Sorry I took a long time…again. But I swear, this time it wasn't my fault my power has been out since Saturday night:0 stupid snow!

Chapter 15

Kenyan's mouth holds its slacked position. The creature moves toward him. It half crawls-half walks. It reaches him. For a long time it just sits there in a crouched position, watching his every move. Finally it leaps at him. I am surprised, however, to see that it was not attacking him, but hugging him. They hug for a long time until Kenyan calls out to us, "Everybody, this is my cousin, Maple. She's Johanna's daughter."

I hesitantly say, "My name's Nick, nice to meet you."

Maple and Kenyan seem very pleased in the family reunion. "Where have you been, I've missed you so much!" Kenyan exclaims.

She looks down sadly, "They took me the night you pulled your little stunt. I mean, I guess I can't expect you to notice me gone since they took Jess too."

Kenyan looks sad. Sad and guilty, "Maple, I'm sorry, I should have, I just didn't,"

She stops him, "No it's totally fine, I mean I'm alive and that's all that matters."

"So after they took you, what did they do?"

She laughs morbidly, "Isn't it obvious," she strokes the left side of her scarred face, "They tortured me. They wanted to know what your motives were and if you were planning a rebellion. They poured acid on my face."

"Maple, I'm so sorry."

"No really, it's fine, I think it makes me look kind of fierce."

"I don't mean to sound rude, but what about Jess?"

Maple sighs and rolls her eyes, "Of course. They didn't torture her. They made her watch me, you know, the whole one's pain makes the other talk thing," Kenyan nods for her to continue, "After she told them what they needed, they took her back to the Capitol. I was able to hide in a crate and they couldn't find me. I've been in here ever since."

I can hear Lily's voice; I can't decide if it's disgusted or awed, "How did you stay alive?"

Maple hits a crate open and fruit pours out, "They're full of food."

Kenyan is talking to himself; he almost appears to be counting.

Maple puts a hand on his shoulder, "You all right?"

His eyes look up from his deep concentration, "So she's alive then?"

"Yes, last I saw her. Alive and unharmed."

Kenyan quite literally yells with joy. We all laugh at his reaction. Prim speaks out, "So Maple, we're going to go get her, are you going to come or stay here?"

Maple thinks it over carefully, "I really could stand to get out, so yeah, I'll come."

Kenyan smiles and hugs her again, "Thank you so much Maple."

She shrugs, "I know how much she means to you."

Lilac is the skeptical, "Um, how exactly are you going to come with us? I mean you can't just tag along, they'll know that they didn't capture you with us and I'm afraid that if you really have been hiding out here for so long they'll no longer…need you."

Maple seems unfazed by what Lilac is saying, "I'm not going to let them know I'm coming," she rolls her eyes like it was the most obvious thing ever, "I'll follow behind you guys without them knowing and help you out when the time comes."

We all nod, she'll basically do the same as Thereasa and Sanders. To me, it seems as if it could work.

We wait a long time. I know that we've gone all the way to District 12 and are now on our way back to the Capitol. The train finally stops. Guards come in and grab us all. They put bags over our heads again but not before I could see Maple sneak out of the open cell.

Everything is dark. My feet unwillingly walk wherever the guard leads me. I feel the sun, now coldness, the sun again. They're leading us through a series of buildings. Now they lead us down stairs. The stairs seem never ending, down, down, down. Finally, we are on level ground. I am pushed to the floor and the bag is lifted from my head.

I am in another prison cell but this time we are underground. It is very wet down here. Water drips from the ceiling and the only light there is, is dim and keeps flickering. I know that if it does decide to go out, we would be in complete darkness.

Two guards watch our cells for about twenty minutes. They start talking to one another. "George, this is really boring."

"I know, but you know it's your entire fault."

"How's it my fault?"

"Well, you lost that one girl a couple months ago and since, they've always given us guard duty because we can't be trusted with anything else." I smile a little, the girl they speak of I have no doubt is Maple.

"No way, that was your fault, you were clearly in charge of her."

"Frank, you always do this!"

"Do what?"

"Blame others for your problems," the man puts his arm tenderly on the others shoulder.

He starts blubbering, "I know."

"Would some lunch make you feel better?"

He nods, "Yeah, yeah I think it would."

They walk upstairs together to go get their lunch. I stand in silence, "Did anybody else just see that?"

I hear some laughter, "Yeah that was…. I don't know what to say," We all laugh.

"So who's all here? Everyone safe and sound?" it was Lilac's voice.

"Prim's here!" Prim says.

"Lily."

"Nick," I say, it feels weird to say my own name.

"Kenyan,"

"Kenyan?"

We all grow quiet. It's a while before more is said. Kenyan comes to the edge of the cell and squints through the dim light. On the opposite side of this dungeon like room, a girl appears much like Kenyan did in his cell. Although she looks filthy and malnourished, she is still very beautiful. She has long brown hair. I can tell that if it wasn't so knotted, it would have some wave in it. She has soft cheeks and emerald green eyes. Her chapped lips pull back into a smile, "Kenyan?"

I look at Kenyan, his eyes soften. He no longer looks on the verge of tears. His blue eyes now glimmer and glisten much like they did the day he told us of this girl, "Jess? Is it you?"

She bites her lip and nods. Soon her tears are flowing, "Yes, it's me."

Kenyan breaks down. He falls to the floor and actually starts crying, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen to you, I tried to quit, but then they took you and…"

"Kenyan, they told me what you did. How you refused. I feel bad because I know you did it for me. So how's Maple, did she make it back? She said she was going to try to get back."

"We found her on the train."

Maple comes out from the shadows and shows herself. Maple and Jess hug each other. Footsteps echo down the stairway, the guards are coming back. Maple goes back into the shadows.

I am surprised to see that there are more than two guards. They each go to a cell, put a bag over our heads, and tie our hands together. We are led back up the stairs and pushed to the ground. The bags are taken off of our heads. We are on our knees in front of a man. He sits in a tall chair as if it were a throne. He is short, fat, and bald. He has a purple suit on.

"President, sir, we found the runaways. What do you wish for us to do with them?"

I look to my left and my right. I see that Jess is up here with us. I look up at the president. We waves a finger dismissively, "Let them go home."

"But sir, they've broken the law."

"I don't really see a need to keep them around though so let them go home, return them to their original lives."

All of us, including most of the guards stand there in shock. Why is it so…easy?

One last guard drags in a struggling Maple, "I found her sneaking around, what should we do with her?"

"I don't really see a need to keep her around," the fat man said. "So let her go home," is what I thought he was going to say, but that is not what he said. His words still ring in my ears and the sight still plays over and over in my mind, "So kill her," and a gunshot as Maple falls to the floor.

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