I position myself outside of Marvel's door at the Justice building, waiting for Peacekeepers to let me in to see him. A man with dark hair and sickly yellow eyes comes and takes me by the arm. He opens Marvel's door and says, "You have three minutes!"
Marvel sits up and walks toward me. I run to him. He wraps his arms protectively around me.
"Try to win," I whisper in his ear.
"I will," he whispers back.
We stand there, hugging and kissing. All I want is to feel his touch, never let him go.
"Take care of my mother and father if I don't come back." His eyes show a trace of tears that would come if something happened to his parents.
"But you will, won't you?" I clutch his hands in mine.
"I will try, but 23 of them will be dead." He wipes a tear from my face.
I take a shaky breath. I take off my gold chain with a heart with a T for Twilight in the middle and hold it out to Marvel. "It was my mother's. They said you could where something from your district. Will you where it? For me?"
He holds out his hand and takes the chain. "Of course." He kisses my nose and puts the chain around his neck. He tucks it under his shirt.
I kiss him lightly on the mouth and he kisses back.
"Alright! Let's go." The Peacekeeper yells.
I look at him and look back at Marvel. "I love you. Please, win!"
The Peacekeeper pulls me out before I could say anything else. I thrash at his grasp.
"What?" he growls.
"I didn't get to say goodbye!" I almost shriek.
The Peacekeeper looks irritated.
"Please! Let me say goodbye to him! It will only take a second. Please! I love him!"
"Too bad! Get going." He pushes me out of the door and I fall on my knees. I cover my head in my hands and I start to weep. Not saying goodbye to someone before they get shipped off to the Hunger Games to fight for their death does that to you. Twenty three other teenagers want Marvel dead. Even when he joins the Careers, they will have to kill him sometime, wouldn't they? Maybe Marvel will get away. Maybe he will kill them before they can get him.
I know Marvel won't have any trouble fighting whatever arena they throw him in; we've spent months working on that together. How to find water, how to make a fire without anyone noticing, how to find shelter, and how to hunt food. I think he's ready too, with all the training we had. But again, you never know who he is fighting against. You never know until you are there.