Burn with Us

"Within seconds, a low-flying V-shaped formation of Capitol hoverplanes appear above us, and the bombs begin to fall."

Snow orders his pitiful guards to install a television in front of each of our jail cells. That way, he says, we will be alert and always informed on the current events of the rebellion. His intentions are clear; Katniss is evidently the leader of the rebellion, and for now, his sadistic method of torturing is forcibly making me watch her live from afar. He was right, of course. The more I see Katniss, the more the pit in my stomach grows.

A few quiet days pass, each as boring as the last, filled with endless card stacking and pondering.

In the middle of the afternoon, suddenly, all four televisions are suddenly turned on, and the screen shows a bird's eye view of a dirty street with run down stores on either sides of the road engulfed in flames. As bombs drop from the sky, the civilians emit well over audible screams. Piles of miscellaneous scrap hold down civilians as others struggle to free them. The camera zooms on Katniss.

Katniss.

Another camera, held by a woman I can't seem to recognize, films her. I can't make out her words, but judging by her actions, I can tell she's recording a video in response to my propaganda from early on.

Her face flushes with redness, her body is sweaty, dirt streaks her cheeks, and her eyes glow with rage. She points to the struggling citizens around her and the sky crowded with Capitol planes. She's furious, and I can't help but think, it was my fault.

The red flashing LIVE signal in the bottom right hand corner turns off as the screen changes to show Claudius Templesmith and Caesar Flickerman sitting a desk.

"Well, that was certainly a riot." Caesar chuckles. "Katniss, the girl on fire, definitely spread her flames today!"

"How about we watch that again? I'm sure everyone would love to hear what she really said," Claudius remarks.

"What an excellent idea!" Caesar replies.

The screen switches to a close up of Katniss.

"Yes. I want to tell the rebels that I am alive. That I'm right here in District Eight, where the Capitol has just bombed a hospital full of unarmed men, women, and children. There will be no survivors. I want to tell people that if you think for one second the Capitol will treat us fairly if there's a cease-fire, you're deluding yourself. Because you known who they are and what they do. This is what they do! And we must fight back."

I wonder if Katniss knew if the interview was a scam, like many others in the past. I can't shake the feeling that this, Katniss' actions, were a result of the words I spoke. She wouldn't have blamed me though. She never has.

"President Snow says he's sending us a message? Well, I have one for him. You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that?"

She points to a plane bombing a wooden warehouse. Through the flames, the seal of the Capitol is plain.

"Fire is catching!" she shouts. "And if we burn, you burn with us!"

The screen flickers back to Caesar and Claudius.

"She's certainly determined for this rebellion to work," Claudius says. "Little does she know how much power the Capitol truly stores. To be honest, I feel a little bad for making her through go all of this."

I grit my teeth in anger. A little bad? Even after watching twenty-three children die every year, another one condemned to certain lifetime psychological horrors, and a rebellion where even more are killed only made him feel the slightest of empathy, and even then only for Katniss' misfortune?

"This girl certainly has spirit, I got to give her that. I've never seen a victor with so much spunk before!"

Claudius laughs. "There was Johanna Mason, of course, but I suppose she was more frightening than Katniss."

From the cell over, I can hear Johanna's fingernails claw the wall in anger.

"All of our victors were special in their own way, but I mean, there was always something about Katniss," Caesar continues. "As if getting involved into a rather public romance wasn't enough!"

I clench my fists in both disgust and fury. Even with a budding war raging on, the highlight of the day was still the romance between Katniss and I.

"I can't wait to see how this plays out; her and her little pack of rebels against us. She knows what how it'll end up, but she still persists. The effort counts, I suppose."

A war was still a game for them, after all. It didn't matter that the lives of both the civilians of the districts and the citizens of the Capitol were at stake; but then again, they never cared much for anyone.

Caesar flashes his unnaturally white teeth at the camera. "That's all for today, then. See you tomorrow!"

The television is automatically turned off, and I am left to delve with my own thoughts in a rage of both anger and indignation.