Dan POV
I jolt awake, and a nurse quickly comes to my side and holds me down.
"Don't move, Mr. Howell," she tells me, "You have a severe concussion."
I obey and become still.
"What happened?" I ask weakly, now beginning to feel the throbbing in my head.
The nurse gives me a sad look, followed by a light sigh. "Whatever the Capitol did to her, it was worse than we once thought."
"Can she be fixed?" I ask hopelessly.
"I've been told that, if they can correct her memory, she might be able to."
"How would they do that?"
"They'd have to calm her down first, get her to be cooperative. Then, we'd show her everything about your Games. The only problem is that we can't exactly force her to watch, and even then, without evidence for anything that happened to you two after you escaped, she still might not believe us."
"So...?"
"She doesn't remember anything about you, or the Games."
I take a few moments to process this. "So, you're gonna force her to re-watch herself murder other kids in the Games?"
The nurse just gives a simple nod, and immediately changes the subject. "How's your pain?"
"About a seven," I reply.
"Let me fix that," the nurse says, pushing a button to release more morphling into my system.
As I feel myself getting more relaxed, I notice the cast on my wrist. Did Charlotte really break it? I turn to ask the nurse, but realize that she has already gone. I reach up my other hand to my head, only to find thick bandages all around it. I suppose I was beat up pretty bad, then.
I feel exactly the way I did when I was brought to 13 in the first place. I remember them knocking me out when their hovercraft took me, and then I woke up to find my tracker cut out as well as my back completely patched up. I guess I should have felt violated, what with the knowledge that it was someone's job to cut me out of my clothes and redress me, but I couldn't help but feel the least bit thankful. Sure, I hated that they didn't even try to get Charlotte out of the Capitol hovercraft, but I see why they couldn't.
But now, as I lay in the hospital wing, I only wish that they had been able to take Charlotte instead of me.
Even as the morphling makes everything feel wonky, I can still make out the fact that this is the regular hospital wing. I guess that I was out for a few days and that I was transferred up here when the bunker was vacated. I look over to the window on my right, which admittedly makes me dizzy, and I see that I have bruises on my arms, an bloodshot eyes. The cannula protruding from my nose is uncomfortable, but where I was slammed against the wall, I can assume that I have bruised ribs, even if I can't feel it because of the morphling.
When I arise from the twilight of drugs once more, I hear a voice beside me.
"Thank god you're awake," my mother says.
"Where's everyone else?" I ask.
"They're in our compartment. I stayed behind to watch over you."
"What time is it?"
"I'd say about ten at night."
"How many days has it been?"
"About four."
"What's gonna happen to Charlotte?"
My mom sighs deeply. "Fact of the matter is, we don't know. I'm sorry," she explains.
"They told me they're gonna try to get her to remember...I just hope it works," I say.
"I hope so, too," my mother says, "I know that she's a good person, same as you do. She's just been through a lot."
"Trust me, I know. I know," I say. Then, I tell her, "When they first got her here, they said they had to drain her system of drugs...do you think maybe that's why she's like this now? How do you reverse drug damage?"
"Since it's all drained, I guess all they're left with now is trying to pick up the pieces."
"They told me they're gonna show her the Games all the way through...maybe it'll help her. The only thing I can't get past is the fact that she'll have to witness herself murdering people that she forgot she killed."
"The Games are a horrible invention. My mother used to tell me about what it was like before the Games, and how people reacted after the law was passed. Never in my lifetime did I imagine having to see my firstborn son go through that. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."
"Nobody can protect me from the Games. They're inescapable, even after you get out of the Arena. If I haven't shown it as much, surely Charlotte has. But, I get a feeling that this won't last much longer. Like all governments, they fall eventually. I remember learning about them in school."
"You almost died in the Games, you are not going to die in a war."
"I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that...what if we get to see the day that this all ends?"
"Maybe. It's a nice thought. Do you want me to get the rest of the family for you?" she asks.
"No, I'm okay. You should go back, too. Get some sleep."
"Look at how much you've grown," she says, her misty eyes looking right at me, "You left me as a sixteen year old and then you escaped as a thirty year old."
She then gets up and gives my bandaged head a quick kiss. "I love you, mom," I tell her before she leaves my hospital room.
Later...
When I'm feeling better, I sit up on my bed. No dizziness. Then, I gingerly place my feet on the floor before forcing myself into a standing position. I then walk slowly and quietly out of my room, searching blindly in the dimly lit corridor for something, anything, that will pique my interest.
I wander aimlessly, eventually coming up to a board which lists patients in the ward. I watch the names scroll by, not paying much attention until one crosses the board.
Charlotte Faye.
