Which Hunger Games book is better matched with the movie? - Um, I think they both were pretty true to the book. They both just have so much content and what was in the movie was pretty much completely accurate. As incredible as Catching Fire was, I was bummed that they left out a lot. They left out Plutarch tipping Katniss off about the Quell at the ball in the Capitol, they left out Haymitch's Games, and they didn't show that Katniss and Peeta scored 12's.
Favorite popcorn topping? - As random as that question is...I'll have to go with cheese, butter, old bay, or onion/garlic.
"It always seems impossible until it's done." - Nelson Mandela
America woke up from her medically induced sleep, feeling groggy and somewhat hungover. She opened her eyes and saw Maxon sitting next to her, staring at the starch sheets on her bed blankly. She reached for his hand, snapping him out of his trance.
"What was it?" she asked in a hoarse whisper.
He shook his head. "What do you mean?"
"Was the baby a boy or girl?" she clarified.
Hesitating, speaking as if the news would shatter her world, which he was convinced they would, he said, "A girl. We had a daughter."
America absorbed this, looking to the ceiling as the tears gathered quickly in her eyes. She put a hand over her eyes but held fast to Maxon's hand, feeling more vulnerable than she ever had in her life. "Where is it now?" she asked because she felt she had to know.
"Aspen is taking care of it," Maxon said quietly. He looked down and she could see the tears in his own eyes. With a knowing look from her he sat next to her and held her, rocking her as they both cried. Time lost meaning as they both held each other in their grief, scared of letting go and letting the tears drown them. There was a cough behind them and Aspen was there, looking scared.
"I'm sorry, but I need to talk to Maxon. Outside," Aspen said darkly. He looked haggard, like he had run to the hospital in record time.
Maxon ran a hand down the side of America's head and followed Aspen out to the hallway. "What's up?" he asked, subtly wiping the tears away.
Aspen sighed. "It's gone."
Maxon frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"The baby…it's gone." Maxon took a deep breath with the news, running a hand through his hair as he started to pace. "And there's more: there were guards in the area," Aspen added.
Nodding, Maxon looked around them anxiously. "We have to get out of here. Now."
"But what about America? Is it safe to move her?" he asked.
Maxon shrugged. "I don't know but we have no choice. If there are guards here that means that my father is hot on our trail and that we need to move." Aspen nodded, for once agreeing.
Clarkson stormed through the doors to the hospital. The receptionist started at the sight of him and reached for the phone. "Hello," he greeted coldly. Not waiting for her to say anything, he inquired, "Have there been any patients here for miscarriages?"
The receptionist looked over at the nurses bustling around the nurse's station nearby. "Let me ask, Your Majesty," she told him. "Adrienne," she called.
A slight nurse walked over and curtsied to the king before asking, "What can I help you with, Your Highness?"
"I was hoping you could help me find two or three people. They may have been admitted for a miscarriage."
She pondered for a few moments. "Well, I am nurse in the emergency room and we had a girl checked in here for a miscarriage last night."
"A redhead?" he asked, getting excited. It was them, he knew it.
But then Adrienne shook her head. "No, Sir, a blonde."
Damn. "You wouldn't be lying to me, would you?" he asked, his gaze boring into her.
She looked past him at the guards standing behind him and shook her head. "No, sir." Her face was stony and raised suspicion.
"Describe the people she was with."
She sighed and he could sense her growing impatience. "Well, two men. One Honduraguan, the other Carolinan. Both with dark hair, tan skin, and facial hair."
"Did one of them have brown eyes?"
"I don't remember."
"Let me see them," he demanded.
She frowned. "I mean no disrespect sir but I can't let you do that. Patient confidentiality."
He leaned down to look into her eyes. "I will have you executed for treason if you do not take me to them."
Her breath hitched and she nodded. "Yes, sir, of course. I'll take you to them right away." The other nurses watched her walk by to the elevators.
She walked slowly down the hallway, taking her time. Her heart was pounding as she arrived at their room. "Right in here, sir."
He pushed the door open and emerged a few seconds later. "What kind of joke is this?"
She backed away from his stormy expression. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."
He pointed to the room. "They're not in there!"
She peeked around him and sure enough, the room was empty. "I'm sorry sir, but I don't know where they are. They must have snuck out. I don't know what happened, truly."
"You protected them, didn't you?" he demanded. "I'm king! Not him!" He pointed again to the room. "Officers, you know how to punish those who commit treason."
King Clarkson walked away as the doctors and nurses watched helplessly as the guards put the girl against the wall and shot her in each limb before finally shooting her through the head. Thinking twice, Clarkson walked back to the hospital room and opened the window. "Maxon Schreave, I know you're out there. This is my country now, not yours! Tyranny!" he called, listening to his voice echo off the trees in the distance.
Maxon looked over his shoulder and motioned for Aspen to stop. They both stood still and listened for the sound of troops. When it all seemed clear they kept moving carefully. Maxon hugged his wife close to his chest, his arms never growing weary of the feeling of his love safe and sound in his embrace. Aspen signaled to him and he looked eastward, seeing some bushes rustling.
After thirty agonizing seconds, a deer came out and ran off at the sight of them. They kept moving at a quick pace, the fastest they could go without making too much noise. Two hours later, they arrived in the port town and caught the first boat out, hiding in the cargo hold.
America woke briefly but didn't talk, instead curling up tighter in a ball on the wooden floor amidst the crates with different goods on them. It was a long night on the boat but they finally arrived in Honduragua again, the morning sun sliding back up over the horizon as Maxon slid the key into his apartment.
When America woke up again, the sun was shining bright. She stepped into the kitchen and found it quiet, everything put in place. She frowned and looked back in the bedroom. Both Maxon's and Aspen's backpacks were gone. "No," she growled, running to the window. Down below them, Maxon and Aspen were loading gear into the back of a taxi van.
She ran down the steps to meet them and called both of their names to get their attention. Maxon told Aspen to get in the taxi as she approached them. "What's going on?" she demanded in a slow voice.
He swallowed and shrugged. "We're going."
She huffed and set her jaw, nodding. "Without me."
"Ames, I'm not letting you risk getting hurt anymore…"
She quickly cut him off. "You don't want me to get hurt anymore? I had a miscarriage, Maxon, not a quadruple bypass surgery. I'm fine."
He shook his head. "No, you're not. Ames, you need time to heal from this. Time to get your head back on straight. You went through a traumatic loss and I'm protecting you. You don't see it now but you will. You'll thank me for this."
"I'll thank you for this?" she repeated. "What is there for me to thank you for? The best way for me to get over this is to move on. I know you don't understand but I have to do this."
He frowned. "I don't understand? What do you mean I don't understand? You weren't the only one who lost a child back there. That child was every bit part of me as it was a part of you. I've been looking for our son this whole time while you're trying to build this rebel army behind my back to bring back the United States, like it can be done and I won't find out first."
"You care about our children? You obviously didn't when you abandoned us!" she shouted.
"Good lord woman! You said you were over it!"
She gasped. "How could I ever be over it? That's the reason we're here, fighting now. The only way to get our son back is to overthrow your father."
"Every crisis we go through your solution is to go and change the country! Well, the country stays like this. There's a reason the United States didn't work."
"You just don't want me to do it because you're scared I won't make you president."
He threw up his hands. "The reason I don't want you to do this is because the United States disbanded for a reason that no one knows except for the Schreave family!"
"Oh? And pray tell what this big secret is."
"I can't tell you," he said desperately. She could see it in his eyes that he really wanted to tell her but there was something he just couldn't let go in him.
She narrowed her gaze on him. "Why not?"
"Because I know you'll never look at me the same way again if I tell you. I don't want to lose you forever and that's what will happen if I tell you the whole truth."
She shook her head. "So you're being selfish?"
He shrugged. "We all have skeletons Ames."
"You know what? Go. I'll get Christian back myself." She dared to push him toward the taxi.
A flicker of pain crossed his expression. "Don't push me," he warned. She shoved him again and he finally decided to just step away before he really lost his temper. "Have fun fulfilling your little pipe dream rebellion by yourself." He got in the taxi and slammed the door shut.
They pulled away, and America watched them go. Aspen looked once out of the back window but then turned away again. She wanted to hurl rocks at them, to hurl rocks at something. After seriously contemplating following them, she decided she was better off and that she had to be productive and prove Maxon wrong. And she knew just where to start. Calgary.
My mom's laptop still hasn't been fixed and I figured I shouldn't make you guys wait any longer so I'm being really nice and updating this now. Please send me some questions and review!