Ileana: Katniss's Daughter

Chapter One: Secrets

       When I finally stopped running I was out of breath and choking on my sobs. I collapsed. I had taken myself to the woods outside of town. This is where I had always felt safest. I turned my face up toward the leafy canopies of the trees. Sticking out my tounge I gupled in the drizzles of water that escaped past themake-shift roof or branches and greenery. Running my hands through the underbrush I crushed the damp leaves and dirt in my fingers. What had I just seen? Why was Mother so upset? And More: Why did what I see scare me so much?I let myself fall back into the bed of pine needles. I closed my eyes and tried to get a hold of my emotions. Deep breaths I told myself. It took every ounce of strength I had to force myself to breath correctly again.

     Heaving myself up off the forest floor. I started deeper into the forest. I headed toward the cottage by the lake, the one my mother had been bringing me to since before I could walk. The lake was quiet, and the cottage was practically mideval, but I had always like to sit in the tree that hung out over the water's edge. I went there now, to the tree, and Climbed it's sturdy branches. I eased myself out onto the branch that hung a couple of feet above the surface of the water and stretched out on it. Dropping my hand over the edge of the branch, I let my fingers graze the cold water, and closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep.

     I awoke with a start. it was dark outside. The rain had stopped and the water was still. But I had this strange feeling like...someone was watching me. I spun around on the branch and promptly fell into the lake below me. I sputtered to the surface, choking for breath and spitting out water. I heard laughter from above me. Water blurred my vision and I blinked rapidly, trying to make out the figure in the tree.

     Not that I had to. I knew the laugh immediately. It was Trace. "Trace! You jerk, you scared me!" I choughed out. Trace scambled down from the tree and waded out into the lake to help me. He dragged me out of the water and onto the rocky shore.

     "Sorry Ileana, I didn't mean to scare you." Trace said as he helped me up. He yanked off his hoodie and wrapped it around my shoulders. It was way too big, but I didn't care and hugged it around me appreciatively.

    Trace's Face went serious as he watched me. "Haymitch set me out to get you...he's waiting at the edge of the woods with his truck. He said there had been some bad news and he thought you'd heard something. He came to my house looking for you because no one knew where you might have gone."

     "Apparently they didn't look too hard."

     "Your mother is worried...she couldn't stop crying and saying that 'it was happening to again' and that she 'wouldn't let it happen to her babies'. What was she talking about"

     "I don't know. I was heaed inside and I saw Mom, Dad and Hamitch taling in the parlor...I didn't mean to watch but, I did and then I read Haymitch's lips right before I ran off. He said, He said...something about 'them' being back and me and Garel...something about being chosen. What does it mean Trace?" I was crying and shaking now.

     Trace wrapped his arms around me and held me. "I don't know Ileana, I don't know. But I am sure you'll find out. And if Hamitch or your parents don't tell you, or even if they do, I will help you find out, I promise, ok?"

     I nodded solemnly, sniffling and wiping my nose on my arm.  I knelt by the lake's edge and splashed my face with water. As I cleaned myself up, Trace ran up behind me and picked me up , throwing me into the water again. He then ran in behind me and soaked himself too. I splashed him and he splashed back until we were so cold and laughing so hard that we had to get out.Good old Trace, he almost made me forget about this afternoon. Almost.

    At the edge of the forest Haymitch was waiting in his truck. As galed and I climbed dripping wet into the back of the truck, Haymitch looked at me as if to say something, but then turned away.

    We dropped Trace at his house on the far side of town. "I'll see you tomorrow Ileana, say noon at the library?"

     "Yeah, ok, tomorrow. See ya." I called after him. He waved over his shoulder and then dissapeared through the door. This left me and Haymitch alone in the truck with a kind of long drive ahead of us.

     "Hamitch, I..." "Ileana, whatever you heard," Haymitch and I began at the same time. I snapped my mouth shut and leaned back in my seat. I hardened my gaze and stared at him with my arms floded across my chest. "I'm waiting...I deserve answers" I demanded.

     'You are so like your mother sometimes 'Ana." He said. He let out a long sigh and started the truck. "You're right. You do deserve anwers. You are old enough to be told the truth, your parents' history. They should have tol you long ago. Being a teenager is going to make this much harder. Do you mind if we go somewhere other than your home? Maybe my house? Something more private than here." I nodded curtly and returned my gaze to the road.