The Captial's Pearl || The Hunger Games

Chapter 10

❝I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw. I'm scared of what I did, of who I am... and most of all, I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way, I feel when I'm with you.❞

- 'Baby' in Dirty Dancing

Amelia's POV

I woke up laying on what felt like a flat table. My eyes opened seeing lights shining above me. I looked around and immediately my last memory was in the games. One minute Finnick was there and the next he wasn't.

Everything is frighteningly still when I wake up. The bed was my own, the sheets a wonderful clean white and smooth, the giant window at my side set in the soothing scene of the hillside back home, the tall grass swaying in an imaginary breeze, and it takes a moment to remember that this is all very wrong and completely impossible. I jump from the bed as if burned and a hand touches the cotton pyjamas that I had been dressed in, and my brow furrows in confusion.

Running from the room and into the sitting area I find it all empty, not a person in sight, but everything immaculately clean. "Hello?" I call, coming to stand in the centre of the room. "Miss Odair, how nice of you to join us." my heart leaps and I spin to the elevator door in time to see President Snow, an attendant, and a peacekeeper step out. "Sir! I'm afraid I don't understand what's happening," Amelia admits, shifting uncomfortably.

"Sit, with me, Amelia, dear," Snow tells me moving to the couches and I scramble to follow, sitting across from him as small as I can make myself appear. The President was quiet, watching me carefully for what felt like an eternity, before an Avox came in, placing an array of finger food on the low table, a mix of items from my District and delicacies from the Capitol. He took a drink that the Avox handed him and motioned for me to eat. I reached forward and took a piece of cured meat from the table, pairing it with a sugary treat before taking a bite.

"Sir, what happened to the arena? Did someone win the Games?" I finally ask when it looks like he'll have nothing to say. "The Games were over the moment Katniss Everdeen shot an arrow into the sky," he tells me, vague, and I am only left more confused. I remember an arrow of fire shooting up, the early electricity from the storm, the beeping of my arm. I shake away the blurry memories and looks to him instead.

"She destroyed the arena and caused chaos among the Districts," Snow says. "She, along with the traitors Finnick Odair, Beetee Latier, and Chaff Woodwell, have escaped the to the ruins of District 13." I choke, breathing heavily and I shake my head in denial. "No, no that can't be right. There's no District 13, they were eliminated for rebelling." "They have managed to survive somehow, like cockroaches, and are encouraging the rebellion among the other Districts."

I shake my head, my hands coming to rest over my ears as though it could prevent all the horrible things that I was hearing. "Johanna, Peeta and Annie and here as well, dear, and you will be permitted to see them after you answer a simple question," Snow went on, baiting me with my friends and I let him, hanging on to that thread of hope that he drew me in with. "Were you aware of this act of rebellion, Amelia?"

"I'm not sure. Haymitch had come to us, me and Finnick, asking to make sure that we kept Katniss alive in the arena, but I wasn't aware that it was for this," I confessed. "I- I thought that he simply wanted her to be the last one left, I never thought they would, well, that they would do this." President Snow considers me for a moment, with my hair lank and hanging straight, my loose clothing that made me look so small, and nods once with a soft noise from the back of his throat. "Very well. You are granted asylum, a refuge from the fighting of the Districts, Amelia Odair."