The Hunger Games

Goodbye, III

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow. A bed of grass, a soft green pillow. Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes. And when again they open, the sun will rise. Here it's safe, here it's warm, here the daisies guard you from every harm, here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true, here is the place where I love you." I sing softly, and I spot Ash watching me closely, tears forming in her eyes. "Deep in the meadow, hidden far away, a cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray. Forget your woes and let your troubles lay. And when again it's morning, they'll wash away. Here it's safe, here it's warm. Here the daisies guard you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you."

Ash let out a gentle sob and I put an arm around her.

"Jason sung that to me." she whispered before hiccuping. "He sung that to me when my sister died."

I placed my other arm across her chest and let her hide under it while she sobbed.

"Her name was Auburn." Ash sobbed. "She was only nine when they... When the peacekeepers killed her. They took her away because she was caught in the fence. They thought she was trying to escape, but she wasn't! They whipped her in front of the entire town. They just kept whipping her. She passed out at 30, but they still didn't stop! I tried to stop them but she... She was already dead when they reached 100."

She let out a cry of agony and Amy woke up, putting her arms around Ash's slim waist.

"When I got pushed into the crowd, Jason took me back to my house and sung that to me." she continued. "I had nightmares, but every time I woke up, he was sitting there, singing it to me. He... I had to kill the girl from 7. Do you understand why now?"

I paused.

"Yeah." I whisper. "I do."

Amy fell asleep again, and with some of the medication that she had grabbed, Ash did too. Eventually, it was only me that was awake, so I climbed down the tree and curled up on the ground.

I felt strong arms wrap around me and lift me into the tree after I dozed off.

I dreamed of Joshua and Shawn.

When I woke up, Shawn asked if I had any wire so that he could try and learn to set snares.

I nodded and volunteered to go with him, and he happily agreed.

After about a hour of practice, he managed to create a good snare, and when we checked it at lunch time, there was a pair of unlucky rabbits caught in it.

As we were skinning them, he turned to me and sighed sadly.

"Bella." he said quietly. "You know that I need you to survive this, right? I love you, Bella."

"I know you do." I answer. "I need you to survive too."

Without thinking, I lean forward and kiss him. I hear a stifled giggle and glance up to see Amy staring at us.

"Oh, don't mind me." she giggled again. "Keep doing what you're doing. Don't mind me."

I laugh as she comes over and sits in my lap.

"Carry on." she says, in a mock-serious tone.

After we finish with the rabbits, I share one with Amy, and Shawn shares one with Ash. Cameron is currently happily munching on one of his many double-cheese hamburgers.

I hate to admit it, but those gamemakers are GOOD.

Which is why we didn't expect the frightened boy who entered the clearing. The boy who...