The Ballad of Lucy Gray

Chapter 22

I scrumple up Edel's letter and toss it onto the forest floor. I don't need something else to cry about but I wrap the bracelet around my wrist. I hope that Edel never breaks the promise. 

She should be here soon, it's well into the afternoon. I hope she's not lost. I  perch on a fallen log and since I have nothing to do, I begin to make an angular pattern with twigs and leaves lying on the bare earth. It grows like a drop of paint in a pool of water. When I was little, I used to do this in my back garden and then in the woods of District 12.

"What are you doing, Lucy Gray?" called Maude Ivory from the lake.

"I'm just making a pattern, come here, I'll show you," I smiled. "You start off with a small shape and you arrange twigs around it, it gets bigger and bigger as you keep adding to it."

Back then, I used to dream of growing up and being swept away from the plain life I was living. Now, I know that those dreams only belong in the fairytale books my mother used to read to me. Everything in my life has changed, even me, even my identity- the one thing I always thought I would have.

Branches and leaves snap and cackle and I hear the angry roaring of a vehicle. A tiny beaten up, scratched black car appears into my view and I watch it blaze a trail of destruction as it swerves dangerously close to the thin surrounding trees before it stops in front of me.

I run towards it and scramble into the passenger seat.

A woman dressesd in black and hair cut close to her scalp with her hands gripped onto the steering wheel looks in my direction.

"Trisha? I'm Soldier Coin, nice to meet you," I extend a hand.

"Good to see you, Solider," smiles Trisha. "Glad you're here, hope you haven't been waiting too long, there was a hold up earlier."

"It's okay, what was the hold up?"

"Never you worry, it's been resolved now."

I wonder what all that was about.

"I hope you don't get car sick?" Trisha asks me.

I shake my head.

"Good. It's going to be a bumpy ride. Literally," Trisha laughs. "We'd better get going, we don't have time to waste."

People don't drive cars in the forest for a reason. I grip the edge of my fabric seat and wince every time we swerve before we come close to crashing into a thick trunk. My stomach flips every time we drive over uneven ground but I'm grateful that this car is tiny and that Trisha is a skilled driver.

"Help yourself to snacks in the compartment, we have a long journey ahead," Trisha breaks the silence after what feels like an eternity crashing through the undergrowth.

"Thank you," I choose an oat bar from her limited selection. "Do you know when we'll get there?"

"Two days is accurate. It's difficult to drive through here at night."

Back in District 13, many months previously, the Capitol issued a threat to the District, warning us of the consequences of setting up a rebellion group called the DWTC. But District 13 did not have that group.

It became our mission to find where the group originated and to contact members of the group. After weeks tracking, we were successful.

But then the executions started. The Capitol ordered that every member of that group was publicly hanged and the organisation closed down.

Trisha's sister was executed but Trisha was never part of the DWTC so she survived. After her sister's death, Trisha contacted the Communication centre in 13 and constructed a plan with us. The Capitol never found those messages.

***

"Your outfits are in the back of this car, you neet to cut your hair too to fit in," Trisha instructs me two mornings after.

I grab the case and change into my outfit. It fits perfectly.

We abandon the car and start the trek into civilisation. It's too dangerous if we drive now. The car could be seen.

The trees of District 7 reaches into the sky and the scent of pine needles is strong and pungent.  Part of the forest has been sectioned off and already workers are hacking away at the bark of trees with heavy axes, closely under the gaze of Peacekeepers.

"I'll go first," Trisha smiles.

"No. It's not safe. We can wait until they all go," I protest.

"Trust me," says Trisha with an air of intensity that I'm forced to look into her eyes. "Trust me. Stick to the plan and you won't let any of us down."

With that Trisha calmly walks into the view of Peacekeepers. 

"It's her!" one shouts.

"Get her!"

"Treachery!"

"Who else is involved? Who else is involved?" another hisses.

"You are being arrested for treachery against the Capitol, publishable by death. Tell us who else is involved and  you survive," the Head Peacekeeper attempts to reason with her.

Trisha stays silent.

Someone must have found her messages. Someone must have told the Peacekeepers.

No one is safe from the wrath of the Capitol. Any one of us in the Districts may not live to see the light again if we dare disagree with them.

Trisha refuses to say a single word. I realise that she's doing this to protect all of us. 

I hate to see her struggling like this, I want to run forward to defend her. But her instructions ring in my head "Stick to the plan and you won't let any of us down."

The Peacekeepers begin to torture her in front of the workers but she still remains silent, refusing to give anything away, wearing her integrity like a badge of defiance against the Capitol and those who sink to be associated with it.

"Take her to the gallows."

Hi everyone! 

New cover- I can't stop looking at it and I love everything about it. It's the way all the small things come together like the forest in the background, the overall dark filter of the cover, the girl's dark curled hair just like Lucy Gray's, she's turned away so the reader can imagine her face and her white dress and the fact that she looks like she's running away links perfectly to the line in TBOSAS where Suzanne Collins states: "Was she alive, dead a ghost who haunted the wilderness?"

I really appreciate you all taking the time to read this, it really means a lot. Thank you so much for the votes and lovely comments! If you haven't voted don't forget to do so!