Reprogram (Hunger Games Cato/OC)

Chapter 9

Reprogram 9

Coriander POV

I watch my sister's lover die for her. I watch my sister quickly fall into the hands of the crushing grief. And I feel so bad for her. I am her older sister. I was in love once, and it's horrible when it ends. My sister can't seem to function. I watch her on the TV, struggling with Cato's death, and I wish I could be there with her. She needs a hug, and that Axel boy doesn't have the guts to do it. I can't do anything, of course, so I sit back and watch helplessly as my sister commits suicide, followed shortly by Axel. I can't believe it.

Hazel is the strongest warrior in the district. She's my younger sister. I can't believe she fell in love with that Career. It was all downhill from there. At least she was happy, my brain says. Well, now, she's dead. And it begins to sink in. My sister is dead. There is no victor of the seventy-fourth Hunger Games. My sister is dead.

I turn away from the screen and begin to cry, hard, gut-wrenching sobs. My fiancée, Colton, hugs me tightly and shields my face from the screens, but I've already seen the unseeable. I've seen my sister die.

I know I am 21, and I should not be crying like this, but I can't help it. I break away from Colton and look at the screen. There, my sister's crumpled body lies, along with her ally's body. A hovercraft comes and picks their bodies up before it flies away. The screen goes black. I think my legs are going to give out. I fall to the ground. Colton drops next to me and wraps his arms around me. I blank out the world and sob. All that exists are me, Colton, and my sister. But my sister is gone.

Colton lays me in bed in our meager house, and I lay awake for hours on end with visions of my sister's body clouding my vision. When I do fall asleep, though, the images haunt my subconscious and I wake screaming from nightmares. Colton comes in after I begin screaming and sits with me until I calm down.

When I wake up, I begin to convince myself yesterday was only a bad dream. Hazel is still alive. I should go watch the Games. I get up and wander to the kitchen. I pick up a piece of bread and slather butter on it. If only Hazel wins, we can afford good bread and a nicer house. I walk to the living room and turn on the TV. I watch the Games and scream when Hazel gets chased or kills people. I laugh when she kills them. Colton comes into the room, bleary-eyed.

"Coriander? What are you doing?"

"Watching the Games," I say.

"Cori, the Games are over. Nobody won. You're watching a blank TV screen," Colton says gently. I can see he's worried about me.

"No," I say. "Hazel's still alive. Can't you see? She just killed Clove."

"Axel killed Clove," Colton says gently. "Coriander, you're just stressed. Hazel is dead. I'm so sorry."

"NO!" I stand up indignantly. "HAZEL IS STILL ALIVE. I AM HER SISTER. I WOULD KNOW IF SHE DIED! HAZEL IS ALIVE." Colton sits beside me and rubs my arm.

"I know it's sad, but you need to let her go."

"Hazel is alive," I say, but much weaker than before. "She's alive." Colton wraps his arms around me and whispers in my ear,

"I wish she was, too."

Hazel POV

Everything hurts. Among the pains I feel, I pick out my stomach, my throat, and my heart. I feel tugging on my stomach and look down. I am on a cold metal table with people in blue clothes bent over me. I can't see my stomach, but I know what's going on. With each passing second, the pain in my stomach multiplies. I open my mouth and scream. The people jump, and my stomach jumps with them. I scream louder. I suppose it's poetic justice that, after all those tributes I dismembered, I should feel the same pain as they did. Maybe I am in Hell. But no, I am in an operating room with surgeons sewing up my stomach, trying to save my life.