And then, if you make it to bedtime, you feel the joy of cheating death out of one more day," she said. "Do you see?

Peeta?" I creep along the bank. "Well, don't step on me.

A need for revenge can burn long and hot. Especially if every glance in a mirror reinforces it.

You want a piece of advice?" said Ripred. "Don't bother. I know what you'll say. The whole thing's stupid," said Gregor. "Quite the contrary. I was going to say that life is short. There are only a few good things in it, really. Don't pretend that one isn't happening." said Ripred.

He became my confidante, someone with whom I could share thoughts I could never voice...In exchange, he trusted me with his.

But after several hours, I go anyway, walking in silent sock feet, so as not to awaken the ghosts.

As we trudge back through the woods, we reach a boulder, and both Gale and I turn our heads in the same direction, like a pair of dogs catching a scent on the wind. Cressida notices and asks what lies that way. We admit, without acknowledging each other, it's our old hunting rendez-vous place. She wants to see it, even after we tell her it's nothing really. Nothing but a place where I was happy, I think.