When The Canary Sings

Mechanical Snakes.

First Person Point of View: Becca Blue: 

*

Haymitch and I are quickly ushered to an area under ground, where Katniss and Peeta are. I guess that's where the tributes are taken care of after the games. I guess that's where I was. Haymitch says it's underneath the training center.

We waited outside in a big lobby. Two and a half days we waited there, and this is the one time Haymitch didn't tell me to leave. We both wanted to be there when they came out. At night, we just lean on the wall and sleep. Well, Haymitch does, I lean on his shoulder.

On the second day, Katniss rushes down the hallway, and just like me when I won, launches herself into Haymitch's arms, then Cinnas, then mine.

"Good job, Katniss." I whisper in her ear as she hugs me. She squeezes me a little tighter, "we're all so so proud of you." I assure, and she just sighs.

"Where's Peeta?" She asked worriedly, "he's okay, right?" She asked, all panicked, Haymitch took her by the arm.

"He's fine, they want you two to reunite on TV." He says, and Katniss chuckles. Cinna then leads her away with Effie, and then it's just me and Haymitch. Haymitch lets out a long breath, that shakes a bit, and he pulls out a flask. I avert my eyes, I feel bad, staring at him.

I expected this victory to feel a bit better, I mean, the first year I mentor, my tributes win! But, it's different, there's a certain heaviness. Not of grief, well, maybe grief, but also something else. It was like a lingering feeling of dread.

After a few minutes, when the camera men leave, Haymitch pulls out a pen and clicks it. The head of the pen shines a bright red, then dims. It's one of Beetee's de-bugging things. I look up, and he's already looking at me.

"They're in big trouble." Haymitch says, "and you need to listen." He says graveley, and I nod, now finally feeling the dread. "This–their whole berry stunt–caused trouble. The Capitol sees it as an act of defiance."

"The people love them, though?" I question, and Haymitch scoffs.

"It doesn't matter if the people love them, Becca." He says, "Sure, It helps them win, but the people are mindless birds, practically pecking for scraps." He explains, a dangerous look in his eyes, "the higher ups, the president, they matter. And they view it as defiance."

Of course they see it as defiance! Not only did the rules get changed for them, but they outsmarted not just the tributes, but also the gamemakers themselves! As it dawned on me, the pen beeped, signaling that the bugs could hear us again.

"Peeta's funny, so love-stricken," Haymitch says, "reminds me of myself when I was a kid. "Katniss...she's harder to crack. But she loves him." He says, and I know he's typing to tell me something through disguised words. Considering I'm not very smart and I haven't been to school in ages, I can't really pick up what he's trying to say.

"I think they are planning a surprise for Peeta and Katniss, how about you go tell Peeta, and I'll tell Katniss?" He says, dumbing it down for me. "New victors aren't big on surprises," he says, then pats me on the head. "Down the hall and to the right." I look at him and squint my eyes, trying to read him, if I can read him at all. Turns out, I can't.

With that, I walk down the hall and to the right until I get to the familiar sliding doors. They sense my movement and slide open with another familiar hiss. I step inside to find an unconscious Peeta, lying in the bed, being pumped with fluids. Poking out of the sheets is something shiny, metal. I walk closer to inspect.

"Holy–" I breathe, looking at the metal leg that class Peeta's, well, leg. Where his leg was is now a stump of skin, connected to metal. On a small table next to his bed there is a book titled PROSTHETIC CARE. Prosthetic. That's a new word I've never heard before.