Chapter Text
I sat down on the edge of the cave, observing the Cowboy's Lake during the rain. The Loop's Cave was large and deep enough for Rosalind, me, and the horses to take shelter comfortably. For some reason, Rosa had an oil lamp that she used to provide some source of light.
“Let me see your arm, Mel.”
Rosalind's voice brought me back from my reverie to a very sore arm. I looked down at it and noticed that my shirt was torn and had some blood on it. She was on her knees beside me, holding my arm gently, observing the wound.
“What…?”
“It was a glancing shot. I'll take care of it.”
I watched her as she stood up. She stopped for a few seconds… Then she went to her horse, where she took out a bag. She came back smirking at me.
“What? Did you think I was going to rip off my top and use it as a bandage? I always carry a first aid kit.”
I felt my cheeks blushing.
“Why do you carry bandages around?”
“It's a good measure when you're the Peacekeeper's favorite punching bag.”
She sat down next to me, tugging the sleeve of my plaid blouse off, then took out a vial of clear liquid and looked at me.
“It's going to burn a little, okay?”
I nodded, right before she spilled that liquid on my arm. I gritted my teeth, feeling my arm burn. I knew it was alcohol to clean as much as possible under the present conditions.
“So… Are you and Aaron dating?”
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
“How…?”
“I heard him calling you, so I asked if you wanted to go for a walk. She said after finishing the bandages. I looked away.
“We are talking.”
“It doesn't seem like it went so well for you to run away.”
“We… We're still trying to understand each other.”
Rosalind shook her head, getting up to put away her first aid kit.
“I don't know why you keep doing this.”
“Aaron is a nice guy, from a good family…”
“And he's a man.”
I got up, irritated.
“Maybe he's an exception, right? It's not because…”
I stopped mid-sentence, noticing the pain in Rosalind's eyes. I pursed my lips, feeling guilty but at the same time wanting her to understand me.
“I don't understand why you're doing this, Melissa. It's not like people are going to execrate us for it.”
“But I want to have children, I want to be able to have my farm, my marriage blessed by all the Saints…”
“And a woman couldn't give you that?” Rosalind spoke in a slightly louder voice and I fell into silence. Tears flowed from her eyes.
“I want to have children…”
“Orphans can be adopted and raised.” She came close to me, her forehead touching mine and her hands holding mine. “I can give you the most gorgeous farm District 10 has ever seen. We will get permission to create what you want. Sheep, cows, horses. Damn, Id manage to get a pheasant or a peacock farm license if you asked me. The Saints would bless us in the same way.”
I looked up at her, also crying.
“What if people hate me?”
“No one would hate you, Little Bee. Nobody has anything to do with this.”
The next thing I knew, she was hugging me tightly while I was crying profusely. She kissed the top of my head, stroking my hair.
“Why don't we get some sleep? Tomorrow I'll take you to the city so we can take a better look at this glancing shot, okay?”
I nodded to her. We went to a part of the cave that wasn't so humid and lay down, her arm around my shoulders while I leaned against her chest.
“Would you give me a farm of any animal?” I asked, my voice still tearful. I could feel her smile.
“Of course.”
“I want a butterfly farm.”
She laughed softly.
“And how would we have a butterfly farm? Why would the Capitol want it?”
“I don't know… I replied sleepily, feeling my eyes getting heavy. But it would be beautiful.”
“Then a butterfly farm is what I'll give you.” She whispred, while the sounds of thunder and wind lulled me to sleep.
When I woke up the next morning, Rosalind was not by my side. I got up scared, but I saw Fury, her horse, tied to a branch outside, grazing patiently. I got up and walked slowly outside, putting my hand in front of my eyes so the hot sun wouldn't blind me. Rosalind was outside eating a grapefruit. She looked at me over her shoulder and smiled, causing the shadow I thought I saw on her face to disappear, revealing another grapefruit in her hand.
“Good morning, sleepyhead. Breakfast?”
I smiled at her, sitting next to her and taking the grapefruit.
“Do you have any idea what time it is?” I asked while eating. She looked up, looking for the sun.
“About eight o'clock, tops. There's time to go to Horseshoes and return home before lunch.”
The sun illuminated Rosalind's red hair in a lovely way. And for a moment, I went back to the summers when Rosa and I would come to the lake to swim, eat grapefruits, and pick flowers. I wish I could stop time right then and there, where none of us would worry about Games or any other shit like that.
After a while, I got up and started taking off my shirt. Rosalind almost choked on the grapefruit, turning it the color of her hair.
“Melissa, what…?”
“We're already here. It would be a waste not to swim a little.” I replied smiling, taking off my shorts. So I ran and jumped into the lake, the cold water hugging my body.
When I came back to the surface, Rosalind was smiling, already taking off her jeans and taking off her top. She jumped into the water causing an explosion of water, and emerged throwing water towards me, just like when we were children. I laughed, swimming away from her. Then I looked back and didn't see her. My spine froze for a moment.
“Rosalind…?” I asked in a whisper. So I raised the tone a little more “Rosalind?!”
Then something grabbed my foot and I felt it pull me. I let out a scream, struggling before Rosalind resurfaced in front of me laughing.
“Calm down, it was just a joke.”
I pushed her lightly.
“It's not funny.”
She shrugged, coming closer to me and touching her forehead to mine.
“Sorry, I just wanted to play with you.” She whispered, running her hands over my face and neck. A shiver ran down my spine and I sighed, closing my eyes. Her lips pressed against mine, her hand pulling me closer.
“You know there's no chance of us doing anything here, right?” I whispered as she kissed my neck. She laughed and swam away.
“Okay, that's fair. Come on, we should get back soon.” She said swimming towards the shore of the lake.
After I arrived, I noticed that Rosalind was standing, half-dressed, looking somewhere between the trees.
“Rosa…?”
She held up her hand to keep me silent, staring into the bushes with an intensity I'd never seen before. Her other hand was holding the handle of a knife stuck in her pants.
Then a fur appeared among the bushes. Before I could tell Rosalind that it was just a rabbit, the knife flew from her hands, embedding itself in the animal's skull. An involuntary scream left my mouth and I took a step back. Rosalind then looked at me and again the shadow I had seen on her face disappeared. She looked like a different person.
“Did I scare you? I'm sorry, I... I just...”
Rosalind was on the verge of tears, shaking a little. His breathing was completely irregular. She then sat on the floor, still shaking, crying, and hugging her body. I was a little in shock, but I ran to pick up her blouse thrown near the lake shore.
She sat on the floor, still shaking, crying, and hugging her body. I was a little in shock, but I ran to pick up her blouse thrown near the lake shore.
“Hey, Rosalind, what happened? What happened?” I asked, putting the blouse around her She continued to shake a lot, with spasms happening in her arms and legs, her breathing completely irregular.
“I-I… I didn’t w-want to have k-killed… I….”
I looked toward the rabbit, lying in the grass, then looked at Rosalind again. It seemed something related to her memories of when Rosa was in the Arena.
“Hey, we're fine. You are fine. This is District 10. No one is going to hurt you anymore, Rosa.” I whispered, holding his hands. She turned her eyes to me. My first impulse was to want to get away. Her gaze was utterly desperate and painful, like wounded prey. Gradually, however, I could see a shadow of recognition passing through her eyes. Her breathing, ragged and rapid, gradually returned to normal. I smiled at Rosalind, kneeling in front of her.
“See? It's all good. This is Cowboys Lake, in District 10. We came here during the rain yesterday, we slept in the Loops Cave...” I tried to think of more things that could somehow help her remember where she was. “It's me, Melissa, your best…”
“Don't you dare refer to yourself as my best friend when you know we are more than that.” She whispered, her shoulders slowly stopping shaking. I felt my cheeks blush, even though no one else was there with us to hear.
“Do you want to discuss this now? Really?”
She then gave me a weak smile.
“No. But don't even think about talking like that if it's just the two of us.”
Rosalind then leaned back against a tree, with her eyes closed and her face turned to the sky, taking several deep breaths. I loosened my hand a little in hers, but I felt a slight squeeze from Rosalind.
“Stay. You calm me down.” She whispered.
Not knowing exactly what to do, I sat next to her, watching her.
“Does this happen often?” I asked, watching her muscles stop tensing.
“Not as much as when I return from the Capitol.”
I nodded, even though she couldn't see me. At that moment, I only felt anger. I had never seen Rosalind like this since we knew each other. I had never seen her so… Fragile. Rosa had always been the girl who beat up boys who tried to pull her ginger braids when we were kids. It was always the girl who wanted to bet on horse races with the boys, who cursed loudly and clearly, who defended the weakest from bullies. Seeing her like that, curled up, shaking...
Not that I loved the Capitol before, but now I knew that I definitely hated them more than anything.
“What are you thinking about?” She asked me, breaking me out of my reverie and looking at me from the corner of her eye. I shrugged.
“Nothing.”
“What kind of nothing makes you look like you ate something rotten?”
I rolled my eyes, huffing. I hated being so expressive sometimes.
“I just… I hate them for what they did to you.”
Rosalind turned to face me. His lips and nose were red from crying, her eyes were starting to swell. But she smiled at me.
“Anger is what will get us out of this hole, Mel.”
I looked away, but she gently cupped my face.
“You shouldn't say that out loud.”
“Who will listen to me here? I doubt the Peacekeepers are looking for us, they have more important things to worry about. Cattle thieves, meat thieves, that sort of thing.”
I shrugged. Even if I knew that, I didn't want to say things like that out loud. For me, we should always be aware.
“Well, I feel better. Seriously, really. Come on.” Rosalind said, getting up, still looking like crying and finishing getting dressed. I sighed, knowing that there would be no point in trying to convince her to stay there any longer. I finished putting on my clothes, went to my horse, and mounted it, following the fast trot that Rosalind had set her horse at.
The Horseshoe was shaped like… Well, a horseshoe. It was there that the city hall was located, right in the middle, the school, some stores that we residents of the countryside would never have money to buy on a daily basis, a few houses and, at one end, the entrance to the village of the victors that they had decided to build about three years ago. Rosalind had gotten a spacious house there to live with her parents and her four siblings, but I hadn't been there yet. I had only seen it from the outside.
The white house was two stories high, with a white fence, a patch of lawn that was already drying out thanks to District 10's hot climate, and a blue tile roof. It was, at the very least, a nice house. Rosalind jumped over the fence and gave me her hand to help me through, leading me to the kitchen door.
“Mom, Mel was shot!” Rosalind shouted as soon as she opened the door. I widened my eyes and elbowed him in the arm. “Ouch! What? That's true.”
As imagined, Ms Flora appeared in a hurry in the kitchen, her red hair tied up in a bun. She wore a paint-stained apron, which meant she had returned to her hobby of painting. A stain of green paint was on his forehead.
“What?”
“Yes, a graze on the arm. I wanted the first aid kit.” Rosalind said with a shrug, leaning against the doorframe. Ms Flora frowned, throwing a towel that was on her shoulder in Rosa's face.
“Are you crazy for coming home shouting that? I could have died from my heart Rosalind!” She then stopped and looked at me, who was shyly leaning on the kitchen counter, giving me a huge smile. “Hi darling, how are you? Good to see you again! I'll get the kit, ok? Sit down and let me look at this.”
I sat on one of the benches and looked around, admiring the kitchen of the new house. It was very spacious, with cutting-edge appliances directly from the Capital. It just... It didn't feel like a house. It's a strange thing, but that house didn't feel like a house. It was so clean, white, and clear, without any trace of personality. I remembered Rosalind's old house, which, even though it wasn't big, was full of the family's personality, with pictures of Ms Flora on the wall and her brothers' toys scattered around the house... This was just a space being used for them to sleep.
“Your new house is very…”
“Shity?”
“I was going to say it's quite pretty, actually.”
Rosalind rolled her eyes and sat down at the counter.
“Yes, I think so. But it doesn't feel like home. It's not my house.”
I gently touched his knee, seeing that shadow pass over his eyes again. But as quickly as it appeared, the shadow disappeared and she smiled at me.
“My family still maintains the farm. I can take you there one of these days.”
I smiled even more at her, laying my head on her leg.
“Please. I always liked your family's farm.”
Ms Flora then arrived with a huge white box, which she placed on the counter while lightly patting Rosalind on the arm to get her to leave.
“No sitting on the bench, you can leave.”
Rosalind left laughing, leaning against the doorframe again.
Ms Flor had studied to be a doctor but left her career when she married Rosalind's father, Enrico. She used to treat more humble people who couldn't afford a doctor, but I didn't know if she continued doing that now that she lived in Horseshoes.
She took off the bandage and promptly applied something that made me wince in pain.
“I know it burns, but it’s to clean the wound, okay? You're lucky, it really was a glancing shot and there's not much else you can do other than clean it up.” She handed me a small vial. “It's alcohol. It will burn, but it would be a good idea to clean it at least once a day, especially after work. You can hit it here at home if it ends before it heals.”
“Of course. Thank you, Ms. Flora.”
“You don't need to thank me, dear.” She said smiling and getting up. “Are you staying for lunch? Enrico went to buy some meat.”
I pursed my lips and looked at Rosa. Ms Flora probably understood what my silence meant, because she sighed and looked at Rosalind.
“Of course her parents don't know Mel is here.”
Rosalind sighed.
“I'm going to take Mel home.”
Ms Flora crossed her arms.
“No, you won’t. After she gets home, you'll be alone. What if those Peacekeepers want to hit you again, huh?” Ms Flora looked at me with regret in her eyes. “I'm sorry darling, it's just…”
“Rosalind told me. Don't worry, I can go back alone.”
“But she doesn't need to go back alone, I saw her brother's horse at Dove's house!”
The three of us looked in the direction of that voice, which came from one of Rosalind's younger brothers, Bugs. Well, of course, his name wasn't that, but there wasn't a child in District 10 who knew more about insects than him.
“Hi Bugs!” I said smiling and going to him. Bugs was 10 years old, with dense orange curls and freckles all over his body. He smiled at me, showing the little window that his baby tooth had left. I knelt down in front of him. “Is my brother at Doves?”
“Yes! I saw his horse there. I'll take you if you want.”
Rosalind walked over to him, tapping his forehead lightly.
“I saw her first, little one.” She looked at her mother. “I think I'll be safe taking her to the mayor's house and back, Mom.”
Ms Flora sighed, running her hand through her hair.
“All good. But be quick.” She turned to me once again, smiling sweetly. “Come have lunch with us sometime, okay? I miss you running around this house like when you were kids. And bring your family, I haven't seen them in a long time.”
I nodded smiling as I followed Rosa out.
“She seems very worried about you.” I said as she opened the small gate in the fence. Rosalind shrugged.
“I can't judge her, considering that I arrive every other day injured.”
“You need to learn to control that tongue.” I said looking at her. Rosalind stopped for a few seconds, opening her mouth ready to retort. But then she just sighed and started walking again.
“Forget it, you don’t understand it yet.”
And with that, we walked in a not-so-comfortable silence to the city hall.