The Spark of District 13

Luke leaves abruptively, & I know exactly why. I warned him that pushing off the Games until the last minute was a bad idea. Well, there's nothing we can do about it now.

After I finish my delicious dinner with the others & get my goodbye from Bruce (He's not going to probably ever see me again. I'm not going to see him tomorrow), I head back to my room to change. I'm tired of wearing this dog gone makeup! My eyes itch. When I get to my room, I change into a nightgown, take my hair down, & wipe off my itchy makeup. (Ah, that feels better.)

Even though I know restlessness is inevitable tonight, I try to sleep anyway. I'm going to need all of my strength tomorrow if I am to live. I find myself clocking out twice, but I'm awaken by the beginning of two horrible nightmares. I finally just give up after a while & turn to look at the clock. It's 1:30. I decide it's safe to leave my room & walk around. Maybe it will help get my mind off things. I walk down the hall & into the living room where I see Luke staring out the window once again. He's done this a lot since we've gotten here. I kind of expected to see him here, especially tonight with tomorrow being the Games & all.

"Hey," I whisper into the darkness, "can't sleep too, huh."

"Yep," he replies still staring, "I'm actually not surprised to see you here. Miss. Worry Wort."

"Hey, I had a good reason to worry," I say as I slide down on the couch beside him.

"Yes you do," he says, "I should have listened to you before. To notice what was really happening & not push it off until the last minute."

"Yeah well, I was wrong. Don't listen to me. Yes, you should be aware, but you should also live life in the present. Fretting won't help you any," I say quoting him.

"Yeah, well, now I'm really worried," he says, & then he lowers his voice, "about a lot of things." He has that edge to his voice again. The one that tells me he wants to say something but doesn't know if he can trust me. He used it just the other night when our scores were announced. I really want to know what he's hiding.

"Hey Ivey," Luke speaks up suddenly, snapping me out of my current thoughts, "can I tell you something? I mean, can you keep a secret." I can't help but find myself smiling. He's actually going to tell me what's on his mind.

"Yeah," I whisper, "sure you can. I'll keep your secret. But seriously, who am I going to tell? We're both going to maybe be dead tomorrow."

He gives a short guffaw but then drops his smile & says very seriously, "I mean it. I'm not joking this time. This is very serious. I need to know if I can trust you." I'm almost a little hurt by his words. Does he think I'm going to tell the whole world his secret? He usually doesn't care so much. Now, I know he's serious. He's even more serious than he was that other night. This secret must be something big.

"Yes, you can trust me," I say dropping my smile, "what's up?"

"Ivey..... What would you say if I thought the Capitol was up to something..... Like, something about the Games......" he murmurs while fidgeting.

"Well, that depends. What about the Games?" I ask a bit confused on his meaning.

"Like, what if the Capitol was keeping some secret about the Games hidden from the districts. What if there was more to the law than what we already know?" he says trying to explain.

"Well, why would you say that?" I ask, "I'm pretty sure they would want to enforce all parts of the law & make sure the districts know about it."

"No, you don't get it," Luke contorts almost annoyed that I was confused, "what if the Capitol is doing something else behind the districts' backs so that there won't be an uprising or something."