Shattered (A Hunger Games Fan-fiction) (Wattys2015) (#feels)

Chapter 6

For a while, I just stand there in front of the door, trying to comprehend everything that has happened. It seems too strange, too unreal to me. The Peacekeepers slammed the door shut ages ago, but I am rooted to the spot, unable to move.

Sometime later, Rosie starts crying in my arms and I look down to see her eyes wide and scared. They do not have the light and joy they normally do. They are now filled with tears of grief. I don't know exactly how much she understood but it's obvious that she knew something was wrong.

Her tears have almost soaked the front of my shirt by now and her eyes have begun to droop. So I slowly walk over to where her bed is and sit down on it, just stroking her light blonde hair and looking at her.

I have no idea what to do now. My father is dead. The man who taught me how to fish was gone. The man who used to take me for a swim everyday when I was a little boy was no longer in this world. He had always tried his best to keep us as happy and safe as he could. He used to let me rest when I was supposed to be working.

Before the Capitol began treating district four so badly, we used to go for picnics in the woods and every night he would take my mother out for a walk on the beach. I missed that time so much.

The Capitol, I think to myself, has ruined life for everyone. I had not known this when I was a boy. District Four was a Career district then, but now, well we're still a career district but we know how all the other districts are being treated. Now we are living life just like them: no food, no freedom, no certainty that you would ever live happily. Instead, we have to work and starve.

I start to feel a boiling wave of rage inside me and I know what, or who it was aimed at. The Capitol, and President Snow.

My father was murdered on the President's orders, I know that much. The Peacekeepers work for that lunatic. He's the one who to blame for every single thing. So what if he let his son have a little fun and did his share of the fishing? That did not mean he had to be killed! I can literally feel my blood boiling inside my veins. I want to strangle Snow right at this moment.

Rosie begins to stir in my lap so I decide to tuck her into bed. I always enjoyed watching my mother tuck her in every night. She would first put her down in the bed and then she would sing her to sleep. She would keep . singing a little while after she went to sleep and then fold the duvet neatly around her so it looked almost like a cocoon. I don't know any of my mother's songs so I just make up a short one myself

"When the moon comes out

And the sun burns out

When the stars dance

And the trees whisper

Lay down your head

And close your eyre

Know that I will always be here

Beside you. To protect you.

I love you little Rosie...."

I say the last verse and silently climb in next to her, knowing I will have a stiff back when I wake up. But I want to keep her safe and she could wake up in the middle of the night, wondering about me. I want to make sure no one gets to her.

Sometime in the middle of the night, I find myself thinking about my mother. Where can she be? Is she okay? Had she heard the Peacekeeper when he told me that my father was dead? I start wondering how much she will have to work and how long it'll be till we get to meet her. And most importantly, when is she going to come back home?

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"Eat the toast."

"No."