rising from the ashes || a hunger games story

chapter nineteen

willow's pov

i open my eyes and look around. my whole body feels soar but i slowly sit up. i put two and two together and figure out i'm sitting in a hospital room. 

the bed i'm sitting on has gray sheets and a gray blanket lays on me. i can hear the beeping of my heart on the monitor next to me. there's tubes connected to my arms and stuff to keep track of my vitals.

i groan as i pull the tube that keeps track of my heart beat out. i hear the monitor flatline and before i can get off the bed, a few nurses and doctors rush into the room. 

they all stop in front of my bed once they see i pulled out the tube myself. all but two nurses leave the room. one of them comes over to my side and places what looks like something you would use for a finger injury on my finger.

the heart monitor starts to beep again. "it'll track your heartbeat portably so you can move around," the nurse says. i nod.  

the other nurse stands in front of the bed. she smiles at me. she has light brown hair and light brown eyes. just like the other nurses, she doesn't have the usual capitol look with all the makeup and outfits.

she's in a simple nurse's outfit and her face is clean. "you're awake," she says as she lets out a small sigh. i give her a confused look. how long was i asleep? where's finn? 

she turns to the other nurse, "get the parents." the other nurse nods. my parents are here? the other nurse walks out of the room. the nurse that is still in the room tracks and writes down my vitals on a clipboard.

she turns to me, "how are you feeling?" "fine," i say. "are you in any pain?" i shake my head. she simply nods, "your parents will be right in." and she walks out of the room.

i'm left in complete silence besides the heart monitor beeping. after a few minutes i hear the door creak and i see the knob turn. the door opens and the first person i see is my dad.

he automatically comes to hug me. i hug him back tightly. "i missed you guys," i say as i feel my mother's arms wrap around me. they both pull away from me.

my dad sits in the chair that's right next to my bed and my mom drags the chair that's next to the one my dad's in and places is it next to my bed so she's facing me.

"willow, what berries did you eat? it wasn't nightlock because you're clearly not dead," my dad asks. i smile cheekily, "daydream berries." he looks over to my mom, "do you know what those are?" my mom shakes her head, "they weren't used in our games and i never saw them in the edible plants section in training."

i sigh, "daydream berries are very specific. they look almost identical to nightlock. if you didn't spend a lot of time in the edible plants section, you wouldn't know the difference. daydream berries don't kill. they stop the heart for 30 seconds. once the heart starts beating again, breathing is slowed down so you can't see if someone is breathing unless you check the pulse. whoever eats the berries stays unconscious for 1 hour to 2 days. so this leads me to my question, how long was i asleep?"

"1 day and a half. when they got you into the aircraft, they felt your pulse and your heart was still beating so they brought you back to the hospital in the training center," my mom says looking at me. that's when i take note of their appearance. 

they both have puffy red eyes and look like they've been crying. "your heart stopped five times, willow," i hear my dad say softly. so that's why people rushed into my room one millisecond after my hear monitor flatlined.

if my heart hadn't stopped so many times, they wouldn't have been so prepared to get my heart beating again. "where's finn? and haymitch?" i ask.

"finn is in another hospital room and haymitch is with the gamemakers trying to figure out what they're going to do with you," my dad says. i look at him confused, "what does that mean?"

"they're trying to figure out whether to place you as a victor or not." i nod slowly. that's when the door opens. i look over to see haymitch. he gives me a soft smile, "hi sweetheart."

i let out a quiet hi. "what happened?" my dad asks him. "they just want to know if she purposely picked the daydream berries and ate them or if it was an accident."

"i did it on purpose," i say. haymitch nods, "so you're a victor." i roll my eyes. i would've preferred going back to 12 without being a victor. i don't want the attention, i don't want a house, i don't want the money. i just want to be back with my family. 

"can i see finn?" i ask, looking over at haymitch. he shakes his head, "they want to surprise him when they interview him." i slump back against the wall behind me. 

"don't worry, the interview is tomorrow." i smile. "we'll go get you some food," my dad says, getting up and walking out of the room. my mom and haymitch follow behind him.

i turn my body slowly so my legs hang off the bed. i slowly start to stand up when i feel a sharp pain in my leg. i lift it off the ground and quickly feel relief. i look down at my leg to see stitches on my leg where i was stabbed.

i walk over to the bathroom that's in the room slowly. as i walk, i'm limping because of the leg pain. once i'm inside of the bathroom, i stand in front of the sink and the mirror that's above it. i lean on the sink putting my body weight on it so it's not on my leg. 

i look at my reflection. i have stitches on my forehead where merlin's knife grazed me. i start running the water and place my hands under the warm water. i try my best to keep the water off the new heart monitor on my finger but i fail.

i hear the heart monitor back in my room flatline. i take the heart monitor off my finger and throw it at the mirror. the part of the mirror i hit shatters. i feel rage fill my body and i feel tears start streaming down my face.

i slide down the wall next to the sink slowly as i sob. i can hear people enter my room and then enter the bathroom. someone tries to pick me up to get me to stand but i start kicking and flailing my arms.

that's when i feel a needle in my arm and i black out.