The Huntress

For some odd reason, I couldn’t sleep. I kept tossing and turning and replaying my training score in my head. No one’s ever gotten an 11 before. No one until Gale and I became tributes. I was starting to think that maybe one of us could win this for our district. I hoped it would be Gale because I knew I couldn’t live without him and I wouldn’t want Mrs. Hawthorne to live in the Seam. Before I knew it I heard a light knock at my door. I crawled out of bed to find Gale standing there.

“Couldn’t sleep either?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, “Want to get some fresh air?”

“Please,” I said.

He then grabbed my hand and I shut my bedroom door and he took us to the roof of the Training Center.

“Haymitch showed me this when I got back from my training session today,” Gale said as I looked around the roof.

There was a tiny little garden with wind chimes chiming and you could look over the edge and see that the people of the Capitol were all having a blast. I thought the garden was a beautiful sight and I slowly made my way over to look at all the flowers that were there. I had to smile because they had a lot of primrose flowers scattered about and I immediately thought of Prim.

“They have a lot primrose planted in the garden,” I said smiling and smelling the evening primrose.

“I had a feeling you would like it up here,” Gale smiled at me and I smiled back.

“So how come they let us come here?” I asked.

“Haymitch said they have a force field that throws you back up onto the roof,” Gale said as we sat in the middle of the garden.

“Oh I see,” I said and looked out at the night sky.

“You know you don’t have to put on a brave face for me,” he said and I looked over at him and for the first time I said something I thought I would never say.

“Gale,” I said, “I’m scared.”

“Adyrn,” Gale said and I shook my head no.

“Let me explain,” I said, “Gale I don’t want to lose you and I don’t want to die either. We’re only eighteen and we have so much more ahead. . .”

“Adyrn,” Gale said.

“Gale,” I said ignoring him, “I’m serious.”

“No,” Gale said and I stopped talking and looked at him.

“What do you mean no?” I asked.

“I mean no,” he said, “We’re not going to talk about the games. We’re not even going to talk about a plan of what is going to happen in the arena. I just want to spend this last couple of days together carefree okay? Right now I just want us to act like we would back home.”

I didn’t say anything and nodded my head saying I understood. I then stood up and pulled Gale up. We walked over to the wall and we sat against the wall. I sat with my back against the wall and Gale put his head in my lap. I started playing with Gale’s dark brown hair and he looked up at me.

“I don’t want to die having them thinking something I’m not,” he said, “You and I both know how much I dislike the Capitol. I don’t want them to think I’m their puppet that they can pull strings on. If I die in the arena I want to be me and I want you to be you.”

“I know,” I whispered looking down at him, “But you can’t think like that Gale.”

“Do you remember that song you sang for Prim when we had that bad rain storm couple of years ago?” Gale asked after we sat in silence for a little bit.

“Yeah,” I said, “My father used to sing it to me when I was scared.”

“Would I sound like a little kid if I asked you to sing it for me?” he asked.

“No,” I said, “I’d be glad to sing it to you,” I said and then I started singing the song.

I remember tears streaming down your face
When I said I'll never let you go
When all those shadows almost killed your light
I remember you said
Don't leave me here alone
But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight.
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound.
Don't you dare look out your window
Darling, everything's on fire
The war outside our door keeps raging on
Hold on to this lullaby
Even when the music's gone
Gone.
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound.
Just close your eyes
You'll be alright
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound.

When I finished the song, I looked down to see Gale looking at me.

“It gives you hope doesn’t it,” I said looking down at him.

“It does,” he said, “Can you sing it again?”

“Of course,” I replied and sang the song again.

I must have sang the song three or four times before I noticed that Gale had fallen asleep on my lap. I don’t know when I fell asleep, but I woke up to the sun rising and my head on Gale’s chest and his arms wrapped around me protectively. I moved to wake up and Gale slowly opened his eyes.

“Good morning,” he said and smiled down at me.

“Morning,” I said yawning and sitting up.

“We fell asleep,” he said.

“You fell asleep after I sang your lullaby like three of four times,” I said smiling at him as he helped me up.

“When did you fall asleep?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I sighed as we headed down towards where everyone was running frantically around our floor.

When we saw Haymitch running towards Gale’s room, Gale stopped him.

“What’s going on?” Gale asked and Haymitch stopped running and relief washed over his features.

“Where in the hell were you?” he asked, “Effie went to go wake up Adyrn and she wasn’t in her room.”

“We fell asleep on the roof,” Gale answered, “We need some air and we accidently fell asleep.”

Effie then rushed over to where we were standing and relief washed over her face as well.

“Where were they?” Effie asked Haymitch.

“On the roof,” Haymitch said and we headed to go eat.

We ate breakfast and I could see Gale and Haymitch having a silent conversation between the two of them.

“So what are we doing today?” I asked.

“I forgot to mention to you last night but Gale told me he wants to be coached separately now,” Haymitch said and took a bite of his eggs.

I then looked over at Gale who was staring over my shoulder not looking at me.

“That’s fine,” I choked out.

“Okay then,” Haymitch said, “You’ll be spending four hours with Effie first and then four hours with me.”

I then nodded my head and continued to eat. While I was eating, I was trying to figure out why Gale would betray me like that. It was his idea to be coached together and now he’s backing out of it. Something was wrong with that. That wasn’t the Gale I knew, the Gale I knew always wanted to work together as a team. He knew you got a lot more out of working as a team then alone. Before I knew it, I was in my bedroom and Effie made me change me into a dress and very high, high heels. She then made me walk to a room on our floor where I practiced my walking and waving and smiling and the tone of my voice. Effie also helped me with my posture. The walking thing took forever for me to get down because I wasn’t used to walking so high up and the dress kept getting caught on my heels.

“You almost have this Adyrn,” she said as I tried to walk again.

“I know,” I said frustrated, “This stupid dress keeps getting caught in the heels and makes me trip.”

“Okay,” she sighed again, “Let’s try this again.”

I then walked back to where I had been walking and walked down to where Effie was one last time. This time I walked down and back successfully; no tripping and no dress getting caught in the heels.

“I did it!” I exclaimed when I got back to where I started.

“You did!” Effie exclaimed and we did a little dance I lost my balance and fell, “Oh my! Are you okay Adyrn?”

I then started laughing and I told Effie I was fine. Once Effie knew I was okay she started laughing and we were both laughing for a while over my klutziness. Since we had gone over what Effie wanted to practice with me, we started talking.

“You care about Gale more than a friend don’t you,” Effie said as we sat and she got to know me a little bit better.

“Am I really that obvious?” I asked looking at her and Effie smiled and giggled a little bit.

“Not really sweetheart,” she said, “but I think the only ones who have an idea are just me and Portia.”

“I really don’t want to kill him Effie,” I said, “but my family still needs me too.”

“I know,” Effie said and soon there was a knock on the door.

Effie went to go answer it and Gale was standing there with Haymitch. I walked over to where Effie was standing and she smiled at Gale and Haymitch. When Haymitch and Gale saw me in the practice dress and heels, their mouths dropped.

“I didn’t know you could clean up sweetheart,” Haymitch joked and I rolled my eyes.

“I never knew you knew how to use a compliment,” I smirked and Haymitch offered his arm laughing and I took it.

He then led me to a room and walked me over to a seat in the sitting room and took a seat in the chair across from me.

“So what angle are we going to play with you?” Haymitch asked and he looked at me.

I sat there like Effie taught me how to and I just stared at Haymitch until he smiled and got an idea in his eyes.

“We’re going to play the wisdom card with you,” he smiled, “You have wisdom beyond all of the other competition.”

He then launched into question that showed off my wisdom for my age and he was grinning at me the entire time.

“You’re going to do great,” he said as our session came to an end, “Both of you will do great.”

“What do you mean?” I asked and he just smiled at me.

“You’ll see tonight,” he said and then there was a knock at the door and Cinna was at the door.

“Well don’t you look good just in that,” Cinna smirked and I rolled my eyes as we walked to my room.

“Well I am the hottest tribute there is,” I teased and Cinna started laughing at me.

“Well isn’t someone cocky,” he said as I took off my heels and looked at him.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said and winked at him.

“Get in the shower so I can make you beautiful,” he said chuckling and pushing me towards the shower.

I quickly showered and then let Cinna work his magic on me. It took another four hours and when Cinna was done I was in awe of what I saw in the mirror. My nails were painted like fire and my hair was curled and pinned in a bun with a red flower on the side of my head. My dress was indescribable. The dress was a long red gown that had one sleeve and made myself look even older than what I normally looked. The heels weren’t as high as what Effie made me practice in but I did notice something that made me smiled. There sitting on my neck was a mockingjay necklace. It was exactly like the pin Katniss and Madge gave me before I left.

“How did you get one into a necklace?” I asked.

“I had a friend who owed me a favor,” he said and I smiled up at him, “So what do you think?”

“I love it,” I said and turned around and hugged him tightly, “Thank you so much.”

“No problem Adyrn,” he said.

“I love the mockingjay necklace the most,” I said.

“Good,” he smiled, “I thought you might enjoy it. Ready to go see what Gale looks like?”

“Yes,” I sighed and let out a breath of air, “Wait.”

Cinna then stopped and looked at me.

“I’m nervous,” I said finally acknowledging the tight knots in my stomach.

“Okay,” he said, “I want you to pretend you’re talking to me and answer every question honestly. I will be sitting in the front row with all the other stylists. If you ever need to see a friendly face I’ll be right there.”

“Okay,” I said feeling a load lighter than before.

He then offered me his arm and we headed to where everyone else was waiting for us. As we walked over, I could see Gale talking to Portia but he stopped midsentence when he saw me and Cinna walking towards everyone.

“Oh my you look stunning Adyrn!” Portia exclaimed, “I love it.”

“Thank you,” I said smiling and blushing lightly.

“You look beautiful,” Gale said in awe.

“Thank you,” I said and felt myself blush, “You don’t look so bad yourself Gale.”

Portia and Cinna were talking and we were waiting for Haymitch and Effie to come to the elevator so we could down to where we were going to do our interviews. Haymitch and Effie came to the elevators about a few minutes later, and they were both looking sharp. Effie and Portia then began to gush how well Gale and I complimented each other. By the time we got to where we were having our interviews, the only other tributes were District 2. Gale and I were holding hands and Gale continued to give me a reassurance squeeze because he could tell I was nervous.

“You’ll do great,” he whispered in my ear.

“I don’t know Gale,” I sighed looking up at him, “I’m so nervous.”

“You’re going to knock their socks off,” he said giving me a reassuring smile this time.

I smiled lightly back and he smiled wider.

“There’s that smile I love so much,” he said and I rolled my eyes.

“Can I ask you a question really quick?” I asked him.

“Sure,” he said and before I could ask Gale, we were herded where the other tributes were and we lined up according to districts.

This time I would be going first and Gale would be going last. We were all the brought onto the stage in a single file line so Gale and I couldn’t hold hands but he stayed close to me and that brought me some comfort.