Rosemary

0.2

As I walked to the center of town with Ella and Edwin the next day, I rubbed my fingers over the diamond ring on my finger. My mother wore this ring till her passing as it was a gift from my father. A promise ring I thought it always was. As I rubbed my sweaty hands on my beige taupe dress, I listened to the rhythmic clacking of my tan high heels on the concrete. Last night, I stayed over at the Hemmings and slept next to Kathrine to comfort her. After hearing the news that her brother and either Ella or I were going back, she was distraught. But she knew deep down, it was always going to be me who was going back to the Games. I would never force my mentor, my friend, to go back into the arena. She has already lived long enough with the terrible memories. Ella, in her tan pant suit, squeezed my hand tightly as we stepped onto the stage. The only thing that brought me out of my deep spiral of thoughts was the bright pink wig that came bobbing towards me. Evelyn Paves! Evelyn was my old guide. She was a funny woman from the capitol and had always shown Edwin and I much respect.

"Welcome, welcome as we celebrate the 75th anniversary and third Quarter Quell of the Hunger Games!" Evelyn greeted District 9.

"As always, lady's first," she says, sniffling a bit at the last words.

Her hand fished into the jar of names, two only occupying it this year.

"The female tribute of District 9 is Ella Reynolds," she murmurs.

"I volunteer as tribute!" I yell, my hand raising into the air.

"No Rose," Ella warns me, placing her small old hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I say, tears rolling down my cheeks as I walk next to Evelyn.

I look out into the crowd of people. In the back, I could see little Katherine's face buried into her mothers skirt.

"Very well," Evelyn whispers, her hand fishing into the male bowl to pull out a single paper, "The male tribute from District 9 is Edwin Hemmings."

Edwin walked to stand next to Evelyn, his eyes bloodshot from crying.

"Shake hands you two," Evelyn says.

But when we turn to face each other, and my best friend holds out his trembling hand, I wrap my arms around his neck. His strong arms wrap around my waist.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, "I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

Suddenly a pair of peacekeepers came through the big golden doors behind us and grabbed our arms. They started towing us to the train station instead of inside the Justice Building. Then it clicked for me: They weren't going to let us say goodbye!

"Wait no, I have to say goodbye!" I screech.

"Not this time," one peacekeeper grunts.

"Kathie! Goodbye! I love you!" I shout, tears streaming down my face.

Edwin shouted similar things from behind me. Peacekeepers threw us onto the train and soon dragged Ella in after us. That night on the train, Edwin barely ate anything for dinner.

"Edwin, you must eat," I say.

"I'm going to die anyway, there's no point," he murmurs.

"Don't speak like that, you have as much of a chance as anyone out there in the arena," I reassure him.

"What about you?" he probes.

I look down at my lap.

"Well, Edwin-"

"You know how to use a bow and arrow," Ella says.

"No," I say firmly.

Ella and Edwin already knew what I was going to say. Despite being a victor, I had never killed anything in my life. For my games, I just camouflaged the whole time and then survived a massive flash flood at the end. Even the occasional fly that roamed through my room during the hot summers I never swatted down.