Dan POV
I wake up in a hospital bed, feeling nothing but regret. I want Charlotte back. I want this all to be a dream.
I go over what has happened in my head again. It's been a week. We escaped. Charlotte is gone. I am here. We will get her back. Hopefully we will get her back in one piece. Please let her come back in one piece.
There is no evidence of her existence except for the Games and my memory. No pictures, no possessions. I have nothing of her to hold on to. Frankly, I have nothing from my old life at all to hang on to.
The next day, I am deemed stable enough to go back to my quarters. If only, I think, if only I could talk to my family again. I would give anything in this world to have their guidance again. I want them to know that I'm okay, that I didn't actually die in those Games, but 13 will not allow it, at least not now.
My mind drifts back to the training center - the place where I first kissed Charlotte. She seemed so scared. When she finally came clean to me and told me about her fear of loving anyone, I tried to understand the best I could. Back then, I always thought, Well, you would think that a romantic love would be different than a familial love, right? Only now do I realize how wrong I was. Charlotte proved it. Right now, I wish that I didn't love her, I wish that I had never tried to drag her into my plans. I wish that I had just died in the Arena like I was supposed to; maybe then Charlotte would be able to go home and live happily.
A week later, I am suddenly called to a place called Command. When I enter the room, a young woman with gold eyes tells me, "We received a message from President Snow. He told us that he had a message for you."
"What kind of message?" I ask the woman.
"We don't know yet. He wanted to speak to you personally," she explains, "However, make sure to follow our lead if he asks you questions about what happened during the Games. We do not want to upset him or any other part of the Capitol."
"Okay, I will," I nod.
I compose myself as the soldiers in Command work to establish a connection with President Snow.
Before I know it, Snow's face appears in front of me. Even though he is a clean shaven, young man, I can tell that he is nothing but a cold-blooded murderer.
"Ah...young Mr. Howell..." Snow smiles menacingly.
"Mr. President," I reply, addressing him.
"How nice it must feel to have escaped the Games..." Snow chuckles, "But yet how dreadful it must feel to have indirectly murdered someone from your own district..."
"What have you done to her?!" I demand.
"All that you need to know, Mr. Howell," Snow replies, "Is these two things: One - nobody ever commits treason against the Capitol without consequence. Two - you will never get Charlotte back. She will be delivered to you the way that other tributes are delivered home: broken and in a box."
With that, the screen goes black.
"What did he mean?" I ask frantically. "You need to get her out of there. Now!"
I am all but ignored while the room is in a frenzy to get the connection back.
Snow is back up again.
"What you do not yet realize is that you have no power over the Capitol. Your battle cries about going against us will only fall on deaf ears, Mr. Howell."
"Not if the districts are spoken for," I counter.
"Mr. Howell, you are sorely mistaken. The districts have no power. 13, of all places, has the least. You are in no position to act as though you can scare me."
"And why not? You don't know what we're capable of. Nobody has been here since the Dark Days and you know it. If my textbooks were correct, 13 used to be in charge of nuclear weapons. Am I wrong?"
"District 13 can have all of the nuclear power it desires. What it doesn't have is this," President Snow says as he gets up from his chair. I hear shuffling, and then Charlotte is placed in the chair.
She looks malnourished. Her hair is tangled and unwashed. Her eyes look desperate and confused. She looks, simply, dead. It horrifies me.
"Can you hear me?" I ask desperately, trying to figure out what exactly they have done to her. Her unfocused eyes search for me.
"...Dan? Where are you? I - I -" she tries to speak, but it's almost as if her mind can't process what she wants to vocalize.
"I'm here, Charlotte. I'm here in District 13. I'm safe," I reassure her.
Her glazed-over eyes eventually find me and fixate on me. "District 13? It...doesn't exist..."
"Yes it does - they survived underground. Charlotte, are you okay?" I ask.
"Listen to me. Don't tell them anything. Don't tell anything to anyone. We...we can't risk..." she trails off before beginning again, "Don't let them know or they'll...they'll kill you...too."
"Charlotte, I love you, I promise -" I begin as guards start to pull her out of the chair.
"NO! NO! Please, please, don't. NO! Dan, help me!" Charlotte screams as she is dragged back out of the room.
Snow fixes his suit as he sits back down in the chair. Smoothing back his hair, he says, "That is the last time you will see her. Mr. Howell, if you will not play our Games, I will not play yours."
The feed gets cut, and the screens go dark again. This time, there is no rambling to get the President back online. He will kill Charlotte if I breathe another word and everyone knows it.
The gold-eyed lady from before comes up next to me. I am crying now, but I am making no noise. Charlotte might die because of me.
"I promise that we'll get her out," the woman tells me.
"How? And at what cost?" I ask helplessly.
"We don't know. But from now on, I want to see you in Command at least once a day. We'll keep you updated on Charlotte's escape," she says.
"What if I need to see you somewhere other than Command?" I ask, since Charlotte may be rescued at any hour of the day.
"My name is Alma Coin. Ask for that name and you'll be told where to find me," she smiles sadly, beginning to walk away.
"Wait," I say, "Do you know what happened to our families?"
"I'll try to find out," Coin reassures me as she leaves the Command room.
At least Charlotte is alive.
