the ruler [THE HUNGER GAMES]¹

Eight.

JACINTH told me to remain professional as we pull into the well-maintained train station of District Two. Nobody will be waiting for us. We have spent just over three weeks in the Capitol and have nothing to show for it. Like every other year that Two doesn't come home with the victory, life will be going back to normal. Only two families will still be mourning their children. I ignore my mentor though, because I've been away from home for almost a month and have some loose ends to tie up. One name keeps repeating in my mind as the breaks in the train finally screech to a halt. Mace.

With all my personal belongings still at home and nothing left to do with my mentor duties, I jam my fingers onto the open button and hit it repeatedly until I am let out. My feet have just hit the platform when I start sprinting for the streets. People give me weird glances as I speed past them but I don't care. At one point I skid past the alleyway that will lead me to the Cho residence and I have to backtrack a few paces, before I'm off again towards his family home.

I go to let myself in, as I would usually, but then I remember Mace wasn't exactly happy with me the last time we spoke. I decide it would be rude to just walk in, so I raise my hand and give the wooden slab three loud knocks.

There's movement from inside, somebody shouting to ask what the noise is and then the familiar annoyed tone of my best friend calling back, "I'm getting it ma!"

My face splits into a cheesy grin as the handle tilts downwards and then the door opens. There, standing in front of me with cargos and a blue t-shirt on, is Mace. I don't go in for a hug, waiting to see what his reaction is.

"Fawn?" He laughs happily and embraces me first. My arms instinctively snake around his waist and my head plants sideways against his chest, instantly comforted by his warmth. He smells good, better than usual, and I decide he must've still been using my house even after we argued.

"I missed you so much," I mumble into the fabric of his shirt.

"I missed you too," he gently detaches from me, "quite the Games, huh?"

I glance around us, at the people of the village walking down the alleyways to their jobs or to the market. "Yeah, I have a lot to tell you. Not here though. Come to the pond?"

"Yeah, just let me tell ma that I'll be gone for a while. Cadel went off with his friends for hours the other week without telling her and she almost lost it," he pokes his head inside the house and tells her where he's going. Despite being seventeen, nobody can deny that Mace is the biggest mothers boy.

We walk down through the market so I can stop and buy two lemonades for us before making the half hours walk to the pond. The pond is more of a lake, over six foot deep in the centre and wider than three of my houses stacked on top of each other. It's called 'the pond' because when Mace and I were young we didn't quite know the difference between both water bodies, and the name just stuck. It's been our favourite place to hang ever since we could go out alone. Not out of district borders, but between two villages, it is so quiet you only ever see people who are travelling between the two for some sort of business.