I'm clinging to Peeta's lifeless body in an attempt to keep him with me. He was just starting to open his eyes when Rue's crippled form came over to the cornucopia. Wait, what? Rue died, I was there. She still has the spear in her stomach, and as she begins to walk closer and closer towards us, she pulls the spear out, and throws it at my torso. I'm not dead yet, though. Marvel, from district one, comes next, and shoots an arrow through my neck, and Cato, one through my temple. Clove came, and Glimmer, Foxface and Thresh, then Prim, and my father. Each with their own torturous way of killing me.

I bolted up in the bed, and it took me a while to realise that the screams that I was hearing were mine. I clamped one hand over my mouth, and pulled a jumper on over my nightgown. An avox must've heard my screams, because as I reached the door, there came a knock.

"Come in," I said hoarsely.

I had hoped to order some warm milk, but instead, I got Haymitch. Poor, old, drunken Haymitch. He must've read my mind, because he said; "No, sweetheart, the nightmares don't get any better, but after about 20 years, they get a bit easier to cope with." I can't form any words though, my throats too sore. He looks at me with harsh eyes, and then says, "you know, sweetheart, I'm not as uptight, or as dumb as you may think I am, okay?

I didn't know how to reply, so I didn't. He looks at me with so much pity that I want to slap him, but before I can even move, his eyes soften, and he envelopes me in a hug. The warmth of it, however, reminds me of when I had a father around to comfort me. If you mix the grief of missing him, with my nightmare, and the entire trauma of the games, then it brings on an inevitable flood of tears.

Haymitch just lays me on the bed and shushes me, stroking my hair, and sending me off to sleep with words of hope. Whispering about the good things, being back home in twelve, with Snow being a good, far distance away, seeing Prim again, and having her safe.

When I woke the next morning, I headed straight to breakfast. Haymitch must've fallen asleep next to me, and only gone recently, because his side of the bed is still warm. On the way to dining room, however, I was stopped by the undeniable stench of roses. I couldn't stop the gagging sound that I made, but, somehow sensing that it was for me, I poked my head into the spare bedroom, where Peeta had slept. Sure enough, there, on the quilt, was one pristine white rose, and a letter. I headed into the room, and saw that it was addressed to me. The smell made me want to be sick, buy I picked the two up, and chucked the rose out of the window. Slowly, I opened up the letter, unsure of what was to come next. In it were the words;

Miss Everdeen,

It was a pleasure to watch your games, and I know that many of your sponsors thought so too. That boy, Mr Peeta Mellark, by professing his love to you, seemed to make you very, desirable. As, I think, it would be fair to repay them, you are to 'pleasure' them, in whatever form they say. To the best of your ability, might I add, otherwise your dear family may become deathly clumsy. So may your dearest cousins.

Yours truly, Miss Everdeen,

CS

I don't know what to feel, anger, hatred, sadness, self-pity? Whatever it is makes me run into the dining room, turn on the stove, and burn the letter to a crisp. Washing the remains down the sink, I turn around to see a shocked Effie, and confused Cinna, and a worried Haymitch. They all stare at me, and then I realise that I have been crying. I wipe my eyes, and smile at Effie, who promptly returns to her magazine. Cinna, however, continues to look at me with a mix of curiosity, worry, and fear. When I look at Haymitch, his eyes lock with mine, and it feels like he is looking into my soul. Suddenly, his face pales dramatically, and he quickly jumps up to the phone in the wall. He punches in a number, and when the person pick up, I hear a very quiet nose on the other end, to which Haymitch says three words – yes, it's happened. It sounds like there's a crash on the other end, and then they both hang up.

When he returns to his seat, he rakes his hands through his hair, but stops halfway, and just sits there. Frozen. He looks up to me, hands still on his head, almost like he is trying to block the sound out of his ears. He mutters something along the lines of, "my fault", "boy being in love", "not that pretty", "Finnick". To which I creased my eyebrows together, widened my eyes, scoffed, and groaned, all in that order, to each of those little phrases.

Motioning for me to look at him, our eyes locked, and he told me not to worry, it won't start for another six months. I'll be seventeen by then. He then told me to meet him at his house tonight around seven, but to grab a bit of bread for breakfast and go to my room; we'll be there in less than five minutes.

I sprint to my room, and grab the few possessions that I have with me. My mother's reaping dress, my mockingjay pin, a few items of clothing that Cinna brought from the Capitol, including a soft pink dress for Prim, the clothes from my games, and a couple of the fancy chocolates. I shove it into a dark blue bag, and quickly get dressed in dark green, loose trousers, and a lighter green tight top, put a leather brown jacket over it, and head to the door of the train.

I've finished all my interviews with Ceaser, there's no one left in the Capitol to tell me how amazing it is that 'An outlining volunteer is the victor of the 73rd Games', so, there is nothing else left to do, until my victory tour. Honestly, it's just designed to bring back the pain for almost everyone in the districts, for everyone who loved a victim of the games. I have to go back and face the families of those I was allies with, of those I killed, and who's deaths I am responsible for. Altogether, I had two allies, and fives deaths to my name – Cato, Glimmer, Clove, Marvel, and the girl from four. I guess that you could count Peeta, since he was protecting me. Six. Six people dead because of me.

The train has now stopped, and I practically sprint the rest of the way to the door, with Haymitch surprisingly not too far behind. Mayor Undersee leads me onto the stage, and the whole crowd cheers for me, the first victor of twelve in twenty-four years. However, I stay up there for the shortest amount of time possible, because, as soon as I'm allowed, I race down the steps to Prim and my mother. I smile at my mother and give her a quick peck on the cheek, before enveloping Prim and lifting her up in my arms. Hers are around me in an instant, and lock into place. I don't ever want to have to let her go. But I do, and I take note of how bony she is, I must make her eat as soon as possible. As I put her down, I whisper into her ear.

"Happy birthday, little duck." Her smile is so wide, and she tries to speak, but nothing comes out. Instead, I put my finger over her lips, and whisper, "I can hardly speak, I understand." I give her a quick peck on her forehead, and then hear a voice I thought that I had heard for the last time.

"Hey, Catnip," Gale. In that instant, I jump up, and run the short distance towards him before I reach him. Time seems to slow down when we touch, and I latch my arms around his neck. He lets out a low chuckle, before he wraps his strong arms around my torso. I instinctively lift my legs up and wrap them around Gale.

It's not weird.

He started dating Madge just before the reaping. I bury my head in his shoulder and start sobbing lightly. Gale just seems to understand, even when I don't, and places me down. When I don't move my arms, he gives me a quick kiss on the head and says about going to our new house. The Hawthorne's are moving in with us so they can have a better life as well, not to mention the fact that the massive house would just be too empty without them.

Once we step inside, I'm pretty sure that Prim's jaw drops, but she quickly closes it. I think everyone does the same thing, actually, except for me. I guess the Capitol really has spoilt me. It's all quiet, until Prim and Rory sprint upstairs at the same time, leaving Gale and I laughing our socks off. My mother, Hazelle and Posy head into the kitchen area, so Gale and I decide to head upstairs as well. Gale leans over to me on the way up.

"I do hope they're not playing a round of kissy-kissy." He says it in such an un-Gale way, it almost shocks me, but I reply quickly.

"Well, I think that playing with the shower buttons is more dangerous," with that, he stops and looks at me with fear, then says, "I haven't had a shower for ages. Can you tell?" My face must look disgusted, but he quickly comes towards me making monkey sounds. We learnt about monkeys in school, apparently they existed before the dark days, and there are still some around, but only in zoos in the Capitol. The teacher showed us a video, and unfortunately, Gale is freakily good at impersonating. I washed with mint gel this morning, so I don't stink, but I don't particularly want to smell Gale, so I sprint up the stairs. When I get there, I stop in my tracks, the doors are open, and you can see the bedrooms from here. And they are amazing. They're somehow better than the ones in the penthouse in the Capitol, and on the train. I count them, there are six, and one bathroom, even though everyone probably has one anyway. There can be one for me, the master bedroom, one for Prim, one for my mother, one for Gale, one for Rory and Vick, and one for Hazelle and Posy. I headed into my new room, and unpacked my stuff.

A/N: Hey there, I had my other story which I am still doing, but I have been in Australia for the past three weeks so I couldn't upload anything because I only had my phone. Anyway, I read a really amazing story that actually follows the plot, and I thought that I would try something like that. So, here we are. Next chapter is coming very soon...