"Echo! You need to see this!" My mom's voice is what wakes me. Whatever she's yelling about, it sounds important.
Groggily, I make my way to the living room. My mom, Katniss, sits on the plush blue loveseat, and she's starting intently at the TV that's mounted on the wall. Dad has his arm around her shoulders, and he to is staring at the TV. I pause in the doorway. "Mom?" I ask. "You called?"
"Echo, promise me that when you see what's on the TV, you won't flip out," Dad days. He's calm, so I wonder if it's good or need news. I nod and slowly walk towards Mom. I turn my head toward the TV.
President Snow stares back at me.
I cry out and scuttle backwards, tripping when I reach the loveseat and falling onto my Dad. He immediately reaches out and wraps his arms around me, pulling me to him. Together, we listen to Snow speak.
"Hello, Panem," he says, "I bet you weren't expecting to wake up to me."
"Over the past 11 years, the Capital has rebuilt itself, and with that construction had come power, weapons... Armies. We are well aware that the Districts won the rebellion that happened those years ago. But now, we're going to fight back
"And Katniss Everdeen, if you're watching this, I just want you to know that you may have beaten us once, but as you said, if we burn, you burn with us "
And the screen goes black.
I pry Dad's arms off of me and spin around to face my mother. Her hand is covering her mouth, and her eyes shine with tears. "No... No no no no no," she mutters. "This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't supposed to happen. Peeta, I've failed everyone! Everyone is going to die because of me! Why couldn't you have killed me in the Hunger Games? Why did we have to go and ruin everything with those stupid berries?!"
Dad steadies her face between his hands and shushes her. "Katniss, calm down! Is alright, no one is going to die," he says.
I focus on one thing: what are the Hunger Games? Mom and Dad have never mentioned them to me before, let alone that they were in them and that they attempted suicide! I tug on Dad's sleeve. "Dad, what are the Hunger Games?" I ask. I need to know. "No! Peeta, don't tell her! She doesn't deserve this! None of us deserve this!"
Dad glances at me and I stare him straight in the eye. "Dad, please tell me," I whisper. He nods and quickly stand up, leaving my Mom to cry. She does this a lot. Dad grabs my hands and leads me away from the loveseat and into the kitchen.
He sits on one of the wooden chairs at the kitchen table and motions for me to do the same.
I sit. Dad sighs and begins.
"The Hunger Games were where 24 children between the agrees of 12 and 18 were sent into an arena. They fought to the death until one person was standing. The last person was the victor. I was reaped, meaning chosen to go into the arena. Your mom volunteered for your Aunt Prim. Well, during my interview before the Games, I confessed my love for your mother. I had had a crush on her since we were five.
"When your mother and I were the last two people, she tried to get me to kill her. I tried to get her to kill me, so she could go home to your Aunt Prim and Gale. In the end, she pulled some Nightlock out of her pocket and divided it between us. On the count of three, we were going to eat it. But before we could, Claudius Templesmith stopped us.
"There's not much more between that and the rebellion, besides the Quarter Quell. My heart stopped in the Quell. Finnick saved me. Then came the rebellion. We lost many people, including Finnick and Prim."
By the end of Dad's explanation, I'm crying. Mom's screens have died down. "What about Gale?" I ask.
"Gale came back from 2 after you were born," Dad says.
As if on cue, Gale burst into the house.
