A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks soooo much for the recent reviews and follows and favorites. I want to answer a few questions that were in the reviews.
Q. Are the Everdeens and Hawthornes living in the same house?
A. No, I did not intend for them to be living in the same house. I just believe that both families were closer than the original books showed and I wanted to imply that in my story. I did look over a few of the chapters again and I realize now how some of you got that thought. I apologize for any confusion.
Q. Are Gale and Katniss really cousins.
A. No, they are not cousins. As stated in a previous chapter, President Snow came up with the idea of making them act like cousins because he thought it would ruin Katniss's chances of becoming a sex symbol for the Capitol.
If there are any more questions feel free to ask. Now on to the story!
IMPORTANT**** There will be a slight time jump in this chapter!
Chapter Six
5 Months Later...
It was early morning when the sirens went off and my heart went in to my throat. The mines.
I was up in a flash and out the door when I heard my sister screaming my name from the front porch. "Katniss! What are you doing?"
I turned to see the confused look that was plastered on her face. It was then that I realized that I couldn't hear the sirens anymore and that it was still dark meaning the miners hadn't even woken to go to the mines yet. Was is just a dream? No. I swear I heard it in the house when I woke.
"Come back in, Katniss. There's a special announcement on the television," she says then walks back inside the house.
Breaking News! Breaking News! was written several times across my television screen. I took a seat next to my father and snuggled close to him.
"Hello and good morning, Panem. In breaking news, the victor of the 65th Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, the victor of the 70th Hunger Games, Annie Cresta, and the victor of the 71st Hunger Games, Johanna Mason have been reported missing after their absence was noted at a Capitol party last night. President Snow, worried for their well-being, sent out Peacekeepers to search the mansion that the three victors had been staying in while visiting the Capitol only to find the entire place destroyed. Peacekeepers believed it to be a possible kidnapping and as of right now have no leads as to where the precious victors could be. This is Sunshine Silver, reporting to you from the Capitol Square." The screen went black.
"I wonder where they are," Prim says.
"I don't know," I reply. "I just hope they are okay."
I knocked loudly on Haymitch's door. "Haymitch!" I scream. No reply. "Open the damn door, Haymitch." No reply.
I turned the knob expecting to have to fight to get it open but found it surprisingly unlocked. I stepped through the filth of Haymitch Abernanthy's home. The floor consisted of empty wine and liquor bottles as well as everyday trash, which I guess for Haymitch liquor bottles are everyday trash.
"Oh, hey sweetheart!" he said as I walk into his living room. "Why didn't you knock?" he asks, suddenly angry.
"I did knock!" I reply.
He cackles. "Yeah, I know," he says. "I just didn't feel like getting up. And I like yanking your chain." He pulls on my braid.
"You know, if I didn't do everything I didn't feel like doing, my family and I would be dead," I retort.
"Well that's your problem, sweetheart."
I sigh,"Did you hear about Finnick, Annie, and Johanna?"
"The whole country heard about Finnick, Annie, and Johanna. But only a select few of us know the real truth of where they went. Or at least suspect where they went." He mutters that last sentence.
"What do you mean? They weren't kidnapped?" I ask.
"Kidnapped?" he exclaimed, then burst laughing. "You really think someone in all of Panem could kidnap a victor. Let alone three."
"It wouldn't be that hard to kidnap you," I mutter.
He ignores my comment. "They escaped," he says.
"Escaped?" I whisper.
"To District Thirteen," he replied just as silently.
"District Thirteen does not exist," I say.
"Whatever you say, sweetheart. But I for one know the truth, and the truth is many victors are about to start disappearing. And the Capitol? They're gonna say that it's a kidnapping because that's what they believe and they're gonna say that they are doing everything they can to get their precious victors back, but the truth? The truth is that they don't give a damn. They want the victors to drop off the map because they think that we think that we are invincible, that we can get away with anything. And we can."
After the talk with Haymitch I headed out to the woods. I stop just a foot in front of the fence and make sure it is not on before crawling under the broken link. Gale, John, my dad, and I had caught enough game the day before to last us a week and almost two if we spare it, so I didn't even grab my bow. I had to think. I went to the little concrete house that my father and I found when I was little. It would be warmer in there. I walked in to the little house just as the snow began to fall again. It had been snowing for the past two days and had finally stopped overnight but the break was short lived.
I made a fire in the little fire place and sat beside it. Thoughts were going crazy in my head.
Escape. District Thirteen.
Could what Haymitch said really be true? Did District Thirteen really exist? It had to be. Where else could the other victors gone off to?
We could make it.
Something Gale said a couple years ago runs through my mind. Could we really make it? Is it worth it to drag the kids out into a snow storm if it meant freedom and safety?
Yes. Yes it is.
"What do you mean you want to leave?" Gale yells.
It was two and a half weeks later and Gale, John, my dad, and I were in the meadow. The snow had officially stopped the day after my decision to leave, and had already melted.
"Exactly that," I reply.
"I don't know about this, Katniss," my father says.
"Yeah, honey," John agrees. "It's kind of risky."
I turn back to Gale. "You said we could do it! The morning of Prim's first reaping you said that we could run away!"
"That was before you were a victor, Katniss. We planned it out last year but you said you wanted to wait because Jacob was coming home in a year." He pointed to my father. "That was before your name was called. Now that you're a victor, if you disappear, they will search the entire world for you. They'll find us in an instant. Remember? The Peacekeepers in the Capitol are searching the entire country for those three victors that got kidnapped," Gale says.
I look at my feet. "No they aren't," I whisper.
"What?" my father asks.
"They are not looking for Finnick, Annie, and Johanna. They could care less about the victors," I say. I told them everything that Haymitch told me about the victors.
"And if we left, where would we go?" John asks.
I pause then say, "District Thirteen."
"There's no such thing, Katniss. You know that," Gale says. "I know you don't believe in that place because you had to convince me that it didn't exist."
"Well, I believe in it now," I say. "And I want to go there. If it means safety for all of us, I'm willing to risk it. The question is are you? All of you?"
"I don't know," John says while shaking his head.
"Please think about it. But if we are going to leave we need to leave in less than a week and a half," I say.
"Why?" my father asks.
"I leave for the Victory Tour in a week and a half and we can't leave after that. It will be too late," I answer quietly.
"Too late?" he asks.
I bite my lip. "Yeah. After-after the Victory Tour I will be spending most of my time in the Capitol."
Gale looks at me suspiciously. "What are you hiding?" he asks.
"President Snow, he-he's ma-making me do-" I stutter.
Gale's eyes show suddenly flared, "Appointments!" I slowly nod my head.
"Appointments?" my father asks.
"Yeah," I reply. "During the Victory Tour I will have my first appointment." There's still a confused look on both my father and John's face.
"Appointments," Gale says through gritted teeth. "Are when the victors of the Hunger Games sell their bodies to Capitol men."
"And sometimes women," I whisper.
"Why is he making you do it? Some of the other victors don't. Believe me I would know if they did," my father asks with anger in his voice.
"Yes, some victors don't do appointments. That's because they refused-"
"But-" Gale interrupts but I hold my hand up.
"But have you ever noticed that the people who aren't sex symbols also have no family? That's because they refused. So the Capitol killed their family. If I would have refused," I say turning to Gale again. "You would have been the first to go, then Prim and so on. It's an endless chain either way. Either I sleep with many Capitol men or you all die."