Rose on my death-bed (KenzieRain)

I trudged across the snow towards a man's body. Dead or alive he had scared my sister to death just laying there. "Rea! Rea!" she had said, "There's a man in the snow! I think he's dying, you got to do something!" I wasn't one for interacting with the other citizens in district nine, but at times like these - when no one cared - I ended up smack in the middle. Behind me I heard the low growl of my dog, Evita, who was not very happy about me coming out in the snow at all. Evita came with me everywhere, but sometimes, for her, it was a curse. "Put a sock in it, Ev," I muttered to her before stopping ten feet away from the body, hands on hips.

Evita prodded my leg with her nose, willing me to go back inside. She was probably right, I hadn't bothered to put on a jacket before I'd left and my clothing was not suited for the weather. My face and hands had gone numb, my unkempt blonde hair was blowing in all directions, and my nose was running. I was sure going to get a cold, but none of it mattered, anyway. Everyone knew we had to hunt to get our rations and seeing as how my Dad was sick and my sister couldn't hunt, I was my family's food source.

My eyebrows raised when I saw the red highlights in the guys hair, was he from the Capitol? But why would someone from the Capitol be in District nine? Evita growled and trudged forward to sniff him, but a thought hit me. What if the Capitol didn't like me have a dog, a wild dog at that? "Evita," She turned, "Lay low." I ordered; she gave me a "are-you-serious?" look before hurrying off to the side, near a bush. Smart pup.

I cautiously stepped forward, confusion washing over me when I saw the rose. Then realization hit. It was that one guy who never smiled. I rolled my eyes and dropped to my knees next to him. He was mumbling to himself; speaking gibberish. "What are you doing?" I asked quietly, but my tone held all the exasperation in the world.