up. They lead me to the hall where Effie and Katniss wait for me. "Are you okay?" she asks, I nod and kiss her gently on the lips. A flash startles us. We look out to see what it was, when we see a man with an insectlike camera being tackle by the peacekeepers. We're shocked, but Effie laughs it off,
"You'll get used to it."
When they say we have to take a car to get to the train station, we found it odd. The train station is a few blocks from the Justice Building, it would take only five minutes to get there. But soon we realize why. The streets are crawling with reporters, all with cameras just like the man in the Justice Building. "Peeta look up, in the sky," Katniss points to dozens of hovercrafts flying over us. All with different logos from tv channels painted on them.
"I don't think something like this ever happened here," I tell Katniss, but is Effie who responds.
"Well, District 12 never had tributes so perfect for tv."