hope is a dangerous thing

Peeta leaned against the door of the café, polite smile on his face. “Sorry, I can’t let you in right now. I’m working on something pretty special, and I can’t reveal it until the big day. But if there’s something else you need let me know and I’ll go and grab it for you.”

Brenda quickly took a step back, having not expected to be stopped. He wore a smile and was all kinds of polite, but she still glanced over his shoulder, trying to get a glimpse into the room, work out what he was talking about.

Thomas sat near the outskirts of town, eyes trained on the guarded walls surrounding the border. Adjusting to Alexandrian life was even harder than he’d expected. The strange looks, the questions, the unending need to run. He’d always believed that finding his family would bring him peace, but with no memories or recollection, his father and twin felt like nothing more than strangers; so far removed from everything he knew. He’d promised the Gladers that they’d stay, at least until they came up with a different solution, but he had to fight a mountain of urges to do so. Hearing footsteps beside him, Thomas nodded his head in acknowledgment, but his gaze didn’t leave the concrete pillars in front. Curiosity, as it often did, spoke for him, needing answers to the constant questions that spun his mind. “What’s out there? What’s it like?”

Ever since Brenda had been pardoned, she’d been itching to track down Tom. She knew full well he wouldn’t remember her, and that fact weighed heavy on her heart, desperate to amend it. But when she’d discovered he’d found family, his actual biological family, she’d hung back, even when it hurt her to do so. She missed him desperately, but he deserved every second he’d been given with the family he’d been ripped away from. She wouldn’t interrupt that, wouldn’t make him remember things he might not want to. But when she saw him, alone, staring at the walls, she couldn’t bear to walk away, her feet carrying her right to him.