The Hunger Games

Chapter 18

          My dreams are filled with home. I’m back in the Seam in District 12 with my sister. We run in the meadow by the pond in a lush green forest. We laugh, sing, and play in the pond. I forget all my worries and I seem to be the happiest person on earth right now, though no one is ever happy anymore. Mockingjays fly around us, singing our songs, and there are no more Hunger Games, or never were. We climb trees and swim in the pond. I hunt and we eat the fresh kill. And the best thing yet is that Jake is with us, not dead, but alive and happy. This dream warms me, and Danny also appears, his arms gripping around me. Everything seems perfect, a bit too perfect.

          It’s weird, whenever I feel confused or emotional; I dream happy thoughts of things I love. These thoughts help me through the tough times and help me escape the deadly real world. Even sometimes when I’m upset and something tragic happens. Like after my brother’s death, I’d dream he was still alive, with me. I would wake up feeling relaxed and prepared for the day ahead of me. But when I’m scared, my dreams would craw with nightmares sometimes. It normally depends how scared I am. Which most of the time, I am, waking up screaming at times for my brother to run. I shift and turn in my sleep, and I know because I’m partly awake.

          “Katharine, wake up.” I hear Danny’s voice crawl into my dreams.

          At first I refuse, not wanting to leave my dream world. I keep my eyes closed and refuse to open them. Danny, as usual, shakes me and constantly continues to call my name, and doesn’t give up, even when I pretend to be unaware of slapping his face. I open my eyes to find myself looking right at him. His arms are around me, but he uses his right hand and brushes my hair behind my ear, and out of my face. “What is it?” I ask coldly. “You interrupted my dreams.”

          “Are you okay? You’ve been shifting around all night. I swear, if you weren’t smart enough to strap the sleeping bag to the tree, we would have fallen out.” He says.

          Ignoring what he said, I tend to lie back down and close my eyes, until I notice that he’s not on watch, and neither is Lily. “Shouldn’t you be on watch? And where is Lily?” I ask sitting back up, looking right at him with a dead look in my eye.

          “I am on watch. Lily’s over there, asleep.” He points to her, who’s asleep on a branch, with her legs tucked in, and her arms over them.

          Shocked at this, I slap him in the face, leaving a mark, that’s over the other slap mark. Damn, if I keep slapping him, he’s going to be marked forever.

          “Katharine, please stop slapping me!” Danny says. “It’s not cool. And it actually hurts.”

          “Are you kidding me?” I yell at him. “You’re supposed to be on watch, while Lily sleeps in the sleeping bag! It’s freezing out here! You shouldn’t feel the need to put your arms around me all the time. Don’t be selfish.”

          “She let me stay. And don’t call me selfish. You know I never am. I got you that necklace. Plus, if anyone is selfish, it’s Jared.” He says and I giggle at the thought of his older brother. He sits up next to me and we lean on the branches. He puts his left arm around me.

          I stare out into the forest, and let a strain of my hair fall over my face. Dawn is approaching, and I can see the sun beginning to rise. Lily soon wakes up and approaches us.

          “Hello and good morning.” She says crawling over to us with a big smile across her pale face.

          “Hey,” I reply. “Let’s continue onto the lake. We should be there by sundown or sometime during the day.”