THE HANGING TREE | peeta mellark

ii. the announcement

act one.
chapter two, the announcement

CORDELIA HADN'T LEFT HER DISTRICT SINCE THE LAST EVENT AT THE CAPITOL. She thought it was best to stay away. If she was distanced then people couldn't get hurt because of her. That was something Cordelia could never remove from her mind, the thought that no matter what she does, all she does is hurt people and cause them pain.

She had to stay away from Peeta.

She didn't know him, at least not personally. But she now knew him enough that if anything were to be said he could easily be tortured, or worse killed just for saying hello to the girl.

"Its not real, none of it is."

Peeta's words played through her head almost everyday since that night. Cordelia knew it wasn't real. Most of the victors did. It was a strategy, a tactic to keep them alive for as long as possible. Finnick had tried to joke after the party about her and Peeta's possible flirting but Johanna shot it down quickly. Johanna was like Cordelia in a way. She had lost pretty much everyone she loved. Cordelia was one of the only people Johanna could find comfort in and Cordelia made sure it stayed that way.

Lately in District Four there had been revolts, people standing up to peacekeepers, which just led for more to be sent in. The weather there had been terrible too, the sky pouring rain almost every other day. Cordelia used to love the water, her and Finnick played in it as kids. She'd swim and splash, collect shells too. She used to bring them to her mother and she'd keep them in a little blue box with Cordelia's named stitched in it.

The next year's games were soon. This year was a Quarter Quell, meaning everyone knew there'd be some strange rule. So to join the special little rule there had to be special little announcement from Snow over Capitol television. Cordelia almost wishes she didn't have to watch it, but she wanted to know. Everyone wanted to know what was going on at all times.

Cordelia, Finnick, and Annie gather around the television in Cordelia's home at seven-thirty and there Caesar Flickerman is, standing in front of a Capitol crowd to introduce President Snow in to speak. "Here we are folks! This year will be the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hunger Games, and that means it's time for our third Quarter Quell!" He says elated.