When I Died

Chapter 41

Ok here I go.
________
Primrose
"My feet are sore. I'm tired of walking." Daisy whines. I sigh.
"Ok, lets have a break for a few hours."
"No. Not for a few hours. I mean it. I am sick of walking. I want a few days break." Daisy says, and stops, putting her hands on her hips. Bonnie steps in.
"Actually Prim, maybe Daisy is right. We're all tired. Lets stop for a few days, then we can keep on walking."
I go to debate but she cuts me off.
"We aren't going to walk very far if we are tired."
I sigh, knowing she has a point.
"Ok. Lets find a place to stay for a few days."
We find a small clearing with a river running through it and we set up camp. I change into my other set of clothes and collect some sticks. I lay them in a pile and they light up. But I didn't do anything, I think, my eyes creasing in confusion. Juliet laughs behind me.
"Don't forget that you aren't the only one with a magic necklace." She says, a joking tone in her voice. I turn to see her, leaning against a tree.
"Thanks for the help." I say sarcastically.
"No worries." she says, taking me seriously. "Come on, loosen up. We all need a break. We'll still get home eventually."
"I know." I raise my head, and look at the Capitol through the trees. we had decided to stop at the top of a hill, so it was clearly seen, yet so far away. "I just want to get home."
"We all do. But this is going to happen more than a few times. You just need to wait a little longer."
I nod, and stare out at the Capitol on the horizon, barely a speck in the distance.
~~~
Juliet turns out to be right. we stop quite a few times, and soon, it becomes a habit. every few weeks we will settle down at a clearing or pond for a few days, and have a little rest.
The periods of time that we stay start to grow longer, and once, we nearly stay for about 2 months.
It was by a river, with a waterfall running over rocks. We would slide down, like a slide, and there was even a tiny cove behind the flowing water, just big enough for 3 people to squeeze in, but they would be fairly squashed. Then, if we got tired of sliding down the rocks, we would go to a huge rock beside the river, an grab one of the strong vines that hung down, then swing into the water.
Daisy even built a tree house by the river, made from washed away driftwood and sticks. She would spend all day fixing it up, and making it sturdier, until even Bonnie and Soren could stand on it without breaking.
One night, when everyone was falling to sleep, I was curled up against Percy, and I couldn't get to sleep.
"Prim?" came a tiny voice from above me. I opened my eyes to see Daisy leaning over the edge of the tree house. She had taken to sleeping up there, despite Bonnie's fretting.
"Yeah." I reply.
"Can you come up here?" She asks.
"Sure." I get up and climb up the tree. I sit on the floor, with my legs hanging over. Daisy sits next to me.
"What is it?"
"I couldn't sleep. I wanted to talk. I didn't wake you did I?" She asks. I shake my head.
"No, I was awake."
"Good. I was just thinking. what if we never get back? It's been a few months."
"We'll get there."I assure her.
"Yeah it what if we don't?" She says, frowning. I sigh and look up at the sky.
"Hey, you see the moon? You see those stars?" I say, gesturing to the sky.
"Yeah. What about them?"
"Well, think about it this way. Those exact stars that you see, are the same all over Panem."
"So?"
"If you ever wonder whether you'll get home, or start to miss your family, just look at the stars and think, those are the same stars at home. The same stars my family are staring at."
She nods and looks at the sky. We sit in silence for a few minutes. Then Daisy musters a question.
"Hey Prim?"
"Yeah?" I answer, looking at her.
"How far away are we?" She asks.
"I don't know. Do you want to check?" She nods so u stand up and start climbing the tree higher. She follows, faster than me and she reaches the top first.
"Holy crap." I hear her whisper and I climb faster. I reach the top out of breath.
"What is..." I trail off as I see exactly what it is.
Now so close to practically touch, is the Capitol. It would only take half a day to walk that far.
"We're almost there." Daisy says.
"Now all we need to do is get there tomorrow and catch a train back to the districts."
From here, we could see the mountains surrounding the city, although the gates were open, letting people in and out of the city at will.
"No." Daisy says.
"What?"
"We can't catch a train."
"Why not?"
"Imagine it. The mocking jays dead sister just appears at a train station? things wouldn't go well."
"So what do we do?"
"We follow the tracks back through the districts. First to one, then to two an so on."
I want to debate but I know she has a point.
"Ok. Lets get some sleep. Its a long walk home."
~~~
The stop at 2 is fairly short. We pick up some new weapons, that Juliet gets us from the now closed academy, to hunt with, and then we go back to the tracks. Juliet follows us, and I know I'll have to say goodbye. I hug her and tears fall from my eyes.
"Thank you." She whispers.
"I'm pretty sure it's goodbye, not thank you." I smile and we laugh.
"No, I'm saying thank you. Thank you for showing me who I really am. Taking away my mask."
"And who are you?"
"I am Juliet Summers, tribute from district 2. I am my own person, and not the bloodthirsty monster I used to be."
"And you are a friend. A friend and an alliance of Primrose Everdeen." I finish. A tear slips down her face.
"What's this? Juliet is crying?" I say, acting surprised. She smiles sadly.
"I'll miss you." She says.
"Me too. Oh, and I have something for you." I look through my pocket, for the thing I made this morning. I pull it out and slip it on her hand. it is a bracelet, made out of the exact same flowers that were by the lake, almost two years ago. It was an identical one to the one that had blown across the lake. she looks down at it.
"Thank you."
I give her another hug and then step back.
"Say hi to your sister for me." I smile. She looks surprised at the fact I remembered.
"Goodbye." I say.
"Bye."
She and Soren step back into the trees and then they are gone.
~~~
The rest of the goodbyes are just as bad. We reach district 11 after almost a year. Daisy shows us around a bit, making sure that no one sees me, then we drop off Tyan and then brings us to her house, She stands on the front steps, looking up at it. Then she turns to me.
"Well Daisy. Your home."
"Yeah." she looks up at it once more and then, without warning, launches herself at me. She wraps her arms around my body and she has tears running down her face.
"Don't go." She sobs. I kneel down and look her in the eyes.
"I never will truly go. I am always in here and in here." I touch her heart and her head. She looks down at her chest and her necklace glows brightly.
"Can you sing the song. The one you sang to me when we were in the tunnel?"
I sigh.
"Ok." I take a deep breath, open my mouth, and start singing the familiar tune.
When I am finished, I close my mouth and smile at Daisy. She wraps her arms around me once more, and then looks over at Bonnie who had decided that she wanted to come with me to district 12.
"Goodbye." She whispers, hugging Bonnie. Then she turns to me again.
"Goodbye."
"Bye."
Then she turns and runs up the steps. She is about to knock on the door when she stops.
"Oh, and Prim."
"Yeah?"
"Look at the stars."
With that, she knocks on the door, and Bonnie and I hide behind the bushes. The door opens and a woman sees Daisy.
"Daisy?" She asks. Daisy nods. "Daisy! Come in! What happened? where have you been?"
"Long story." Daisy laughs. She steps into the house and looks out as the woman is closing the door. She locks eyes with mine and I mouth a single word.
"Goodbye."
_________
Ok, now I am sad. :(. :...(.
Xela732