This took a while to get up, sorry guys. I want to get straight on with the story so I shall reply to Reviews later today or tomorrow through Private Messaging. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I would love it if you reviewed too, give me something to read over than revision notes :)
I remember Prim leaning across to hug Effie when she began to cry harder. I remember Finnick almost pushing me to the floor to check if she was okay. Usually, I would have minded that I came so close to from the bed and potentially injuring myself again, but I can't help but remember Haymitch telling me that Finnick and Prim were two of the four people she trusted in thirteen. And I can't be anything but grateful that both Finnick and Prim care about her.
It is the day after Effie broke down, and she hasn't left my room. Last night she was ready to leave but I made her stay with us. I tell her to remain in my room once again when she wakes from a fitful sleep, before leaving it myself and going for a nap in a supply closet. I promised Effie I would take her to lunch, and even though we both know she won't touch a thing she agreed to go down with me. So I go back to my room after awakening from my nap and open the door quietly, so I don't make Effie jump. I see her sat upright simply staring into the distance.
"Effie" I say quietly, getting nothing from the woman. I walk forwards slowly and place my hand on her shoulder; she immediately leaps of the bed. I stumble backwards at the shock of her sudden movement, and I have to compose myself quickly as Effie begins to rock backwards and forwards unsteadily on her feat. "Effie… it's me" I say, walking around my bed to reach her.
"Get away from me!" She yells without looking at me, her hands are firmly placed against the wall now and she is leaning upon them for support. Tentatively, I take a step closer.
"It's me, Katniss" I say as softly as I can muster, which given the current situation, isn't that soft.
"Katniss?" Effie mumbles, slowly turning away from the wall and to me. Her tone sounds confused, like she is trying to remember a dream. It's quite chilling, but at least she isn't screaming at me again.
"Yeah, I said we were going down for lunch together. Remember?" I ask. She shakes her head, trying to recall memories, but she is more likely than not wasting her time.
"I'm not hungry" She says quietly and in the same breath.
"Well, you need to leave this room at the very least. You don't have to eat anything" I tell her, patience beginning to run thin. I take a deep breath, and remember the words Haymitch said at our previous lunch. I can't snap at her, it'll make things worse. Even if that is all I want to do at the moment. Instead, I carefully intertwine my fingers in hers. "Come on Effie" I say. And with wide, watery eyes, she nods and follows me from the room.
"I'm sorry… I thought you were someone else" She tells me when we get walking. I nod to her and reassure her that it is okay. Even though, I'm still a little taken aback at how quick she jumped away from me. "You just, made me jump…" She says, before looking to the floor and falling silent. Reverting back to her previous silent state.
"Who did you think I was Effie?" I ask after about five minutes of silence.
"I… I can't… don't remember" Effie mumbles, trailing of weakly. I'm pretty sure she does remember, and just doesn't want to say, but I don't push the matter further. I simply nod to acknowledge I heard her timid reply and the walk to the lunch room continues in silence. When we get to the corridor were the lunch room is located, I feel Effie's hand tighten around mine.
"It's okay Effie" I say to her. She turns to look at me almost as fast as she jumped up to get away from me. "Come on, I won't be long" I tell her, having to practically drag her trembling body through the doors to get my lunch. I tell he to go and sit down, and it takes her a couple of moments to move away from me. However, when I see Boggs' eyes on us, I grab her wrist and pull her back next to me. She looks shocked at the sudden contact, but she doesn't complain.
"Do you want anything Effie?" I ask her when I pick my tray up and head over to Greasy Sae. Effie shakes her head and stands close to me as Greasy Sae pours a bowl of pea soup out for me. "Are you sure? She can cook anything, even tree bark, can't you?" I say, taking my bowl from the older woman.
"I can't here. The cooks are strict on things like that, these days it a hundred percent meat and veg" Greasy Sae says, sounding a tad annoyed about the rules on not cooking tree bark for lunch. She hands me a roll of bread, then slams another one onto my tray.
"You're only supposed to-" I begin. I don't want Greasy Sae getting into trouble for giving me extra food. She shakes her head though and points at Effie who is shrinking away every second.
"That one needs feeding up. Turning into skin and bones she is" Greasy Sae says in a smaller voice, probably so Effie doesn't hear. I nod and walk away from the woman, Effie following me silently. When we sit down I place the tray in the middle of us and shove the second bread roll in her hands. She simply looks at it whilst I pick my spoon up and begin to shovel down the soup.
"You can eat it you know" I tell her, "She wants you to and so do I" I say to Effie who still hasn't touched the bread roll. With shaking hands, she lifts the roll to her mouth and takes a small bite. You can barely tell she has bitten into it, but it seems like a big effort for her to chew it up.
"It's too dry" She mumbles after what looked like a painful swallow. I manage not to sigh, but push my bowl of soup further towards her.
"Dip it in there, it'll taste a lot better" I tell her. Maybe it's the twinge of impatience in my voice, maybe it's because she's finally allowing herself to eat food in thirteen, but she dips a small corner of the bread into the soup and nibbles on it. The fact she avoids looking at me when she does this hints that it was the slightly impatient tone that made her follow my orders.
"There's a meeting in command, disregard your current schedule" Boggs says, suddenly stood next to us.
"Done" I shrug through a mouthful of my bread dipped in soup. Effie seems determined not to look at either me or Boggs, and she also is determined not to eat another bite of her bread. But at least she's had half of it, better than nothing.
"Did you follow it all today?"
"Who knows, I'm mentally disorientated" I tell him, lifting up my hand to show him the purple bracelet on my wrist. A purple bracelet that isn't anywhere to be seen. "See, I can't even remember they took my bracelet" I add, flaunting my wrist, absent of any purple bracelet.
"Well, Cressida was going to show you the District 12 propos if you wanted a look" Boggs tells me when my hand leaves the air and is back around my spoon for me to continue with my lunch. "You are invited to come too Effie" He adds. Effie finally turns to look our way and she nods a little at Boggs. "You've both been saved a seat" He says. The way he tells us this means we can't back out, so I stand up and Effie follows my lead.
Walking to the command room is silent, but noise levels pick up as we near the room. Like when we were close to entering the lunch room, Effie grabs my hand and holds it tightly. I don't mind, I have a feeling it'll be hard for me too. I don't tell her it'll be okay this time; instead I squeeze her hand a little. Boggs looks over his shoulder at us and gives us a half smile, which looks weird on him. He turns back around and pushes the door to command open and we walk through, the room full of people waiting to watch the propos.
We end up sat next to Finnick and Haymitch. I take the seat next to Finnick and Effie sits next to Haymitch. Finnick says a small hello to the both of us and shoots Effie a concerned look; I still think he is concerned about what he saw yesterday. It's understandable; it was a shock for all of us. Haymitch, who was told what happened yesterday by Finnick, is holding onto Effie's hand whilst she stares into the distance.
Plutarch, who has just entered the room, sits beside the last vacant seat beside Haymitch and gives us all a cheerful hello. For the first time, I notice the screens are full of Capitol scenes and not the propos. "I thought we were seeing the District 12 propos" I say, looking to Plutarch for an explanation. I hope Boggs hasn't dragged us up here for nothing.
Apparently not, because as Finnick and Plutarch fill in the gaps it becomes a lot clearer to me. If Beetee succeeds, I think we'll never hear the end of it.
"You're right, it's starting" Haymitch says to Finnick as the Capitol seal covers the screen. When I find myself staring directly at President Snow, I turn to face Effie. I'm suddenly not just scared about the events that will happen when the propo airs, but also about how Effie will take this. She is holding onto Haymitch's hand tightly, and he isn't complaining at all, even though I think I can see his skin turning a darker shade of pink due to the way her fingers are clamped around his. When Effie gasps I turn to face the screen and see Peeta sat there.
"He's worse" I whisper to Finnick, who grasps my hand to give me an anchor. I feel my fingers tightening, it seems I was right to be worried, but at least I do have someone to hold on to. And as he begins to talk about the need for ceasefire I suddenly find myself on the screen.
"Beetee's done it! He broke in!" Plutarch exclaims, jumping up. Effie and Finnick both turn to me at the same time, whilst everyone else in the room is chatting about what just happened, they remain silent. Haymitch too isn't joining in with any conversation; he is just staring at the screen with an expression I can't read on his face. Peeta is back for a split second and then Finnick is on the screen talking about Rue. Soon it turns into a battle between the Capitol broadcasters and Beetee; I can feel everyone apart from the four of us egging Beetee on.
And Beetee is winning; Plutarch especially is jumping for joy. Cheering begins to fill the room as five to ten second propos are been aired, sending the Capitol show into turmoil. Finnick, Effie and Haymitch remain silent though, and I can't thank them enough for that. "This is just amazing!" Plutarch practically squeals. I look to Haymitch, whose face is half obscured by Effie's head which is resting on his shoulder whilst she stares at the screen with an absent look in her eyes.
Haymitch's eyes aren't empty though, they are filled with dread similar to mine. With every cheer, Peeta slips further away. And it is terrifying. Propos disappear and the Capitol seal is up, after about twenty seconds of flat audio, Snow and Peeta are back up on the screen. Turmoil is evident on set as Snow talks about the rebels to the citizens of Panem. He also asks Peeta about me. And after those words, I feel Effie's hand on my own free one. Her head is still on Haymitch's shoulder and she isn't looking at me. But her slight touch is all I need.
Dead by morning…
"What?" I hear Effie mumble, "What's he on about Haymitch?" I hear Effie say. Her head rising of Haymitch's shoulder and a pleading tone for information in her voice. "Haymitch…" She repeats her voice breaking. He doesn't answer, but his arm as found its way around her shoulder. He is engrossed by events on the screen. I turn back to face it and every now and again I see my image in the midst of live footage from the Capitol.
And when Peeta's blood hits the tiles I hear Effie scream from beside me.