But, You're Dead? [Clovniss]

The Fifth Time, Five Months After The War

The fifth time it happens, it's five months since the war ended.

Mrs. Everdeen bustles around the kitchen, making pancakes in a mildly wild frenzy. She had returned to District Twelve at Plutarch's insistence, stepping through the door two weeks ago to find her only remaining daughter nearly completely non-verbal and hiding away in her room. Despite the situation, Mrs. Everdeen is doing well and seems happy enough.

"Hey, mom." Katniss rasps, wringing her hair with a warm towel, having finally beginning to hold conversations with her mother again. "What are you making?"

"Making pancakes, want some?" Mrs. Everdeen offers, waving her spatula in the direction of the plate piled high with steaming pancakes. "We have maple syrup in the cupboard, I'm sure."

Katniss shrugs, loading up a plate for herself. She drowns them in maple syrup and eagerly helps herself to the offered breakfast, wasting no time. "These are... really good." She moans, shuffling over to the table

Mrs. Everdeen laughs, shaking her head, "I'm glad you like them. You got two letters this morning, the boy delivering them looked so familiar. I think he said his name was Hunter. Lovely boy, very quiet. The two of you would get along."

Hiding a frown, Katniss swipes the two letters from the table, opening the first one as soon as she sits. The edges of the paper are curled inwards, and it looks like someone dipped half of it into blood. The state of the letter and its contents have Katniss paling in seconds.

'Everdeen, those lovely lads who want you dead are here. Well, the lovely lads who are paying for your death, are here. The mercenaries have been here a while already. Okay, I'm get distracted now, let me get back on track real quick. You need to be extra careful, now more than ever. And this isn't just for yourself, this is for your mother and everyone else you care about. DON'T GO OUT ALONE. CHECK THE WINDOWS AND WHO'S THERE BEFORE ANSWERING THE DOOR. YOUR MOTHER CAN'T GO OUT ALONE, STAY WITH HER AT ALL TIMES OR CONVINCE HER TO STAY AT HOME. You're the bloody Mockingjay, you'll figure out something, I bet. Stalker won't admit it but she's ecstatic that more people wanting you dead have arrived, we have plenty of people to take care of and bodies to dispose. They're all idiots though, no idea what being subtle means. No fun hunting them, but killing them is great, because they think a dozen mercenaries can stop a Victor and a Career with an anger problem. Their stupidity means you won't be getting a sketch from me, so if a payer turns up on your doorstep, please, but an arrow in some delicate part of their bodies. Later, Everdeen, have to go kill more people now.'

The second letter is from her and is less bloodied than Hunter's. Masking tape keeps the page the page together, words hastily scrawled over the pieces of tape and dots of blood decorating the page. Unfortunately, the writing is more jumbled, difficult for Katniss to read but not impossible.

'Guess what, Twelve. The people who want you dead are here. Here; in District Twelve. They are in your own district, waiting for the chance to land the killing blow to your body. And still, you refuse to listen to me! These mercenaries will attack you, torture you and kill you because they are being paid big money by people with an intense hatred for you. Your life is in danger, but you continue to walk around, completely defenceless. On your own! This isn't some corny horror or a video game, when you die, you die. Game over, nothing else to it. No second chances for you, not like for me or Hunter, or those twins- if they did even survive. You will be dead and the people you care about left behind. How would your mother deal with that? She's already lost a husband and a daughter, loosing her last family member will destroy her. She'd die, just like my mom.

Look, the people here. They are being paid big money to kill you. Real big money. Hunter and I, we're trying to protect your dumb ass, but you need to help us out here. Least you could do is make it harder for you to wind up dead. Because honestly? We can only protect you if you do that weird thing called helping. Do you understand what helping means? Hey, it can be your word of the day! H-E-L-P-I-N-G. Can you read that, pronounce that, write that? Can you?! Learn it, see you soon.'