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SONG SUGGESTION:Raised in Rain by Miriam Bryant
"My love, you have my heart for all eternity and, uh, if . . . if I die in that arena, my last thought will be of your lips."
The lights flickered above her. Every shell that hit shook the entire floor. They were all huddled together with the ones they loved, their eyes shut with towels wrapped around their shoulders. Whispers echoed through the air, softened voices and worried glances took part in the mix.
District 13 was under attack, as Peeta had so unceremoniously broken to the entire population of Panem just a few hours ago. After the news had been revealed, some doubted Peeta was even telling the truth. But Greyson knew the boy before the war. She knew the boy Katniss had fallen in love with in front of the cameras. And Peeta Mellark was not one to let thousands of innocent people die if he had a chance, even a slim one, to change their fate.
She had made it down to the bunkers with quick ease, but Katniss, her sister Prim, and Gale barely made it through the doors. She sat down a few beds away from Greyson with her family, using a light to play with the cat they owned.
Greyson couldn't sleep. Not when she knew that Finnick was alive. He wasn't well looking, but he was breathing, and breathing was better than having his body cold and lifeless resting inside of a wooden box.
Greyson sat up straighter as she saw Katniss walking towards her cot.
"Can I?" Katniss gestured to the empty space on Greyson's mattress, her hair was damp and hanging down her shoulders like vines. It reminded Greyson of the time they were in the arena when the humidity would've frizzed her hair and Katniss would sit on the sand and run her fingers through the ends of her hair.
"Yeah," Greyson said quietly. Some of the people around them were sleeping.
Katniss broke the short silence that swept between them. "Snow's using Finnick to punish you. He's taunting us with them. I didn't understand until just now, watching that stupid cat," she admitted under her breath.
Greyson let the words sink in for a few moments, before saying, "After your first Games, I thought the whole romance was an act. They all expected you to continue that strategy. But it wasn't until Peeta's heart stopped and he nearly died that I knew I'd misjudged you. You love him. I'm not saying in what way, maybe you don't even know yourself. But anyone paying attention can see it."
"How do you live with it?" Katniss asked in a hushed breath, a slight pain echoed in her voice.
Greyson thought back to the nights where she would lay awake and imagine every single way he could've died, the nights that were long and lonely, the ones that still are. "I drag myself out of nightmares and there's no relief in waking up. But it's better not to give in to it . . . it takes ten times longer to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart." Greyson sadly smiled to herself, looking at Katniss. "And sometimes in order to do that, you have to feel pain first before you can feel anything remotely beautiful again."
