Chapter 9
I awoke with a frightening dream. It wasn't exactly frightening though, it almost felt like it was planted inside my brain. Like everything I've been fighting against, this strange dream was telling me to do. As if I had everything backwards this whole time, & was fighting against the current, when I should have floated along instead.
It began with me in my crisp, white wedding dress. I was walking down the aisle, the same aisle I have been dreading & today will be again walking upon. In this dream I had the same feeling I do today. A queasy, apprehensive feeling in the pit of my stomach. Except that in this dream I was blind- everything was black. I stumbled down past the hard, wooden pews banging my legs & knees on each one, desperately trying to find an exit. I tried to call out, but my mouth was dry & hoarse, my tongue like sandpaper, so that I could no longer speak. Now I was hopelessly lost. I had no idea what was up, what was down, & I could feel my sanity quickly slipping. Suddenly I felt hands, many hands on my body, pushing & pulling & tugging me along. And they whispered: Go. Go.
But I knew where they wanted me to go- the very place I didn't want to go. They wanted me to go to my fiancé, to my marriage, to my future. They kept whispering louder, & louder & louder. Finally I gave up. I could not scream. I could not tell them no. All I could do was trust them still blind & terrified. Until suddenly I was no longer scared, because I saw light, & I saw her. There she was at the end of the aisle, Katniss Everdeen. She was wearing her gold, flowing wedding dress. Her hair was braided to the side, & she looked so angelic that I thought she might be an angel, that she had not survived these awful Games. Slowly she raised her bow & arrow, pointing its sharp steadily, & then turned slowly towards Audante. For a moment I was pleased, like someone was finally on my side. But then I was frightened for him, I knew that I didn't want him dead, just not my husband. Her steady hand slid past him though, & landed square instead on his father, Plutarch Heavensbee. He stood tall & unblinking, as though he had prepared for this moment. Her tan, thin arm pulled back generously, guaranteeing a clean, smooth, & quick kill. Then, without a blink, she took one last swipe to the right, & abruptly her perfect, golden arrow was lodged deep within my heart.