Suzanne Collins

“He hasn't accepted his death. He is already fighting hard to stay alive. Which also means that kind Peeta Mellark, the boy who gave me bread, is fighting hard to kill me.”

“Here it's safe, here it's warmHere the daises guard you from every harmHere your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them trueHere is the place where I love you”

“I poke around in the pile, about to settle on some cod chowder, when Peeta holds out a can to me. “Here.”I take it, not knowing what to expect. The label reads LAMB STEW.”

“Are you and Beetee going?” I ask.“As many young and attractive victors as possible,” Haymitch corrects himself. “So, no. We'll be here.”

“I cover my face with my arms because this isn't happening. It isn't possible. For someone to make Peeta forget he loves me . . . no one can do that.”

“I'm trying to think of a witty comeback, when Boggs says brusquely, “Well, don't expect us to be too impressed. We just saw Finnick Odair in his underwear.” I decide to go ahead and like Boggs.”

“But it's Posy, Gale's five-year-old sister, who helps the most. She scoots along the bench to Octavia and touches her skin with a tentative finger. “You're green. Are you sick?”“It's a fashion thing, Posy. Like wearing lipstick,” I say.“It's meant to be pretty,” whispers Octavia, and I can see the tears threatening to spill over her lashes.Posy considers this and says matter-of-factly, “I think you'd be pretty in any color.”

“Me doy cuenta que sólo una persona quedará herida sin remedio si Peeta muere: yo.-Yo -respondo-, yo te necesito.”

“¿Por qué me lo cuentas ahora?-Porque no quiero que olvides lo distintas que son nuestras circunstancias. Si mueres y yo vivo, no quedará nada para mí en el Distrito 12. Tú lo eres todo para mí -me dice-. Nunca volvería a ser feliz. [pp. 367]”

“Ojalá pudiera congelar este momento, ahora mismo, aquí mismo, y vivir en él para siempre.”

“Entonces, ¿qué hacemos con los pocos días que nos quedan?-Sólo quiero pasar cada minuto del resto de mis días contigo -responde Peeta.”

“Saber apreciar la belleza no es lo mismo que sentir debilidad.”

“sinceramente, a mí nunca me ha resultado atractivo. Quizá sea demasiado guapo o demasiado fácil de obtener, o quizá, simplemente, sea demasiado fácil perderlo.”

“¿Por qué no duermes un poco? -me dice.Porque no puedo soportar las pesadillas, no sin ti, pienso.”

“Deberías despertarme -le digo, porque yo interrumpo su sueño dos o tres veces cuando tengo una noche mala hasta que logra calmarme de nuevo.-No hace falta, mis pesadillas suelen ser sobre perderte, así que se me pasa cuando me doy cuenta de que estás a mi lado.”

“I'm not prepared for Rue's family. Her parents, whose faces are still fresh with sorrow. Her fiver younger siblings, who resemble her so closely. The slight builds, the luminous brown eyes. They form a flock of small dark birds.”

“If I can make it clear that I’m still defying the Capitol right up to the end, the Capitol will have killed me... but not my spirit. What better way to give hope to the rebels?”

“The woods always look different at night...as if the daytime trees and flowers and stones had gone to bed and sent slightly more ominous versions of themselves to take their places.”

“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.”

“So I thought if I stopped being so, you know, wounded, we could take a shot at just being friends. - Peeta Mellark”

“Myself? That's no good, either.”

“Why am I hopping around like some trained dog trying to please people I hate?”

“Peeta rinses the pearl off in the water and hands it to me. “For you.” I hold it out on my palm and examine its iridescent surface in the sunlight. Yes, I will keep it. For the few remaining hours of my life I will keep it close. This last gift from Peeta. The only one I can really accept. Perhaps it will give me strength in the final moments.”

“Hey, Finnick, come on in! We figured out how to make you pretty again!”

“Peeta would lose it if he knew I was thinking any of this, so I only say, “So what should we do with our last few days?”“I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you,” Peeta replies.“Come on, then,” I say, pulling him into my room.”

“So at least half the victors have instructed their mentors to request you as an ally. I know it can't be your sunny personality.”“They saw her shoot,” says Peeta with a smile. “Actually, I saw her shoot, for real, for the first time. I'm about to put in a formal request myself.”“You're that good?” Haymitch asks me.”

“He offered me sugar and wanted to know all my secrets,” I say in my best seductive voice.”

“So the moment he walks in the door I snap, “I swear if you cry, I'll kill you here and now.”Cinna just smiles. “Had a damp morning?”“You could wring me out,” I reply.”

“I brought you this." Gale holds up a sheath. When I take it, I notice it holds a single, ordinary arrow. "It'ssupposed to be symbolic. You firing the last shot of the war.""What if I miss?" I say. "Does Coin retrieve it and bring it back to me? Or just shoot Snow through the head herself?""You won't miss." Gale adjusts the sheath on my shoulder.We stand there, face-to-face, not meeting each other's eyes. "You didn't come see me in the hospital." He doesn't answer, so finally I just say it. "Was it your bomb?""I don't know. Neither does Beetee," he says. "Does it matter? You'll always be thinking about it."He waits for me to deny it; I want to deny it, but it's true. Even now I can see the flash that ignites her, feelthe heat of the flames. And I will never be able to separate that moment from Gale. My silence is my answer."That was the one thing I had going for me. Taking care of your family," he says. "Shoot straight, okay?" He touches my cheek and leaves. I want to call him back and tell him that I was wrong. That I'll figure out a way tomake peace with this. To remember the circumstances under which he created the bomb. Take into account my own inexcusable crimes. Dig up the truth about who dropped the parachutes. Prove it wasn't the rebels. Forgive him. But since I can't, I'll just have to deal with the pain.”

“I killed you. And you. And you.”

“They can fatten me up. They can give me a full body polish, dress me up, and make me beautiful again. They can design dream weapons that come to life in my hands, but they will never again brainwash me into the necessity of using them. I no longer feel allegiance to these monsters called human beings, despite being one myself. Because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifies its children’s lives to settle its differences. You can spin it any way you like. Snow thought the Hunger Games were an efficient means of control. Coin thought the parachutes would expedite the war. But in the end, who does it benefit? No one. The truth is, it benefits no one to live in a world where these things happen.”

“In the end, the only person I truly want to comfort me is Haymitch, because he loves Peeta, too.”

“Something inside me shuts down and I'm too numb to feel anything. It's like watching complete strangers in another Hunger Games. But I do notice they omit the part where I covered her in flowers.Right. Because even that smacks of rebellion.”

“To the everlasting credit of the people of District 12, not one person claps. Not even the ones holding betting slips, the ones who are usually beyond caring. Possibly because they know me from the Hob, or knew my father, or have encountered Prim, who no one could help loving. So instead of acknowledging applause, I stand there unmoving while they take part in the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence. Which says we do not agree. We do not condone. All of this is wrong.”

“The numbness of his loss had passed, and the pain would hit me out of nowhere, doubling me over, racking my body with sobs. Where are you? I would cry out in my mind. Where have you gone? Of course, there was never any answer.”

“As coal pressured into pearls by our weighty existence. Beauty that arose out of pain.”

“It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love.”

“And it’s all my fault, Gale. Because of what I did in the arena. If I had just killed myself with those berries, none of this would’ve happened. Peeta could have come home and lived, and everyone else would have been safe, too.”“Safe to do what?” he says in a gentler tone. “Starve? Work like slaves? Send their kids to the reaping? You haven’t hurt people – you’ve given them an opportunity. They just have to be brave enough to take it.”

“Asadar, ce-ar trebui sa facem cu ultimele noastre cateva zile?- Nu vreau decat sa-mi petrec fiecare minut din restul vietii mele cu tine, raspunde el.”

“A avea ochi pentru frumusete nu e totuna cu o slabiciune, subliniaza Peeta. Poate cu exceptia cazului cand e vorba de tine Katniss.”

“And how I watched my little sister become a human torch. Closing my eyes doesn't help. Fire burns brighter in the darkness.”

“I guess there isn’t a rule book for what might be unacceptable to do to another human being.”

“Making knots. Making knots. No word. Making knots. Tick-tock. This is a clock. Do not think of Gale. Do not think of Peeta. Making knots.”

“I’m in pain. That’s the only way I get your attention”

“It’s not wondering what I breathe in, but who, that threatens to choke me.”

“I don’t want anyone with me today. Not even him. Some walks you have to take alone.”

“I should have tried to save you," I whisper.”

“Stay with me.Always.”

“I'm unaware that my feet are moving to the table until I'm inches from the holograph. My hand reaches in and cups a rapidly blinking green light.Someone joins me, his body tense. Finnick, of course. Because only a victor would see what I see so immediately. The arena. Laced with pods controlled by Gamemakers. Finnick's fingers caress a steady red glow over a doorway. "Ladies and gentlemen..."His voice is quiet, but mine rings through the room. "Let the Seventy-sixth Hunger Games begin!”

“No problem," Gale replies. "I wake up ten times a night anyway.""To make sure Katniss is still here?" asks Peeta."Something like that,"..."That was funny, what Tigris said. About no one knowing what to do with her.""Well, WE never have,"..."She loves you, you know," says Peeta. "She as good as told me after they whipped you.""Don't believe it,"Gale answers. "The way she kissed you in the Quarter Quell...well she never kissed me like that.""It was just part of the show," Peeta tells him, although there's an edge of doubt in his voice."No, you won her over. Gave up everything for her. Maybe that's the only way to convince her you love her." There's a long pause. "I should have volunteered to take your place in the first Games. Protected her then.""You couldn't," says Peeta. "She'd never have forgiven you. You had to take care of her family. They matter more to her than her life."..."I wonder how she'll make up her mind.""Oh, that I do know." I can just catch Gale's last words through the layer of fur. "Katniss will pick whoever she thinks she can't survive without”