Make Them Burn

Mockingjay

CHAPTER 5: MOCKINGJAY

That next morning, the guys and I are scheduled for doctors' appointments.

We meet in the room that we know Prim works in. We like Prim. Prim is good.

"Good morning." Prim says cheerfully as she enters the room. An adult woman in her forties stands behind her with a clipboard. "Dr. Saroyan will be watching me for my doctor evaluations." She tells us.

"Do you want to be together for the appointments or go in separately?" Prim asks.

I look at the guys, knowing I don't want to be separated from them. They all look like they're feeling the same way.

"I thought so." Prim says, reading our minds. "Haymitch, you're up first."

Haymitch goes to sit on the cold metal table. Prim checks for any wounds the medical team might have missed, and takes his blood pressure.

"All normal so far. Let's talk about your emotional trauma suffered in the arena." She says kindly, leading Haymitch to a chair across from hers. "What do you do now after the arena you didn't do before?"

"Eat."

Prim throws him a look. "Haymitch, I'm serious."

He rolls his eyes. "I sleep with a knife. I'm more alert, hostile, and jittery, have nightmares, and I drink."

"Do you have any trouble staying awake for long periods of time and focusing?"

"No, and yes." Haymitch says, leaning forward.

Prim gives him a reassuring smile. "Okay. Here." She hands him a bag of rice in the shape of a ball. "Squeeze this when you're angry or scared or confused."

"What if I break it?" He asks.

"You won't. It's got very strong material. But I have more if you need it."

Haymitch nods and goes to sit down by Finnick and I.

"Okay, Finnick, your turn." Prim says. He moves to sit on the metal table. Prim checks his injuries, patching up the hole where his tracker was ripped out a little better.

Then it's time for his emotional checkup.

"What do you do now that you didn't do before the arena?"

"After the first, I became more jittery and had nightmares, just like Haymitch said, and after the second arena, I couldn't take it and now I'm always shaking and on edge." Finnick replies.

"Do you have trouble staying awake for long periods of time and focusing?"

Finnick heaves a great sigh. "Yes, and yes."

Prim retrieves a rope about a foot long from the cupboard. "You tie knots a lot, right?"

He nods, eyes fixated on the rope.

"Well here you are."

She gives him he rope and he hastily begins to knot it.

Finnick takes my spot next to Haymitch and Prim does my physical checkup. She seals up my tracker scar because the medical team did so bad. Then she takes me to the chair and we begin to talk.

"What do you do now that you didn't do before the arena?" She asks.

I sigh. "Have nightmares, am jittery and alert, and keep people close to me."

"Do you have trouble staying awake for long periods of time and focusing?"

I nod. "Sometimes, and yes."

She hands me a roll of purple yarn. "Roll it slowly into a ball. It'll help, I promise. Then when you're done, come to me and I'll give you another. Coin agreed that you'd be helping 13 by giving them unknotted yarn to make blankets."

"Thanks Prim." I tell her, but I can't seem to add any emotion to my words.

She smiles. "Anytime. Now, I believe you have a few hours before the assembly during Reflection."

"What for?" Haymitch asks.

"We don't know. But everyone not working should be there."

Haymitch suggests we go take a nap, but it's lunch time. "Aren't you hungry?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "I'm going to go take a nap."

Finnick and I bid Haymitch goodbye and go to the Dining Hall for lunch.

He's knotting his rope, and I'm rolling the yarn. During our disgusting meal of turnips, we don't talk. We sit by ourselves. No one wants to join the mental victors from different districts. I want Lilyanna, and Onnie, and Georgina. Stupid Chase would've been nice, before he abandoned my Yana.

"I want Annie." Finnick says hoarsely.

It takes me a second, but then I figure out that he's reading me, and knows exactly what I'm thinking. "Johanna's probably hurting so bad, and really wishing she had food as good as turnips to wash down her screams." I say sadly.

Wow, I'm depressing.

Finnick and I's plates are clean by the time we turn them in.

***

18:00- Reflection

When Haymitch wakes me up for the assembly, I discover that Finnick had another panic attack. Haymitch and I head for Collective, a massive room built to hold hundreds of people.

I catch a glimpse of Everdeen talking to someone, and when she pulls back I see that someone is Finnick.

Everdeen heads to the podium for a brief conversation with a Coin.

Haymitch and I cross over to Finnick. "Hey, you ok?" I ask.

He nods, not taking his eyes off the rope. "Katniss made a deal with Coin that anyone captured would have immunity from 13, no matter what they say."

Coin calls everyone to attention. Everdeen is lost in the crowd by now, but I focus on the President.

"Katniss Everdeen has consented to be our Mockingjay." Coin says. "Provided that the four victors, Peeta Mellark, Johanna Mason, Enobaria Gordon, and Annie Cresta are granted pardon for whatever damage they've done to the war cause." No Lilyanna? What? How could Everdeen have forgotten about her?

Finnick and Haymitch are looking at me, waiting for my reaction.

I ignore my friends.

"But in return for this unprecedented request, Soldier Everdeen has promised to devote herself to our cause. It follows that any deviance from her mission, in either motive or deed, will be viewed as a break in this agreement. The immunity would be terminated and the fate of the four victors determined by the law of District Thirteen. As would her own. Thank you."

So basically, if Everdeen misbehaves, all my friends are dead.