A/N- Finally the school holidays are here, which means more writing time for meee! Yay.

Right, so I thought it was about time to reveal Ethan's background a bit, so now is the time.

I do not own The Hunger Games, got it?

I sat alone for breakfast. Monroe had left me a note explaining is absence and Ethan hadn't even turned up. So I'm left, with just food to keep me company - and lots of it too. Without Monroe to guzzle down all the coffee or Ethan to eat all the croissants, I'm left with an unbelievable amount of unwanted cuisine. I don't feel like eating myself, so I sit there, slowly sipping at a mug of hot, rich coffee. It warms my empty stomach, but fails to relax my mind.

I was up most of the night, lying awake and listening to the silence outside. It would have been peaceful, if I wasn't thinking about everything. Every little worry, every niggling feeling, entered my thoughts last night. For no reason, really. They just floated by, grabbing my attention and laughing when I couldn't block them out.

But, I must have gotten some sleep, however, not much. Maybe just a few minutes here and there; not enough though. Hence the coffee. I'm drinking it now by the gallon, forcing myself to wake up a little and face the day. I woke up late, wanting to stay in bed all day; but I knew I had to get up. I need to find Ethan.

I need to speak to him and explain, before I lose him as well.

The sun's bright today and it's light beams in my eyes, making me squint just to see where I'm going. The brightness took me by surprise, but I suppose I have been sitting in darkness for hours on end. I'm just not used to it yet.

The heat from the blazing sun is also hot. Very hot. Humid and sticky on my skin as I walk away from the apartment.

The dry, concrete path rubs against my shoes, causing aches in my feet and the material digs into my heels. How people walk in these shoes every day without complaining is amazing. I only have to walk down a few yards before I'm practically limping to avoid the pain from them. Luckily, there's not many people in this area to witness my failed attempts at 'fitting in'.

Ignoring the throbbing in my feet, I continue to march down the roads, my head held high and my eyes peeled for any signs of Ethan. The heat is almost unbearable as the sun rises high for midday and trickles of sweat run down the back of my neck. I quickly tie my hair up in a bun to cool myself off a little, but it doesn't benefit me much. I'm beginning to feel the after effects of a bad night's sleep when I spot something.

The woman's house we took the notebook from.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I see the house. I'm no longer lost in the never ending rows of identical buildings... I've found a landmark! My pace quickens as I edge nearer to the wall that separates the garden from the city outside. When I reach the wall, I suddenly remember the notebook. It turns out that it wasn't blank at all. It was full of secrets. Big secrets.

It was late last night when I discovered the hidden writing within the pages. When I had lay awake, the notebook was open on the windowsill. I remember walking up to the window and pulling back the curtains, just staring out into the still night. It was after a while that I noticed the pages of the notebook were filled. I walked over to the book and held it up to the light of the moon and saw that someone had written inside.

It was hard to read in the limited light from the moon, so I had turned my lamp on to see better. However, when I placed it under the light, the writing had disappeared. Maybe not disappeared, but just invisible. It occurred to me that the writing was only visible under the light from the moon, making it only readable at night. When it was most likely to be forgotten about. Whoever wrote in it obviously wanted to keep it a secret from prying eyes. Little did they know that someone like me would discover their secret. Hmm, more discover like other people's secrets.

It turned out that the notebook was none other than a collection of secrets. From hidden affairs, to horrible truths. It was like a bitch book! Although I knew I shouldn't have, I still sat reading through all the secrets and lies that were revealed in the crisp pages. I didn't know most of the people mentioned, but a few names rung a bell in my head. Names of some of the Avox's I'd seen, including Clara. But the name that stuck most in my head was President Snow.

The secrets written about him were...were.. were horrific. But in a way, I always knew there was something deeper than his malicious comments, controlling mind and the smell of roses and blood in his breath. This just proves my theories. He is a wicked man.

I should be scared for myself, seeing that I only escaped his clutches because Monroe is my father. I should be scared at what might have happened to me if I carried on living there. What might have happened if I showed no fear towards him. But, I'm not scared for myself. I'm scared for Peeta and.. sort of scared for Katniss too.

Their stunt with the berries won't have made Snow particularly happy and he seems the sort of person to take these things personally. He could do anything in revenge, to show them who they're dealing with; and he would. Without a doubt, he would do something. Maybe not straight away, but sometime. Just like he does to everyone that crosses him.

I need to warn Peeta. I need to save him. But I need to find Ethan first.

I run down the road we ran down, searching for the alleyway. The sun still directly above me, beating down on my bare skin and making this harder than ever before. I'm parched; all the moisture evaporated from my mouth in the sweltering heat. Nevertheless, I run on and on, determined to find Ethan before sunset.

At last, I reach the alleyway where we first kissed and anxiously turn to walk down it. Fortunately, it's in the shade down here, instantly cooling my overheated body. As of the shade, the alleyway is quite dark, but light enough to see where I'm walking. I walk along the side, step by step, heart beat by heart beat.

As I walk past the point where me and Ethan kissed, my stomach flips and my legs quiver slightly. I can't carry on for the moment, so I lean back against the wall; my head spinning. The world seems blurred around me and for a minute, I'm back here with Ethan. We're both exhausted from running, our faces flushed not only with the heat from the sun, but also from the heat between us both. I can feel him against me, holding me by the waist, letting me into his world. We're once again standing in the alleyway, in an unbreakable connection. It feels...

I open my eyes and realise that I'm alone in the alleyway. Ethan isn't holding me, isn't kissing me. I'm alone and without him. I feel a pang of disappointment when I understand that I was just having a flashback. A wonderful flashback all the same.

I take in a few gulps of hot, clammy air and walk on. I leave behind the memory and concentrate on where I'm going next. At the moment, the alleyway seems to end a few metres away, but I still walk anyway. I can see the wall, blocking any exit, but I still walk. I walk up to the wall and pause.

It's not just a wall I'm standing before. There's also a door. An unlocked door.

The hinges squeak as the door swings open. I can tell that the door hasn't been used in a while, as the hinges are rusted and the paint on the wood has almost rotted away. But curiosity takes over again and I close the door behind me, heading further into the unknown. And the unknown seems to be the edge.

A space of dried grass and overshadowing trees is the edge of the Capitol. The area beyond is blocked with a towering wall, that casts a shadow over half the space. Just as I'm about to turn back and continue my hunt, I spot a small wooden building between some of the trees. As I move closer, I can see that it's a shed. And sitting in front of it, is Ethan.

I practically stumble across the grass towards him and when I get nearer, he hears my footsteps and turns his head around.

"Zinny? What are you doing here?" Ethan asks, stunned to see me, clearly.

"Gee, thanks. Not quite the welcome I was expecting" I say, walking across to him.

"I didn't mean it like that" He shrugs, "I was just shocked to see you here"

"I was shocked to see you here!" I exclaim.

"Is it that weird to see someone outside their house?" He asks.

I look to the shed, with it's dusty windows and hole filled roof. "You live here?"

"Hard to believe, but yeah" He says, "Welcome to mi casa"

I reach him and sit down on the grass.

"Why do you live in a shed? Don't you live with your parents... or friends?" I question.

"My parents hate me and I have no friends... not anymore" He replies, looking to the ground.

"Really? Why?" I ask.

"Just something that happened when I was sixteen..." He trails off.

"What happened?"

"Doesn't matter"

"Yes it does. Tell me"

"You'll be bored"

"No, just tell me"

"Fine" He caves in to my persistence. Then takes a deep breath and begins.

"Well, I was sixteen and I met this group of people, around my age and older... And they seemed really cool and different to everyone else. They weren't all posh and rich, which was exactly what I was. So, we started hanging out and they taught me how to be like them... then one day they told me that they weren't from the Capitol"

"So they were from one of the Districts?" I ask.

"Yeah, and they said they had run away to achieve a better life, somewhere else. They spoke of another district they were heading to, but they needed access to the trains. But, they weren't allowed on, so I helped them smuggle onto one of the carts... I was going with them, until my parents found out and stopped me..."

"And they left without you?"

"Yeah, I never saw them again"

"What about your parents?"

"I started to rebel and got myself into trouble all the time. My parents couldn't deal with it anymore, so they kicked me out and disowned me, I guess. At the time I was glad to be rid of them; I thought I could get a place of my own... but this shed was the best I could get, as of my record. So yeah... I had a pretty rough time. My life was pretty shit, until I met Monroe and started working for him. It wasn't a proper job; mainly just doing dodgy stuff. But, I liked it, I guess.. especially when you turned up"

Ethan grinned at me and I smiled back, blushing slightly.

"Ethan" I begin. "I'm sorry about last night"

"No, I completely understand. I was just happy that I'd finally found someone that liked me for who I am, that I went too far" He says, looking at me with his soft, hazel eyes.

"I'm not a fan of false personalities. If I like someone, it's because of who they are" I say.

"Same here" He agrees.

"I guess we have two things in common then" I smile.

"Two things?" He queries, a confused expression on his face.

"We both hate fake personalities and..." I grin at him, "We both have complicated lives"

"I have to agree with that" He says, before adding, "To shit lives!"

"To shit lives" I join in, clinking our invisible champagne glasses together in a toast.

We both laugh and lie back in the grass. The blades poke through my toes as I kick off my shoes and rest my feet on the ground. I lean my head on Ethan's shoulder and I feel a smile form on his face. We both lie there, staring up into the cloudless sky and breathe as the minutes pass by.

A/N- Aww, I liked writing the ending, I thought it was quite cute really :D

Anyways, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave a REVIEW, because I need to know if you like it or not!

Thanks, FireflyLlama x