How It Could Have Been ~ The-Mockingjay-xx

Chapter 2

In a matter of minutes the Capitol is a dot on the horizon. The landscape begins to transform from the snow topped mountains of the Capitol to the silk fields and factories of District 1. I see the black and white flash of a
mockingjay's wing fly past the window and my attention turns to home. I imagine coming home to an empty house, my father dead, my sister dead and my mother in district 4, helping to create new medicines and cures to diseases. I think of a coat rack with no coats, wardrobes completely empty, beds not slept in, the gas cooker off, the fire stone cold. Just these thoughts make me feel lonelier than ever.

We sit in silence, Peeta, Haymitch and I, probably all thinking the same thoughts; what happens next? I look up at the boy with the bread, his ashen blonde hair still uniformly curly, and try to figure out exactly what I feel for him. I don't love him in the same way I used to anymore, I love him as a friend, as a neighbour. His hijacking changed him and he is not the same anymore. Of course it would be impossible to remain unchanged after all the we have witnessed, but Peeta is damaged beyond repair. We managed to regain some of his memories but he is still cracked, scarred. He can sort some of his nightmares out now, says the changed ones have a sort of glossy quality. I remember that final night in the Quarter Quell when we were separated. I never saw him again after that until he was broadcasted on TV from the Capitol. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if he hadn't been separated from me that night, would I still love him, would I have married him for real?

Then I start to think about Gale, he has always been there for me - my best friend. I want to speak to him, I want to reassure him that Prim's death was not his fault, that it was Coin's. What if he thinks I blame him and won't come back to District 12? Before I know it I am starting to panic and I need him here to calm me down, he always knows how to calm me down. I run my fingers along the red velvet chair in an attempt to do so myself but I am relatively unsuccessful. I try and dismiss Gale from my thoughts and begin to think of the rebuilding of District 12. How could life be once they have finished?

     A beautiful cloudless sky reveals a hot sun, beating down on the grand justice building and igniting the fragments of glass encased in marble. A gentle breeze allows the blue banners - which hang beside the oak doors - to ripple softly like the surface of a still lake, disturbed with skimming stones. Around the square, hang colourful posters which light up the buildings and release a holiday cheer into the air. The roads have been re-surfaced and the Seam houses have been rebuilt with hot running water and showers as standard. Crowds huddle in the hob which now exists as rows of garish green market stalls. The merchants are out in the streets enticing people in with the urge to buy their produce. Fresh bread releases a mouth-watering scent that wafts into the air from the bakery, and intricately decorated cakes lie waiting in the shop window for someone to buy them. Rooba, a plump lady who owns the butchers shop, stands outside calling for people to buy her meat which is now on offer. Gale and I spend days in the woods hunting, gathering and fishing together. We deliver some of our game to the hob and do our weekly round: deer and rabbit to Rooba in return for money, squirrels to the baker in return for fresh bakery bread, strawberries to the mayor and meat to the peacekeepers who are now much fewer in number. There are no more severe punishments; the flogging posts are gone, the stocks are gone, the hanging stations are gone. Fear has been erased and we are all much happier for it. I invite everyone over for a meal at my house: Haymitch, Peeta and his family, Gale and his family. All of us enjoy a succulent meal of rabbit stew, fresh water salmon, vegetables and a fruit salad for dessert which tickles your tastebuds before it slides down your throat a treat. Gale and I lie in the meadow and watch the sun set over the horizon; the sky lights up with magnificent shades of yellow, orange, red, pink, purple and blue as the sun slips down behind the hills for another day in the hope of returning tomorrow.