“I merely feel emptyness. A hollow of dead brush where flowers use to bloom.”

“But I feel as if I did know Rue, and she'll always be with me. Everything beautiful brings her to mind. I see her in the yellow flowers that grow in the Meadow by my house. I see her in the Mockingjays that sing in the trees. But most of all, I see her in my sister, Prim.”

“My name is Katniss Everdeen.Why am I not dead?I should be dead.”

“Yes. I killed him. And buried her in flowers," I say. "And I sang her to sleep.”

“The raw hunk of meat that used to be my enemy makes a sound, and I know where the mouth is. And I think the word he's trying to say is 'please'. Pity, not vengeance sends my arrow flying into his skull.”

“I wish she was dead,' he says. 'I wish they were all dead and we were, too. It would be best.”

“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.”