I'm warming up by the fireplace when I hear a knock on the door. It's odd to have a fireplace in the house when it takes up most of the living room, but my mother wanted it and what she wanted, she got. I can't really complain; I love it too.

I open the door to find two Peacekeepers with sad faces and drenched clothes from the rain. "Are you Beca Mitchell?"

"Yes," I say, looking up at the man.

"Are you home alone?"

"No," I lie. "My aunt is in bed." It's the lie my mother told me to always use if Peacekeepers came around. If they knew I was home alone all the time, I might be taken away to live at the Orphanage. I've seen kids at school who live in that place. I don't want to be like them.

"Well, give this to her when she wakes up." The man hands me a paper. "I'm sorry," he says then turns and leaves with the other Peacekeeper. He's sorry? Sorry for what?

I shut the door and return to my spot by the fire before I unfold the paper. I read the first few lines and the paper slips out of hands and into the fire. "No!" I scream, sticking my hand in after it, but it's too far gone. Tears stream down my face, and the cause is a mixture of the burns on my fingers and utter despair. My mother is dead.

My father is dead, now my mother joins him.

When will I?

Chloe is gone. It's the first thought that pops into my head when I awake. She's gone.

I stretch my legs and yawn. I'm short enough to actually lie down in this closet, but I'm too sore. I think I really messed up my back. Standing up proves I messed it up. I open the door to delightfully find Chloe peering out of the window. "I thought you had left," I say quietly, not wanting to scare her. She turns with a smile but it drops as soon as she sees me.

"Are you okay?" She rushes over to me and feels my forehead. "You're covered in sweat!" I swallow to try to calm the butterflies in my stomach.

"Nightmare." Her hand softly wipes away the sweat from my brow.

"Want to talk about it?" I shake my head and she takes a step back with a glossy look in her eyes, which are now trained on the floor. "I have nightmares too. Sometimes. But, we don't have to talk about that." She smiles at me and goes back to the window, leaving enough room on either side of her for me to join. I take the hint and move in next to her on her right. "I'm surprised the room isn't filled with more ash."

"Yeah. The closet was pretty clean too."

"Speaking of the closet," she nods her head back towards it, "we should keep the door closed at all times."

"That's actually a really good idea. I'd rather not breathe in ashes all night long." I go shut the door and return to Chloe's side. She's smiling up at the sky and over at the trees and down at the grass, and I'm just watching her. I'm watching her eyes grow brighter with each blink and her smile get a little wider with each breath. She's taking my breath away with each passing second.

I peel my eyes and body away from her and sit down with my aching back against the wall. I can't let the Capitol know how I feel. It's not because I'm gay or anything like that, it's the fact that they find it entertaining when a Tribute loses something they hold dear, which is usually their ally, and right now Chloe and I are allies. I can't let them take her away.

Most people would say the Gamemakers don't interfere with the Games once they're started, but I think that's bullshit. With enough power to create an entire arena, they could destroy us all with a click of a button.

"I think I know where we are," Chloe says, plopping down next to me, a little too close. Too close for someone like Jesse, but Chloe isn't Jesse.

"We're in an arena constructed by Gamemakers, yes, Chloe, good job," I smirk over at her. She playfully punches my shoulder.

She turns her body so she's facing me. "I mean what the arena actually is, you know. They're not just half-standing buildings. They, in theory, would have a purpose."

"And what's that?" I urge her on.

She leans in close, with her lips almost touching my ear, whispers like these words are for me only, but I know she just doesn't want the Capitol to know what she's saying. "This was a university." Her lips linger for a moment, and I can feel her breath on the side of my face. It sends shivers down my spine, but I don't let her see what she does to me. After a few seconds, she pulls back and I can see the excitement glistening in her eyes.

"A university?" I ask.

"Yeah." She bites her lip trying to gauge my reaction, and I can feel the butterflies take off again in my stomach. "Do you know what that is?"

I laugh nervously, "I've never heard of it."

"Most people haven't, I guess. I read about it in a book once. It's a place people went to in order to further their education."

"Like a trade school?"

"Yes, except instead of learning a new trade, people learned about all sorts of things. Literature, history, biology, mathematics, other sciences, and even music. Lots of things. Man, I'd kill to go to one..." she trailed off with her eyes wide. "I mean..."

"I saw a sign," I interrupt, saving her from stumbling over her words.

"A sign?"

"It had a name on it, but it's caked with dirt and ash. All I could read was 'Barden'."

"Barden." she breathes. Jumping to her feet, she grabs my hand. "Show me."

"Let me grab the bag first." I stand with her assistance and toss Jesse's bag over my shoulder. "Let's go."

"I swear it was right here," I say while pointing at a mound of black ash and dirt. "I swear it was right here."

"I believe you." Chloe looks up at the clouds then back down at me.

"Dude, I have no idea what happened but it was here."

"Dude," she mocks and sets a hand on my shoulder, "I believe you. Besides, you can tell there was something here. The dirt is piled up funny." She kicks one of the piles with her boot. "I'm hungry."

"Me too. We're going to have to hunt for a squirrel or something."

"Not necessarily," she rings out as her hand drops from my shoulder to my hand and tugs lightly. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"The first night in here I found a little pond. Almost fell in it." I laugh and she glares at me.

"You really need to take more care with where you're stepping."

"Shut it, Mitchell," she tries to threaten, but I see her smile as she turns away.

The pond is in the wooded area, which isn't really a surprise, but I wonder just how many people besides us are coming around here.

"Can I have one of the knives? I want to go look around real fast." Look around? Look at what? I hand her the knife from my belt and get out Jesse's from the bag to use for myself. "Thanks," she says, taking it in her hands.

"What do you want to look around for?"

"Animal nests. Why don't you use your knife to try to spear some fish?"

"Fish?" I turn and look at the pond. "In there?" The surface is covered in dead leaves and flakes of ash.

"Yeah. There's gotta be something in there, right?" She glances at it. "We can hope at least." I shrug and get down on my knees in what I guess would be a decent spearing position. I have no idea what I'm doing, "I'll be back in like an hour," she says.

"Be safe."

It feels like I haven't moved when she returns. "Guess what I found!"

I turn around to look at her. She's holding a bag. "Not a squirrel," I smirk.

"Actually, I did find one, but you - You got a fish!"

"I what?" I look to my left and find a dead fish. "What the-"

"I found a camp for us to cook in," Chloe says, interrupting my confusion, but just ends up making me worried.

"Did you..." I turn to look up at her shining face. "Did you kill anyone?"

"Did you hear a cannon?"

"Well, no. But, Chloe-" I want to tell her I had blacked out and my memory of that hour was gone, but I don't get a chance.

"See? I didn't kill anyone. Now, come on. I'm starved!" I can't help but note her weird behavior, but I grab the fish and follow her to the small camp anyways.

And by camp, I mean a spot between some trees where there is evidence of a fire and a make-shift bed.

"You're better at building fires," Chloe speaks softly. I nod my head and dig through Jesse's bag to get the small packet of matches at the bottom. I start building the fire and look up to find Chloe looking around, searching for more supplies probably. I switch back and forth between watching the fire and her until I see her face light up. She trots over to me and falls to her knees, her body in my personal space and almost too close to the fire. "Look!" she chirps, holding out a silver canister. Before I can ask what it was, she opens it to reveal purple goo. She brings it up to her nose and inhales deeply then coughs. "It's medicine, Beca!" It seems like this camp has everything. "Found it over by that tree under some leaves. They were hiding it."

"They might need that more than us though. We should put it back."

"I think they'll be fine with us taking it. If they really needed it, they would have used it already," Chloe says plainly. She gets up and moves out of my view. A minute later, I hear her slicing away at the animals we had caught.

We ate in silence, which was nice and calming, and by the end of it, Chloe was back to normal. I don't know what caused her to act odd, but it doesn't matter now. As we walk back to the safe house with our ears open, she grabs my hand and gives it a small squeeze. I meet her eyes and she smiles weakly. She takes a minute to drop my hand, and we finish our walk in silence.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad we have a closet to sleep in," Chloe laughs and stretches. I have to move my attention elsewhere to avoid staring at her exposed midriff.

I laugh, "Yeah me too."

Chloe plops down on the floor sitting cross-legged with the bag she found on her lap. She opens it and starts taking out the items inside. There is a pack of matches, an empty canteen, and a sleeping bag. "This will come in handy," Chloe says, unraveling it. A half eaten loaf of bread comes rolling out of the mess onto the floor. I pick it up and wipe it off. "Is that what I think it is?" She reaches up for it, but I move it out of her reach.

"For breakfast."

She rolls her eyes with a smile and a slight nod before putting the stuff back in the bag and setting it, along with the bread, in the closet. "Could you put some medicine on my cut for me?"

"Yeah." I take my time opening the medicine. When I look up I see her facial features are soft, with her lips drawn up into a small smile and her eyes shining. I slowly start to rub the purple goop across the cut on her forehead. It didn't look that bad, but Chloe's reaction to the soothing medicine tells me it felt worse than it looked. She closes her eyes and her whole body just seems to relax.

A thought tickles the back of my mind and finds its way to my tongue. "Do you think this stuff works on muscles?" Her eyes flutter open and meet mine.

"It isn't warm or anything, so I think it's just for open wounds. I could give you a massage if you want."

I can feel the heat rise in my cheeks before she even finishes her sentence. "Um, no thanks. I'll be fine." I pull my hand away from her forehead and shove it in my jacket pocket.

"Nonsense," she waves her hand dismissively and grabs my arm, pulling me towards the closet door. She opens it and pulls the sleeping bag out, unzipping it and lying it out flat on the floor. "Is it your back?"

"Yeah."

"Lie down on your stomach." I open my mouth to protest, but she just smiles at me in this way I can't explain. It says I won't hurt you. You can trust me. And I do. I really do. I barely know this girl in front of me, but I somehow feel that I can trust her- with everything. If she wanted to hurt me, she just would have killed me in my sleep last night, right?

I take off my jacket and lie down and, not a second later, Chloe is on top of me, and I stop breathing. Her legs are on either side of me, and I feel her hands start to knead the base of my back. My body is relaxed, but my my mind is racing. All I can think about is her hands and her legs and the way she makes me feel and the butterflies in my stomach and the way her eyes shine just a little bit brighter when she smiles.

She pokes the back of my neck. "What?"

"I asked what it's like back in 6."

"It's okay. Nothing extravagant. Nothing like I imagine 2 to be."

"2 isn't amazing. Sorry Dad, but yeah, 2 isn't that cool. For me at least."

"Sorry Dad?"

"He's very," she sighs," involved in our District. He oversees all the construction involving the military and stuff like that. He saved a group's life one time from a tunnel cave-in and was honored at the mayor's house. That's how I found the book about universities. I became friends with the mayor's son, and I could go visit their library whenever I wanted. It had so many more books than the public library had."

"That's cool. My District doesn't have a public library or anything like that."

"I'm guessing you don't read often then?"

"I read all the time," I reply. "My mom had collected a lot of books. I used to read until I fell asleep."

"Dude!" she giggles. "You are so tense! What's up with that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your muscles are so tight!"

"Yeah, well, that's what happens..." I trail off.

"That's what happens when what?" she asks. I bite my lip and close my eyes. I don't like to talk to people about my life. Actually, I've never really done it before, but I think of her face and her eyes, her sincere eyes, and I am reminded that I can trust Chloe.

"When you grow up alone, forced to support yourself."

"Weren't you lonely?" she questions softly, moving her hands up to massage my shoulders.

"Yeah, but it was just easier than going to the Orphanage."

"Your parents were your only family?"

"Yep. My mom died when I was ten, and I was left alone. I quit going to school at thirteen to pick up more shifts are work. With school out of the way, I could live a little better, breathe a little easier. I never needed to use a tesserae. My mother always told me to never take it. She said eating scraps would be better than losing my life. Work assured me I'd never eat scraps. But, even after all that hard work, look where I am."

Her hands leave my back, and I feel her weight shift. "Hey," she whispers. I turn my head the best I can to look at her. "You'll be okay."

"But if I'll be okay, that means you won't be." She smiles.

"Not necessarily."

"What does that mean?" I ask. She winks and moves back to her old position and continues to massage me. "You're really good at this, you know."

"I know."