drapetomonia - the overwhelming urge to run away.
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When Junia Beaumont, her brother and their classmates get a last assignment before the end of the school year, she doesn't know just how quickly things will change for her.
Who would have thought t...
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39. the grand finale
The rest of the day - much to most people's dismay - passes by without much happening.
There's a short remembrance for Felix Ravinstill, with the other mentors being forced to give a statement each, but that aside, nothing happens that makes June's worries grow.
If anything, June is relieved to see that Treech remains up on the scoreboard, and by the time dinner rolls around, he's swinging his legs back and forth, looking down at everything below.
The sight makes her smile for some reason, and even though she worries about what might come next, she pushes it aside for the time being. With him being in the final four, she has access to a lot more donations because, it seems, Lucy Gray aside, he's a favorite. Mizzen ranks third donation-wise, and Teslee is in last place; however, that doesn't mean people aren't rooting for her. She might have been inactive so far, but that doesn't mean anything.
She sends Treech a big dinner that day, with multiple drones carrying bread, cheese, apples, and water, dropping off his sponsor gifts, and her heart sinks at how hungrily he digs in. After hiding out all day, he must've been starving. He's stuffing his cheeks, and she once again has to think back to how eagerly he'd always eat the food she brought him.
When he gets out of there, she'll refuse to let him go hungry again, not on her watch. She'll even learn how to cook properly if she has to. She has been doing her best to keep him fed, but she knows that that's not all he needs. She can't imagine the exhaustion he must be feeling.
When the sun sets, clouds begin rolling in, and the sky casts hues of orange above the arena. Eventually, after finishing his dinner, Treech curls up and seems to be trying to get some sleep. June hopes that Lucy Gray's humming provides him some comfort.
She's the only mentor who thought of bringing something to sleep in but is more than happy to hand over her pillow and blanket, as she has no use for either anymore.
She's furious at Coriolanus for clearly cheating anyway. But it's not hopeless.
If Treech wins, she won't tell a soul. But if anything happens to him, and this comes out of the darkest depths of her soul, she'll make sure Coriolanus will never have a chance to use the prize money.
As Highbottom said on the day of the reaping, he won't have a future. No matter if that means being turned into an Avox or shipped off to the districts, she only hopes it will cause him as much pain and anguish as the kind Treech would have felt in his last moments.
