❛ 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬- 𝘵𝘩𝘨

CHAPTER 15

Arya's head whipped up, and stared at the screen

"There coming, Katniss. They're gonna kill everyone, and District 13 will be dead by morning!"

Arya's eyes widened as they quickly cut away from Peeta, and the screen flickered to black, and a couple of seconds later, bright lights started flashing, and loud noises blared through speakers.

Footsteps pounded in the hallway, so Arya flung open the door and joined the crowd in stampeding down to a bomb-safe place. Since she had no clue where it was, she just followed the crowd.

They reached an all gray room with double doors. It looked very sturdy, so I went inside, and looked around.

There were different letters hanging around the room, so Arya assumed that they were for the first letter of the last name, so she headed over to the G section.

Her first instinct was to head over to her sister, but she stopped. Arya was glad that Vada was safe, but then again, she had to remind herself that her sister and mother moved out because they couldn't stand her grieving anymore. It would've been fine, but, not once, not even once, did they think to visit her to find out how she was doing. They didn't even send a letter or card on her birthday or other occasion.

Instead, she forced herself to go sit down next to a surly looking, strong, young man. He had longer hair, with dark hair and eyes. His jaw was squared, with a bit of stubble-most likely from forgetting to shave. His features would have been almost attractive- but the large bags under his eyes made the rest of his face look like he couldn't care less. His large bicep muscles rippled underneath the gray, short sleeve shirt he was wearing, although he looked like he would rather be carrying a knife or something like that.

The man barely gave a glance at Arya as she sat down, so they sat in silence for a little while. Arya decided that it was a nice silence, and that the man had a good chance of becoming her friend.

But just as Arya was getting more comfortable with sitting next to the stranger- her sister marched up to her.

"Arya Green, what are you doing sitting next to this monster?!"

The man next to her looked up at Vada with sad, tired eyes. "Vada,..."

"No, don't you 'Vada' me! I told you we were done! You killed Emmett, and nothing's going to erase that! Now let's go, Arya!"

"Wait- Vada!" Arya stood up. "How do you two know each other? I don't really know him, but I think he deserves a chance to say what he wants to say!"

Vada let out a sigh that felt so like an eternity before beginning to speak. "Remember Ryker? Well, this is him. Now all grown up, and still being an absolute-" She stopped herself from cursing, as there was a band of little kids running around her, and instead took a deep breath to calm down.

"What she means to say is that I'm her ex-boyfriend." Ryker stepped in.

Arya tilted her head to the side. "And, did you murder someone?"

He exhaled. "No, I did not!"

"Yes, you did!" Vada shot back.

"I swear, I didn't!"

"Yes, you murdered Emett!"

"You two still argue like a couple. Anyway, how do both of you know this Emett person?" Arya muttered the first part under her breath.

Vada opened her mouth to answer, but Ryker beat her to it. "Emmett wasn't a person, it was her teddy bear, and she broke up with me, because she thought I did it, and ignored me up intll today. But, I didn't even touch Emmett!"

"You always had a grudge against my dearest teddy bear, and one day it disappeared! ON THE DAY YOU WERE AT MY HOUSE, MAY I ADD!" Vada said.

He rolled his eyes, and said, "I saw your mom throw it out!"

Vada's mouth dropped open in shock, so Arya took this moment to speak up. "Okay, so now that the two of you are not going to murder eachother, is everything okay? Vada, can you fill me in with everything I've missed in your life the past couple of years?"

"Of course, but only if you do as well!"

So the three of them sat there, just chatting and goofing around fun-naturally while the bombs went off above them. And for a couple of blissful moments, Arya learned what it was like to live-guilt free, and happy, a feeling she hadn't ever truly felt in almost 7 years.