I do not own 'The Hunger Games' or anything related.

My survival instinct overwhelmed my fear.

"How the hell should i know? Do I look like her father?"

"It's just that she's gone missing, and as her former mentor we thought that you would know where she might be."

"Well then why didn't you ask her family?"

"We already have."

There was an uneasy silence.

"If you could come with us, please."

"Why?"

"We just want to gather everyone who's close to katniss to help us figure out this mystery."

"Alright, alright, just give me a minute to grab my coat!"

As I did so, and as I walked out of the house (I felt accosted as I was led to Katniss's house), I considered the situation. It seemed that they were rounding up everyone close to Katniss. The only reason they would be doing that would be to take us in for questioning, if Katniss was found to be doing something illegal. So she must be alive! That was a relief. But then was she already arrested? When we got to her house, I found that Peeta was also there. So if we haven't been taken in yet, it means that Katniss wasn't arrested yet, or they haven't heard yet that she had been arrested. But where could she be? According to her mother, she went out for a walk. Hunting! Katniss should know better than to go out in the woods during this current climate! So what could have possibly caused her to go out-

And then I saw it. A box, and out popped a wedding dress. Likely the reminder of her upcoming wedding to Peeta caused her to escape a while to get some fresh air. But where could she be? Could something have happened to her? No. Unlikely. Besides, I had the feeling that whatever it was that was holding her up the peacekeepers had something to do with it. But how could they be doing it if they haven't arrested her yet-

And then it dawned on me. The fence! It didn't occur to me before because the fence never has power 24 7! But how to be sure? How to present the question casually and to confirm my suspicions? I need to be doing something else. I noticed that Peeta seemed the most concerned. I decided I also need to do something to keep his mind off.

"Hey Peeta, why don't we play a game while we wait for Katniss to get back?"

"A game? What kind of game?"

"If I'm right, there's a chessboard on the shelf, isn't there, Pheena?"

Pheena nodded. Taking the chessboard out, I opened it and laid it on the table.

"You ever played before, Peeta?"

He shook his head.

"Me either. So I guess this will be a learning experience for both of us."

After going through the rules, me and Peeta started to play.

"So you two look new," I said to the peacekeepers, "How long have you been here?"

Neither of them answered.

"How are you finding District 12? Bit different from any previous district you might have been, eh? Not much fresh food here. Then there's the fence. There isn't always electricity running, so who knows what kind of flesh eater would threaten us."

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that now. There's power now to the fence all time."

So that was it! They must have put it on while Katniss was in the woods! Mostly likely they decided to turn it on when they knew she was out. I wouldn't be surprised if Snow sent those wedding dresses knowing it would drive her out. So they were just waiting to capture her, and once they they had her, we were doomed. If she managed to evade them, we were doomed. The only way all of us could get out of this was if Katniss somehow managed to get over the fence, but that would take a miracle. I continued to play with Peeta, trying to keep my mind off of my knowing my own doom. I found that I was quite good at chess, as the game involved sacrificing pieces in order to save the most valuable...

The door opened again.

"I'm home!"

Now that took me by surprise! I wasn't actually expecting Katniss to escape, and it seemed the peacekeepers didn't either.

"Here she is, just in time for dinner!" Pheena said brightly, even though I was pretty sure dinner would be very late right now.

"Is there something I can help you with?" She asked the peacekeepers.

"Head Peacekeeper Thread wanted to give you a message," Said the female peacekeeper.

"They've been waiting for hours," Pheena told her daughter.

"Must be an important message."

"May we ask where you've been, Mrs Everdeen?"

As Katniss walked towards the kitchen table, I noticed that she had problems walking. I just hoped that the peacekeepers hadn't noticed.

"It's easier to say where I haven't been!" She said after sitting.

"So where haven't you been?" I asked, making my voice sound as bored and uninterested as possible.

"Well I hadn't seen the goat man about getting Prim's goat pregnant, because somebody gave me the wrong address."

"No I didn't," Said Prim, "I gave you the right address!"

"You told me he lived by the west entrance!"

"No, the east entrance!" Prim 'corrected' her.

And so they bantered over Prim supposedly giving her incorrect information or whether Katniss misunderstood her, with me and Peeta joining in. It made me realise how Peeta's made it this far. Nothing throws him. While the male peacekeeper was smiling, the female was unconvinced.

"What's in the bag?" She asked, probably expecting proof of her being over the fence.

Instead however, there were every day ideas, like bandages and a bag of sweets, which Peeta took some and threw the bag to me. I stuffed a bunch in my mouth, just to keep up the act.

"None of you deserve sweets!" She said to us.

"Why, because we're right?" Peeta asked, hugging her.

Katniss makes a sound that made it clear she was in pain, but hopefully she was able to pass it off as a sound of indignation. Peeta, I could tell, realised the truth.

"Ok, so Prim said west, I head west, and we're all idiots. How about that?"

"Fair enough," Said Peeta.

Katniss turned to look at the female peacekeeper.

"You said Thread had a message for me?"

"Yes. It was to let you know that electricity will be powered to the fence 24 7."

"Wasn't it always?" She asked rather too innocently.

I was worried that this was going to contradict myself making it clear that the fence not being on at all times was common knowledge, but I was glad that the peacekeepers didn't pick up on it.

"He thought you might be interested in passing this information to your cousin."

"I'll pass it along. We'll all sleep soundly knowing that security lapse has been dealt with."

Pushing it a little there, Katniss, I would have warned her. The woman's jaw tightened. I could tell that nothing had gone to plan, but as she had no further orders, they left.

When they had left, Katniss stumbled.

"What's wrong?" Peeta asked.

"I slipped," She told us, which none of us believe, but we couldn't speak out loud considering that the house was bugged.

"On ice," She continued.

But I guess the real reason was that she had managed to get over the fence by climbing a tree or something and then jumping, injuring her leg in the process. Taking off the boot and examining the ankle, Pheena tended to her daughter, getting her to rest her foot and placed ice on it as she was given bowls of stew and a loaf of bread to eat.

"How was school?" She asked her sister.

"Ok. We learnt about coal by-products. Are you going to try your dresses?"

"Not today. Maybe tomorrow."

"Don't put them on unti I come home from school, ok?"

"Sure."

After Peeta took Katniss up to bed and Prim left too, Pheena looked at me, her red face fresh with tears of worry and relief. How to comfort her without the Capitol knowing? Walking towards her, I held her in my arms as she muffled her cries in my chest, and I didn't let go and go home until she asked me to.

Now where was I? Oh yes! Mel was telling me about the impact Maysilee's death had on him, and there was a question I was really curious about.

"Maysilee's token. The Mockingjay pin. It belonged to your mother, didn't it?"

Mel looked shocked that I knew this.

"I just remember seeing her at your father's funeral, and her giving something that looked like it was gold. It was the pin, wasn't it?"

Mel nodded.

"Seems like an odd thing for someone living in the seam to have."

"Well she didn't put it on for everyone to see, if that's what you're thinking. It was more of a personal thing."

"How?"

"It belonged to my father."

"That really doesn't make it any less confusing."

"Ah, see, I had often head this story. About how my father won my mother's heart. Do you want to hear it?"

I nodded. Not because I had an interest in romance or stuff like that, I was just curious how someone from the Seam had something made of gold on him.

"See, my mother when she was young, had a lot of admirers. It helped that she had an enchanting singing voice too. Boys would do things like boast about themselves or make a big deal about how masculine they were. They would also offer her gifts, although for Seam kids these tended to just be flowers, and not flowers from the flower shops but wild flowers picked from the Meadow. She also caught the eye of Merchant boys, and their gifts tended to be more extravagant: cakes, chocolates, jewellery, birds, livestock, shoes, and actual bouquet of flowers from the flower shop. But my father shook his head at all these attempts to win her heart, and had an idea what to give her for a gift, so he went to the goldsmith requesting to make something for him. But the goldsmith didn't see how a seam rat was supposed to pay for a gold brooch, so he offered to do any task for him, no matter what it was, for a specified period of time as payment for the brooch. So the goldsmith took him up on his offer making him do every kind of menial task he could think, no matter how degrading. The goldsmith expected him to give up, but when he didn't, touched by his dedication, decided to teach him how to make a gold brooch instead. He was surprised at what he wanted it to be shaped like, as the bird wasn't exactly popular. So after all his hard work my father presented his gift to my mother. Everyone else couldn't believe what he had done, as Mockingjays were associated with hangings, and thought he had messed up. But he had noticed how much she liked Mockingjays, and so wanted to have something gold in the shape of her favourite animal. She was taken aback at how this boy she had barely noticed amongst the others knew more about her than any other of her suitors, and that's how she fell in love with him. Also, it was hard to turn down such a gift after he had spent months cleaning a toilet just to get it made!"

"Did he really have to do that? Clean the toilet, I mean?"

"Among other things."

Haymitch could not believe, if the story was true, the lengths his father went to prove his love for his mother. Then again, he couldn't think of any other way a seam kid could have acquired a gold brooch. Unless he stole it, but then was the fact that he was right. The Mockingjay wasn't exactly a popular bird, not one someone would make in gold anyway!

"So why did she get rid of it?"

"She didn't want any reminder of the lengths my father would go for his family."

That I understood, as I thought of the sickly man who was being killed by his profession, but continued to do so as there was no other way to support his family.

"Mind you, Maysilee's mother insisted on paying for it, and wouldn't accept it for free, considering how much you could earn for a gold brooch. That kept us going for a while."

For a moment, there was silence.

"How do you feel about it? Her giving away the brooch, I mean?"

"To be honest," He shrugged, "I didn't have strong feelings either way about it."

"Still so, to see your mother's brooch that your father had made for her being on someone else..."

"Like I said, I didn't have any strong feelings about it. Anyway I was glad that if anyone had it, it was Maysilee."

I could tell at that moment Mel was threatening to cry.

"She was an amazing person," He choked.

"Yes she was," I agreed, "Smart, and resourceful, and - and..."

I felt a lump in my throat as my tears started to swell. I was glad that Mel didn't mention it.

"Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

I nodded. Then I shook my head, and then I started to spill everything about what I wanted to talk about, how even though I escaped from the arena sometimes it felt like I was still there, even more so in the woods! How I returned there every night in my nightmares, how during the first night my family tried to come to my aid and how I had hit my brother. I hit my brother. About all the things that send me back to the arena, how I now locked myself in my bedroom, with my knife at hand, how I was so afraid of hurting Rachelle that I didn't want her near me as I slept, how my family know I'm not ok and that I can't tell them how I'm not ok!

After saying all of this, I noticed the look on Mel's face, and I knew what he was thinking. And he made me furious over what he was about to say.

"Mitch, I'm-"

"Mel, if you dare apologize for not volunteering in my place I will punch you!"

"But if I had done that, you wouldn't be suffering like you are right now-"

"But you would!" I stood up, "You'd be the one afraid of death every moment, forced to murder other kids just to survive, be helpless as you watch your friends die in your arms, YOU'D BE THE ONE SELLING YOUR BODY AFTERWARDS!"

"What?"

I sat back down.

"They're gonna sell my body, Mel. You know all those partners you see victors with? They aren't partners. They're their owners!"

I started to tear up, at the thought of my own body being sold, at the mercy of whoever it was that owned me that night, and if I didn't let them do whatever to me my loved ones would die.

"Besides, you're a hunter-gatherer. You wouldn't have survived in an arena where all the animals and plants were deadly."

"Probably."

Probably. It still irked me even now that he thought he'd have a chance in the games. I did my best to fight my anger down.

"Have you told anyone else this?"

I shook my head.

"You're the first."

"Then I really think you should tell what you told me to your family."

"Why do you think I'm telling you?" I asked angrily.

Mel looked shocked. It took my brain a moment to process what I just said. Going red, I looked away, at anything, before focusing on my pole. Eventually, Mel asked "You think of my as family?"

"You can be so thick sometimes, you know that, Mel?" I stood up again, trying to hide my outburst of emotion as if it was nothing, "Just like when you asked us as if we were friends, of course we are! And of course I think of you as family!"

Honestly, that was probably one of the most embarrassing moments in my life, as I just looked at Mel, waiting for his response as I tried not to get even redder. Mel chuckled.

"You know, I've always thought of you as the brother I never had."

Ugh! How could he be so open with his emotions like that? I mean I know I expressed my emotions earlier, but that was by accident!

"What about Breese?" I asked.

"Breese is my friend, but I don't think of him as my brother."

"But why me?"

"Well, because I care about you even if you do piss me off at times. That's how I know your family. It's this crazy idea people have."

"Sure sounds crazy."

"Mitch, I am glad you told me, but I still think you need to tell the rest of your family."

"I can't, you know I can't! I'm the man of the house! I'm the eldest male, I can't show weakness, let alone to my little brother-"

"Mitch, you're my best friend, you're like my brother, and I love you, so please don't get mad when I say this. Cut the macho crap. Keep it up for everyone else, but not for your family. Chances are they're not convinced, and you're not doing yourself any favours by appearing tough."

It always amazed me that Mel could say things like this, when for most adolescent boys appearing manly was everything. Then again, it was probably easy for someone who regularly does more manly things then any other guy in District 12, and I told him so.

"Guess it makes up for singing like a girl."

"You're never going to let that go, are you?"

"Nope."

I suddenly started laughing. It was one of the few times I remember laughing since the games.

After that, we just talked about regular things while we caught the fish. When the bags were full we headed back, going through the hole in the fence and reaching the point in the seam where we parted ways.

"Hey Mitch."

I turned to look at him.

"If you ever want to talk, I'm here to listen."

I nodded.

"I'll let you know the next time I want to join you on one of your walks."

We made out gesture.

"See ya."

"See ya."

And he walked away.

"Mel!" I managed to say.

My best friend turned to look at me.

"Thanks. For listening."

He smiled and nodded.

"Any time."

I watched him walk away, and then he was gone.