I wake up and my head feels like it weighs a ton. My throat feels dry and I immediately wonder how long I have been out. I pick up my body to see I am lying on a stiff bed. I turn my head, looking around the small room. The room is cold and mostly empty. I wonder how long I've been asleep on this stiff bed. It takes a while for me to realize what I'm doing in this room and why my heart hurts so much.
I look down and I see I am wearing a new set of clothing, they're clean; I haven't worn clean clothes in so long. I stand up and walk towards a floor length mirror that was standing up in the room. The clothes that I am wearing are just a simple gray button down shirt and long black pants. The first thing I notice is how there is no cloth around my body. I lift up my shirt instantly and see nothing but a little scar. They fixed me, they closed up the gaping hole and all that is left is a tiny red line. I place my hand over the red line, I expect it to hurt, but it doesn't. It feels like nothing ever happened to me, it's amazing what the capitol can do.
The door cracks open and my heart jumps I turn my head quickly and instead of a tribute coming after me like I expect, it's my mother. She looks surprised to see me up from the bed, but she also looks relieved.
"Hailey, you're up." I don't say anything back to her I just glance at her. Mom comes into the room closing the door. "President Crowe said you should be waking up soon…" President Crowe, the man that walked off the hovercraft I guess. She just stands close to me searching around my eyes for a motion. "If you were wondering, it's been three days since…you're last day in the arena." I was wondering, but I have no energy to ask her about it. Three days, I've been out for three days.
"How are you Hailey?" The question angers me. How am I? What a stupid question, obviously I am not okay. Mom looks at me like she honestly thought I would answer back. But I don't I just look away and stare at myself in the mirror. Mom sits down on the bed behind me and sighs.
"Listen Hailey, you may not realize, but I know what you're going through right now. So if you want to talk about it, you know you can talk to me." This makes me even angrier. Maybe mom has seen many people die, and maybe people have died at her hand, but she doesn't know the first thing I'm going through. Mom got out of the games with the person she loved, and mine… mine is dead.
I am still not looking at mom and I wish she would let me be alone, I don't want to talk about anything let alone what I'm feeling. I think mom understands I won't say anything because she stands up from the bed and heads towards the door.
"We are about to have lunch, do you want to come?" I don't really have an appetite so I shake my head no and look at mom. Her eyes are full of worry and I don't mean to make her worried, but it's just how I feel right now. She doesn't take my head shake as a no.
"Hailey, you've been out for three days, you really should eat." She looks back at me.
"I'm not hungry mom!" This is the first time I am talking. I don't mean to raise my voice but I just want her to leave and I want to try to deal with this myself. She doesn't seem hurt she probably suspected I would react this way. She just nods her head.
"You should take a shower. Your father and I will come back later." She walks out of the room and just as I wished I am by myself, and it feels terrible.
I decide to take a shower like mom said because it feels like my hair hasn't been washed in forever. I make the water really hot in the shower and for a long time I just sit at the bottom of the shower letting the burning water touch my face. I feel like it wakes me up a bit, but I feel like I am still asleep.
When I get out of the shower I put on the same clothes mainly because I don't think there are anymore. I sit on the floor in front of the mirror crossed legged, braiding my hair. It's easy to braid when it's wet like this so I have an easy time making a slick braid.
When I am finished doing that I realize that I have nothing to do. I try to sleep but every time I close my eyes I see someone. Nick of course, but even Jace, Keanan, Kyler find their way into my head. A few times I even see the boy from District 5 and the girl from District 1, the two people I killed. Since sleeping doesn't go well I stand up again. I have no clue what to do.
I look up to the door, maybe if I went for a walk I would be tired enough to not dream. It was a stupid theory, but since I was desperate I got up and walked to the door turning the knob slowly. I walk out of the door looking around to make sure no one can see me sneaking out. When I look around, it looks like some sort of hospital. Everything is gray and shiny. I start walking to my right and pass more doors and windows, and I don't know why I keep walking. The hard tiled floor is cold on my bare feet.
When I come to the end of the hallway there is a door. I don't know what makes me reach my hand and open it. I guess I am just seeking trouble. Through the door is a long narrow hallway that leads down to a clear door. Again not thinking I open the glass door filled with curiosity. When I get through there is a big window that shows a room that looks a lot like a hospital setting, more than the hallway outside of my room. I get closer to the window.
I press my head on to the window to see two people standing up. One is very tall and when I get a look of his scary face I know who it is. President Crowe. The sight of him makes me cringe, so I look at the other woman that is there. She is standing over the hospital looking bed next to a big machine. They don't notice me so I keep looking. When I look down at the hospital bed the sight I see makes my heart race and sink at the same time.
In the bed sits a boy. His eyes are jerking around fast and he looks confused. In the bed is Nick. And he is alive.