Ashley stood in the town square of District one 50 years later next to her 6 year old granddaughter, Gemma. Her nickname was Gem.  Ash was now 66 years old and was getting older.

"Grandma, where's mommy and daddy?" Gemma asked.

"Oh, honey, you know where they are. They left this earth a long time ago, almost 4 years ago sweetie. They can't come back, but you have Grandma."

"But Grandma, why did they leave? Did they not like me?"

"Gem, it's hard to explain. They loved you, don't worry. They got into an.. accident. They didn't want to go, trust me. Their lives ended unexpectedly."

"Oh, okay Grandma."

Gem held her grandmother's hand tight as the people filed into the town square to watch the reaping.

Ashley didn't want to ever tell her granddaughter what had really happened. How her parents were beat to death by peacekeepers. How she started the Quarter Quell. But she knew it had to happen eventually.

It happened quickly. This was the 75th Hunger Games, it was a quarter quell. Luckily she wasn't picked, cause the tributes were picked from the existing victors.

A pair of siblings were picked. Cashmere and Gloss, she thought.

I've done this to them, she thought.

Gem and Ash walked home slowly together and sat in the living room.

They sat on a couch together, sipping on hot tea.

"Gem, let me tell you a story. A story about when I was younger."

"Yes!"

And so Ash went, explaining the Hunger Games she was in. Telling Gem the details about her friend Chia, and her enemy Thorn. But told it in a way it seemed like a storybook, a fantasy. So she didn't scare her grandchild. So Gem could go to sleep at night without jumping into Ash's room at 4 am, afraid.

She placed her cup on the glass table at the end. Gem was about to doze off, her head on her grandmother's lap, her ear pressed against Ash's long silk skirt.

Ash finished the last sentence.

"And that, was Chia's best mistake."