Stay with me, always.

Chapter 77. The Bird Cage

I had a nightmare. Well deserved in one's opinion, but terrifying all the same.

I was tied up to a post. Standing there all alone on the Avenue of Tributes. Well, I wasn't entirely alone. All of the Capitol had gathered around to witness it.

My execution.

I was dressed quite excellently considering the mood of this event. Wearing a warm black coat, with a white undershirt. A white rose was pinned to my lapel. I glanced up at one of the screens, horrified to find that I looked exactly like my Father. Old, wrinkly, decrepit.

Evil.

The drums began to play, and my eyes zeroed in on the doors to the loading area. There she was. Soarynn. Dressed more extravagantly than I was. She was in an all-black combat suit, her hair braided down her back, and a bow in her hands. She was going to execute me.

She made her way towards me, slowly but surely getting closer and closer to me and my promised death. I tried to call out to her, tell her I was sorry for what I did to her. But I had no tongue. I had been reduced to the likes of an Avox. Her expression was stone cold as she slowed her approach, stopping about fifty yards away from me.

People began to call out from the stands, " KILL HIM! KILL THE MONSTER !"

Soarynn reached behind her, pulling out a single black arrow and knocking it with her bow. She drew the arrow back, prepared to pierce my heart.

She was going to kill me.

Going to kill me.

Kill me.

She let the arrow fly.

I felt it sink into my heart, tearing my chest open and...

"DADDY! Daddy, why are you sleeping in here?"

I gasped, my eyes flying open as I sat up. I looked around the room, I was safe and alive, and in my old bedroom. Ceraphina was sitting next to me, her golden curls a tangled mess as she rubbed her eyes, "Did you have a bad dream?" She asked, her voice merely a mumble now that I was awake.

I nodded, wiping my forehead to find sweat dripping from it. "Yes, but I'm alright. Is your sister awake?" I asked, desperate to change the subject. Ceraphina nodded, "Mhm. We tried to go into your room but it was really dark in there. Where's Mommy?"

My heart clenched at the mention of Soarynn and at the thought of the girls discovering her body in the bathtub. "Mommy is very sick right now, so you can't go into our room, do you understand?" I asked, my tone stern and firm. Ceraphina frowned, "How is she sick? Mommy was healthy last night."

Was she?

I sighed, scratching the back of my neck, "Sometimes people have been sick for a long time," I said slowly, "but you only start to notice it when it's too late." Ceraphina's face morphed into a fearful one, "Is Mommy going to die?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper as she allowed herself to imagine a world without Soarynn in it. I pulled her onto my lap, placing a reassuring kiss on her head, "We have the best doctors in all of Panem taking care of her okay? We just need to leave her alone and let her rest."

Ceraphina didn't ask more questions, she simply buried her face in my chest while I held her. I remember when she was so small, so tiny and helpless. You never forget the love you had for your firstborn, the innate feeling to protect them with your entire being. The instinct to shelter them from everything bad in this world.

She'd be attending the Academy next year, something Soarynn and I were extremely looking forward to. To have our children follow our legacy was all we ever hoped for. And even if Soarynn was out of the picture, I'd protect our children. No matter what.