A silver parachute drifts slowly to the ground. A small box is attached with a note from mentor Harper Whent. Inside is a half full canteen. The note reads: “Since you asked. Baby girl."
Rosalind swore she wouldn’t cry again before the cameras, but this time, as she had opened the envelope with a message from her mentor, she forgot both about the promise and the fact that they were capturing shots of her every once in a while. The tape was caught in her hair and there was no chance of removing it without pulling it off - she had been so foolish to use it as a weapon on herself - and there wasn’t a single purple spot tattooed on her skin that didn’t ache. Even her eyelashes, soaked in tears because life kept going on, hurt when she blinked. Looking at what was above with the epitome of an affected look painted on her face - reason why, unknown, because the baby wasn’t stealing anybody’s life and she cared deeply about her mentor even after just such a short time spent together - Rosalind wanted to have been on the other side of the Games. She imagined how easy it was from afar and how pain didn’t have to follow her every step. Though after the encounter with Pike, she found enough bandages not to feel like her bones were literally detaching from her skeleton, the pain wasn’t easy to swallow. She wondered if every Games hurt like this. Regret overwhelmed her - because the Games weren’t something she knew from before and, for the first time, she wished to know everything already, because finding out on her own skin wasn’t too pleasant.
“It’s a girl!” Rosalind exclaimed, proud, though suddenly saddened by a couple of emotions she couldn’t fathom. They had nothing to do with the happy family - even with the broken bones, she could still feel borrowed happiness for them. It said more about a discussion she has had with Daisy regarding children. She would never have hers, which was another knife cutting from her, but in a way, it was easy that she at least figured out how the Games ended. It was predictable. At least nobody would have to poison her for being a bad mother. The thought made her smile over the smile she was already wearing for Harper, Cruz, and the little girl. “I wish you all the best. Congratulations!” She blew a kiss at a camera, soft-hearted as the tears were sliding down her cheeks. “Harper and Cruz are having a girl,” she then explained for those who didn’t know, heart exploding with pride. But, oh, how that pride hurt.
The sight of the canteen and the fact that it wasn’t empty, like the other one she had throw away, made her squeal. The sight of water alone cured her exhaustion and hunger and made the pain into nothingness. She drank boldly, and, this time, she knew better than to waste it. As soon as she felt life get in her again, she put on the lid and decided to save the rest for the next hopeless moment of the day.
