I opened my eyes but I couldn't see anything but darkness. Slowly my eyes adjusted and I could see forms and shapes. Then a grey mist appeared. At first, I was frightened, but once swallowed by the mist, it felt cosy and comfortable. And when I saw her, I wasn't scared at all, but rather surprised.
It was Rue. She wore a pretty black dress that accents her tiny body. When I screamed her name her brown eyes looked into mine. She stood up and then she flew into the air. I realised I had this dream before, but I couldn't stop myself. This time I had to know where she wanted to take me.
I stumbled after her. I couldn't see three feet before me because of the mist. And every time I came close to her, just about to touch her, she slipped away. Only to reappear a few feet further away. In a strange way it reminded me of our time in the arena. I shook my head, trying to get rid of the awful memory.
I screamed her name once more. This time she didn't look back, but she stopped and said: 'Come closer'. Her voice was so soft, so pleasant. Obedient, I walked up next to her. The fog lifted a bit. Just enough for me to see a door.
'What will I see when I go through?' I asked.
'You'll see' Rue smiled at me and gestured to open it.
I inhaled and grabbed the handle. I opened the door and went on. I couldn't believe what I saw inside. Every single person that I know to be dead was there. Some people I killed, some people were killed because of me. At the sight of their faces, I knelt down. Tears ran down my face.
Mags was the first who came to me. Although I couldn't hear her voice over my sobbing, it was reassuring. She helped me up to my feet and hugged me. When she let go of me, I noticed that there were others surrounding me. I saw the boy from district 9 who nodded and smiled at me. He was right next to his killer Clove. She was still holding the knives she had in the games.
'You know', she said, 'I still can't believe that you got a higher score than I had'.
I suddenly saw through her eyes how she must have felt. To see on TV that a girl who was from a far distant and poor district had an 11. The thought made me giggle. I turned around and I immediately felt some lips on my mouth. It was just for a brief moment, but everyone could see the shock on my face. When he let me go, I saw who it was that kissed me. It was Chaff.
'Sorry about that', he said apologising, 'I just needed to do that one more time'.
'I know Peeta would be very jealous of you right now', I said happily.
As I said that, I felt guilty that I couldn't have saved everyone in this room. And when I took a look around the room I saw a face that I didn't expect. He was hidden behind a woman I didn't recognise but nevertheless he was someone I could never forget. I walked up to him and I was a little bit frightened of what he might say. Just when I was about to open my mouth, words came out of his.
'Hello Katniss, didn't expect me, did you?'
'N-No Cato, I didn't.' I looked at my feet, suddenly ashamed of being in his presence.
'It was a hell of a fight I gave you'
'Until the last minute' I added.
'Until the last minute', he said. 'Hey, could you do me a favour?
'Sure'
'Could you talk to Marvel over there?', 'he's still a bit regretful about what he did'.
'Where is he?'
Cato pointed across the room towards a guy sitting down. I could tell that he was having a hard time. Slowly I approached him. He was crying. Because I'm not really great in this sort of situations I petted his head, hoping it would make him feel better.
'You can stop comforting me, I know what I did'
'And what did you do?' I asked.
'As if you don't know, you killed me because I murdered that little girl'
'I know what you did and I also know why you did it' I whispered. 'But that doesn't mean that YOU must be the one feeling terrible about it. You didn't put yourself in the arena!'
'Ok, I understand. But can you forgive me for killing Rue?'
'I forgive you', I said.
'Thanks Katniss', he murmured, 'I feel a lot better'.
'I will take care of him from now on'
Gloss came towards us in a white t-shirt and a beige pants that reached to his knees. As he sat down next to the boy, he said that Marvel gave Rue a quick death, which is easier to process than a slow death, whereas the victim would have been in so much pain.
'Oh and by the way, thank you for that' he said while giving a wink.
'No problem Gloss'.
I looked around the room and I saw that Foxface was talking to Glimmer. Suddenly Glimmer turned around and she gestured for me to come. Curiously, I walked over to them.
Glimmer was a beautiful girl with blond hair. There were no signs of the stings from the tracker Jackers. She wore the dress that she had on for the interview. And even now I'd say that she wore it nicely. Foxface was always a little introverted, so I was surprised when she started the conversation.
'You can tell Peeta that he didn't actually kill me in the games'.
'How?' I asked shocked, 'You ate the berries right?'
'Yeah, I knew they were poisonous but I took them anyway. In the games I didn't kill anybody because I couldn't live with myself if I were the victor. I knew that I couldn't take anyone's live, not yours, Peeta's, Tresh's or even Cato's. So that's why I killed myself.
I nodded. I knew what she meant by that. The nightmares I was having ever since I entered the arena were exhausting. Every night, including this one, I get to see all the faces of the people I killed or couldn't save.
Glimmer said at that moment: 'I haven't met someone who shot better with a bow'
'Thank you' I said, while blushing, 'You are pretty awesome yourself'.
'Oh please', she scoffed, 'I couldn't have hit you in that tree, but I bet you could'.
I looked at Glimmer. Mainly to see if she meant what she said. A little to her right, I saw a man walking towards us, he brought someone along with him. Glimmer took a step back and I could see who it was.
'There's our girl on fire'.
I couldn't say anything for a moment. Cinna wore plain black clothes. The only way to know he lived in the Capitol, was by looking to his eyes. He still wore the golden eyeliner. When he finally stopped in front of me, he put a hand on my shoulder and said something in a low voice.
'You know', he said, 'If I could have bet on you, I would have a lot of money right now!'
He pulled out a piece of paper from his left pocket and gave it to me. On the folded paper there were words written on it. I took a closer look and I read: final design. With shaking hands I unfolded the paper. On it was a beautiful black dress. It had a V-neck and the lace hang loosely around my arms. Around my waist there were the wings of the mockingjay who covered my legs until it reached my knees. I had a feeling that the mockingjay was about to lift of from my body. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
'Thank you', I stuttered, 'Who did you bring along?'
Until now, Wiress was standing behind Cinna. It was as if she was afraid of me. I took a step closer but Wiress didn't seem to notice. I was one feet away from her when she suddenly saw me. Words came out of her mouth but I couldn't hear it very well. She repeated.
'You and Beetee are the only ones who …', she stopped, looking at something in the distance only she could see.
'Believed in you?', I asked.
She nodded in agreement.
'Because of you everybody thought I was…', she stopped again.
'Brilliant?'
When I said that word, her eyes sparkled up.
'Of course you were brilliant! Otherwise we couldn't figure out why certain area's in the arena were opened and then stopped. Wiress, you are smarter than anyone I know.'
I gave her a kiss on the cheeks and I moved along. There were so many faces in this place. Some I didn't recognise, but others were far too familiar. I saw the boy from 3 who reactivated the bombs and placed them around the food-pile. I saw the woman who I shot dead when coming out of the sewers. But then I saw a man knelt down with a rope in his hand. He knotted it and when I took steps to confront him, he pulls on the rope and the difficult rope unknotted.
'Finnick! Finnick, is that you?'
He swifted his head to where the noise came from. He instantly smiled. I cried when I saw him.
'Hi Katniss, I'm sorry but I can't offer you any sugar right now.'
'Finnick, it's not fair you died!'
'What do you mean?', he asked, 'My son can now grow up in a world filled with love instead of fear and despair. I'm sure Annie will tell all the stories about me. In a way I'm still living on'.
I thought about his words. It was true that now the hunger games are stopped, the people of Panem can now be rest assured that no one will ever die at the hands of the capitol. I suddenly saw Annie before me, holding their son, dancing in the woods and teaching him to swim just like his father could. I swallowed.
'I think it's almost time to go', Finnick said.
I got that same feeling too. As I looked into the room one more time, I finally saw the one person I wanted to meet so badly. I chuckled when I saw her blouse came out of her skirt.
'Hey little duck!' I shouted across the room.
Prim immediately turned and came running for me. I opened my arms. I finally could hold her in my arms again. It felt so good, because in my nightmares I couldn't reach for her. She was always blasted into a million pieces right before I could even touch her. And now she was in my arms. I couldn't believe it! Tears of both sadness and joy came running down my cheeks. I didn't say anything, I just held her close. When I finally let her go, I saw that she had tears in her eyes as well.
'Promise me one thing', she said, 'Promise me that you will live your live for me. As I will always be right beside you'.
'I promise. I love you so much Prim'.
'And I love you so much too, Katniss'.
Minutes flew by. But Finnick was right. I had to move on. I walked away from Prim towards Rue, who was talking to Tresh. Tresh folded his arms and smiled at me. I nodded back. I turned just one last time and I could see everyone in this room looking back at me. The last person I saw, was Prim. As I let out one more tear, I grabbed Rue's hand and we flew upwards.
The next second, I woke up next to Peeta.
