The Hunger Games- What If's (Fan Fiction)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

   I don't get any more sleep tonight. This doesn't suprise me, though. I'm thinking too much tonight; I couldn't possibly try to shut my brain down.

   I sit on that ledge until I see the sun rising over the Capitol. I sit and watch it for a while, but then I go back to my own room and try to prepare myself for contact with the human world. Rather, the Capitol human world. Personally, I don't think that "citizens" and "Capitol citizens" should be classified into the one group of "people" for obvious reasons.

   I let my dirty clothes slip off of me. I just stand in my room for a moment after that, feeling to coolness of the air around me surround my body. Before it gets too cold, I choose some simple pants and a shirt from the closet with clothes "Specified to Your Taste," as the plaque on the wall next to it reads.

   I don't know if anyone else is up yet, but I'm sure that Effie will get me when it's time for me to get ready for today. I'm hoping she'll come soon, and maybe even quietly. I'm not sure if I can handle her high-pitched Capitol-accented voice today. If you can ever call if that. When she talks, it sounds more like a shriek.

   I search the covers on my bed until I find the remote to the window. I know that I saw a setting with the woods on it before, I just need to figure out how it got there. . . .

   After about a million different button-pressing combinations, the woods finally pops up on the window screen. I let myself down to the bed gently, not taking my eyes off of the glorious trees for a moment.

   I can imagine Gale and myself sitting right there, right on that fallen tree, tossing each other blackberries and mimicking the Capitol accent, just like on the day of the Reaping. The day that changed my life forever. The day I lost part of myself, but gained something, too. I think that was the start of my realization for just how much anger Gale always holds inside of him.

   But no, I won't think about that. Not now. Not here. I need to be ready for the Games. After all, they're nowhere near over yet. In fact, they're just beginning.

   I hear voices in the hall outside my room. Effie and Haymitch, I think. I fumble with the remote and quickly shut the image off the screen. In an instant, the window is just a window again, and Haymitch and Effie come bustling into my room.

   "See that? She's already up. Come on, it's a big day. We have to get you ready," Haymitch says too loudly.

   Effie's wig is slightly askew, and it is not very difficult to see that she is not amused. "Still, what if she hadn't been up? Katniss, you know you shouldn't be up at this hour! You need your rest! Haymitch, leave her to me, it's my job to get everyone where they're supposed to be. Now, shoo!"

   "The girl is my job. As long as she's alive, I'll decide what she does."

   As long as I'm alive I'm his job? I think, somewhat solemnly. That sounds horrifying.

   I remember thinking, early on, about how awful it must have been to be Haymitch when I was first entering the Games. I remember I thought that that was the reason he was always drunk. Actually, that still is the reason he gets drunk, but he doesn't really, not much anymore. I think he's finally here. I mean, one hundred percent, absolutely here. He's mine, and, well, as long as I'm alive I'll do what he says.

   "What do you want me to do, Haymitch?" I ask, rising from my seat on the comfortable mattress.

   Haymitch gives Effie an "I told you so" glance, then motions for me to walk over to him. I do, and he puts an arm around me, leading me for the door and away from the ferociously fuchsia woman standing in my room.