The Beginning of the End (Clove Kentwell)

Chapter 16

    Iris felt something hit her head hard then she saw light...... she felt at peace, she didn't feel any weight on her shoulders, she didn't feel fear or pain, all she felt was peace. She opened her eyes  and saw white everywhere then she saw people standing in a line she looked at all of them and recognized them. She walked up to the first person in line and smiled at him. He gave her a lopsided smile back then she pulled him in for a hug, "I missed you so much Gabe." She didn't hear him say anything she just felt his arm tighten around her. She pulled away to the next person in line, Peeta. He gave her a soft smile. She pulled him in for a hug too, "How's the afterlife?" She joked. He laughed softly, "Not bad, not bad at all." She smiles at him then moves down the line. She came upon Katniss standing there, Iris looked at her for a second before putting a piece of hair behind her ear then hugging her tight. "You have no idea how much I need a friend like you right now." She whispered into her ear. "I'm always here whenever you want to talk." Katniss whispered back. She went down the line more and saw people like Thresh and Foxface, the. She came upon Cato aka Psycho, she looked at him for a second before walking up to him and grabbing his hand, she shook it firmly as Cato had a surprised look on his face. "Hope your doing well." Iris said letting go of his hand and patting him on the arm. He nodded then smiled as she moved onto the next person. She saw her mom standing there with a tear on her cheek. Iris quickly walked up to her, Iris wiped the tear off her cheek and hugged her tight. Her mother wrapped her arms around Iris putting her hand on the back of her head. "Mom-" "Shhhh" her mom shushed her making Iris stop talking. "I love you so much, and I am proud of you for what you have accomplished, but I need you to remember who you are and go fight back against the capital." Her mom said in her ear. Iris stepped back pulling away from her mothers tight embrace. Iris nodded not being able to speak from the lump in her throat. She looked beside her mother expecting to see little Max standing there but he wasn't. "Mom where's Max?" Iris questioned. "What do you mean where's Max, he's been with you this whole time." Iris furrowed her eyebrows looking at the empty spot where Max used to be. Realization hit Iris making her look back at her mother, "Go save him Iris, be apart of his life again." "B-but mom I want to stay here with you." "No you can't do that you haven't lived you life yet." "Mom I can't do this anymore-" "Go save your brother he needs you more than anything right now." A tear ran down Iris's cheek as she stared into her mothers loving eyes. "Go" her mother said pushing her away from her. Iris took a few steps back then looked at all the people in the line. She smiled seeing them all be happy, Peeta, Gabe and Cato were all laughing about something together. Foxface and Thresh were hugging while smiling. Then she saw Katniss and her mother standing there smiling at Iris watching her walk away. "If you ever want to talk we will always be right next to you!" Her mother shouted as Iris nodded back at her. All of them turned around to face Iris and waved saying goodbye. Iris waved back then the white around them started consuming her making her vision go white.

   She opened her eye and saw doctors rushing around, then she looked down and saw Max resting his head on Iris's stomach crying. She felt his hand intertwined with hers making her smile. She picked up her other arm and wrapped it around him making him jump then look up at her surprised. He jumped up and hugged her, "I thought you were dead." He said. "Yeah well I did too." Max laughed at her statement as a few other people entered the room. Max got off of her but when Iris tried to swing her leg over the edge of the bed it was heavy. She threw the covers off of her and found a metal foot. She was shocked as she looked at it, one of the doctors rushed over, "Good your awake." He said in relief, "I should probably give you the rundown about your ankle, so when you tripped on the stairs your foot hit the railing knocking a bone out of place and we with the equipment we have down here we were not able to fix it, so we had to cut off your ankle because if we left it with would start to heal that way but you would need a wheelchair for the rest of your life, or we could put a metal foot in and connect everything to your brain for it to work like a normal foot. We were going to ask you what you wanted to do but you were unfortunately passed out so we asked Max here. He said your would most likely rather have the metal foot so we did as he said and gave you a metal foot." He held his breath for a moment not knowing what Iris would say. She nodded in approval, "Thank you." She said looking up at him the shaking his hand. He shook it back then smiled at her.

   As he walked away Iris looked up to see who had entered the room before the doctor came and talked to her. She saw Grain, Barz, Johanna, and then at the back she saw Finnick standing there with a worried look on his face. She smiled waving them all in. They all filed into the small room and looked at Iris. "Well as you can see I am going to be okay." She said laughing. All of them broke out into a relief laughter except Finnick. Iris looked over at him and gave him a look, he shrugged it off looking away. She narrowed her eyes at him, "But if you don't mind could I get some sleep?" She asked everyone in the room. Finnick looked at the door the quickly at her. She shook her head telling him not to go. Everyone left and Max squeezed her hand then smiled at her before leaving too. Finnick walked over, "What's wrong?" Iris asked concerned. Finnick took a deep breath. "Um..... me, Clove, Grain, Max, Boggs, and a few others are going to go on a mission." "What kind of mission?" Iris asked in a serious tone hearing Max's name. "Iris look the capital is being destroyed and this is our time to strike." He sighed looking down, "We are going into the Capitol to kill Snow." "And you think it's okay to take my little brother with you!" Iris yelled at him. "It's not my choice." Finnick said back keeping his calm voice. "Listen I have lost my little brother once and I am not about to do it again." Iris said quieting her voice. "Right now it looks like you don't have a choice." Finnick said looking up at her. "Go get Coin and tell her I want to speak with her, now." Iris said sternly. Finnick sighed then nodded getting up and walking out of the room leaving Iris alone.

   Iris's thoughts went back to what her mother said to her, she thought about how she said Max needs her right now more than anything. Images of Max came into her head, of how he grew up so quickly, how she missed out on his childhood, how he isn't that happy little Max anymore. He has seen the real world and what it can do to people, and it has affected him.

"I will do everything in my power to protect him." Iris whispered thinking about her mother standing right next to her bed.

"And I mean everything."