Ghost Of You [ the hunger games ]

e i g h t

A/N - Hi,  I know it has been forever since I last updated, but thank you so much for 7k on my other book, please check it out if you like Stephen King's It. Anyways, here is Chapter 8!

Chapter 8

· Ash's POV·

As Cinna finally calmed down, we just laughed it off. Then I saw Brooke appear leaning against the door frame to my room.

"Did I hear my name?" Brooke chuckled.

"Nope, nothing to be concerned about." Cinna and I chuckled, earning a curious and an 'are-you-serious look' from Brooke.

"Anyways, is it okay if I talk to Ash alone?"

"Yes sure," Cinna sat back up and left my room.

"So what do you want to talk about?" I asked and patted the space next to me where Cinna used to sit. And she filled that -what used to be- missing presence Cinna created.

"Well I have a gift for you. Since we will miss your birthday in the arena, hAPpY eArLy biRtHaDy!!!" She screamed the last bit in my face.

I then take a look at what she was holding in her arms as my birthday present, and my eyes widened at the sight. In front of me, I was greeted by a Zeppelin shirt. As she shoved it in my hands, by instinct, I smelled it. It smelled just how I hoped it would. It smelled of Brooke. It still did.

Now a Zeppelin shirt may seem like an insignificant and odd gift, however it was incredibly meaningful. As I was processing the thoughts in my mind, Brooke unzipped the fleece jumper she was wearing, and she was wearing her Zeppelin shirt.

I engulfed Brooke in a warming hug, as I slipped the shirt over my head. "You know, I remember the day we got these." I smiled out to her, unable to wipe the grin off of my face.

"Yeah, we were looking through our parents old stuff in the basement, and found these. We decided to declare them ours, and later we went on a walk, deciding we were super cool and independent now that we had these T-shirt's." Brooke continued telling like a story.

Now I continued, "and you showed me to the woods, and we were talking about how much we hated the Capitol, and District 12..."

"...Yeah, and then you said we should do something autonomous, cool, and ambitious..."

"...Then you laughed at me for not knowing what 2 out of 3 of those words meant..."

"...And then I suggested running away from District 12. And we did..."

"... until it got late, and we came up with the conclusion we were not cool, autonomous or ambitious." We had a massive laugh as we recalled the memory.

"So are these really the exact same shirts?" I asked unbelieved that she would bring them.

"Yep, the originals." She replied with a chuckle or more of a giggle.

Then out of the blue, Brooke spoke up, "hey I'm thirsty, can we get something to drink." Then we walked to the kitchen place, where we could order anything from this fancy machine thing.

I ordered a bottle of water, which was apparently 'from the great mountains of Scotland'. Then I saw Brooke teaching on her tippy toes, trying to get the top shelf. So I grabbed her waist. She squealed. I love her squeals, they sound so cute. So I lifted her up high enough so that she could reach the plain white mugs the Training Center supplied.

She went over to the machine, as I watched her every move, confused as to what she was doing.

She handed me my bottle of water and as she was doing so she said, "here's your fancy Scottish water Dusty!" She said with a chuckle but with yet a soft tone in her voice. I smiled at the nickname she still remembered from years and many years ago...