The next morning, Johanna is tracing the trees on the completed puzzle with her fingers. It's been almost ten days that we've been hauled up in my house.

"Let's go to the woods," Johanna says. I don't like the idea of leaving in case a call comes in from the hospital. Johanna reads this on my face. "Haymitch can stay here. Just for a couple hours, to clear our heads."

After some persuasion, I finally agree. I am going crazy staring at these white walls. I don't want to be here anymore. I want to be somewhere else. I want to be in 4, but I'll take the woods. We pack some food and water and take off. Delly asks to come and we oblige. For a perky little sunflower, she manages to stay quiet when she feels it's warranted. She's hurting too. Even sunflower people hurt.

Gale and I lead Johanna and Delly to what's left of the fence. We cross into the woods, and immediately I feel my lungs involuntarily sigh in relief. This is where I belong. I look at my hunting partner, and he already knows what I'm thinking, because out here, we've never needed words. We head to the lake.

When we come on the clearing, Johanna's face breaks into a smile. She feels at home here too, in the woods. Being from the lumber district, she's spent her life among the trees. They are old friends. She's more calm than I think I've ever seen her. Johanna picks up a fallen leave from the forest floor and glides it along her face.

I forget that Delly's been here before. When the refugees from District 12 fled, Gale led them to the lake. She didn't really get to experience the serenity of this place, huddled in a mass of starving, broken people, waiting for an absolution they weren't sure even existed. The last time she was here, she was grieving. It didn't take long to realize her family hadn't made it out. For Delly, the lake isn't the happy retreat it's always been for me. It's a place of sorrow.

She walks up to the water's edge and twirls a finger in the water. "I've always wanted to learn to swim," she says wistfully. I look at Delly and take her in. She wants this to be a happy place. She wants to heal, to find the solace in the water and air the way she sees the rest of us do.

"Now's as good a time as any," Gale says, and pulls his shirt over his head. I laugh aloud when I catch both Johanna and Delly staring at Gale's physique, jaws dropped.

"Careful, you might swallow a bug," I tease. Delly blushes and claps a hand over her mouth, Johanna gives me a death glare. I smile.

I just smiled and laughed. It feels weird.

When Gale turns his back away from the girls, the scars Thread's whip left, ugly and jagged across his back. I hear Delly gasp, and Johanna just looks sad. I squeeze Delly's hand. We all have scars. Some are just more visible than others.

I strip down to my underwear and glide into the water. The cool lake feels like heaven on a hot, summer day. I take a few strokes out, lie on my back, and float. Water covers my ears and the world around me is muffled. I float and peer up at the sky. I think of Finnick, how the water invigorated him. I think of the Morphling, lying in Peeta's arms in the water, staring up at the sunset. Peeta's words bringing her peace in her final moments. I can't think about that.

I start swimming back to shore with a lazy, slow stroke. I see Delly splashing around as Gale laughs playfully.

"You're doing great! Just keep your chin up! That's great!" I remember how three or four years ago Gale wouldn't have even looked at Delly. He resented the people in Town, although I think most of that resentment eventually shifted to the Capitol. They wanted us divided. He understood the walls between us were fabricated by Snow to keep us weak. He claps his hands in encouragement as Delly makes it a few feet before sinking.

"I did it!" She stands up and shouts. "I swam! Did you see?"

"I did!" Gale smiles. That's when I see her. Gliding like a snake in the water, Johanna is stalking Gale. Just her eyes are above water, and she is coming up closer, and closer… Johanna seizes the opportunity with Gale distracted and pulls his legs out from under him. When Gale resurfaces, she wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him under. He comes up sputtering water, with a devilish grin on his face.

"Is that how we are going to do this?" Gale coughs, and dives directly for her. Johanna has lost the advantage of a sneak attack. Her only hope is to evade Gale, but as he splashes around in the water, he finally grabs a hold of her. He picks her up over his head as she kicks and screams and bites. He throws her back into the water, and the splash ripples its way to shore. She comes up grinning, and that's when the great splash war begins. Delly and Johanna team up on Gale. I sneak up from behind and defend my friend. I'm careful not to set Delly off balance in the water, but Johanna is fair game. In short order we are all panting and laughing.

We make our way to shore. Johanna hops on one foot trying to get water out of her ear, while Delly quickly covers up. Johanna has no qualm walking around with her wet underclothes clinging to her body. I catch Gale watching her out of the corner of his eye and I find myself smiling again. We are an odd little family.

We eat our sandwiches while we dry. Everything in the last ten days has felt like paste on my throat, but in this moment I appreciate the sharp cheese and apple.

"When Peeta comes back, we'll have to bring him out here," I say.

The others looks at my in shock for a minute, and then Delly smiles. "Definitely. He'd love it." We dress and hike back to the house. We talk, reminisce. Johanna weaves a bracelet by pulling the stems from leaves and twisting them into knots. She ties it around Delly's wrist, who smiles brightly. As things come into view, I see Haymitch on the porch. He's with someone. I drop my bag and take off sprinting toward the house. As I get closer I see he has Effie wrapped in a comforting embrace. She looks up at me. I can tell she's been crying. I feel like the world is opening underneath me. Like a cavern is going to swallow me whole.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"Oh, Katniss," she says as she reaches out to me. I push past her and run into the house.

Propped up with some pillows on my couch is Peeta Mellark.