I wake up slowly, and am still a little drowsy. I’m plugged into a drip and my mother is beside the bed.

“Rue! Welcome back!” she sounds relieved.

I feel a little empty inside, but not angry like I was before. I can’t speak.

“You were stung by a stray Tracker-Jacker. Not enough poison to hallucinate, but enough to go a little wild. They drugged you pretty hard because you kept moving after you were unconscious, so you might not be able to speak.”

I nod, to show her I understand even though I can’t say anything.

For a few minutes, she talks to me as if we were at home. She talks about how my brothers let some horses loose because they were mad about me leaving, and she tells me about my youngest sister starting work. She tells me funny things that happened and interesting things, acting as if I had been away for a holiday, and we are just getting reacquainted.

When I can talk, the first thing I say is that I love her. Then she hugs me, knocking over a glass of water on the table next to me. It smashes, and an Avox appears to clean it up. I choke out a thank you as she puts another in the smashed one’s place, then leaves.

My mother leans closer to me.

“What was it like?”

Which part? Leaving my family? Parading around like an idiot? Knowing that if I moved the tiniest bit I would explode? Hiding so I wasn’t ripped to shreds by the Careers? Katniss dying? Thresh dying? Winning?

“Terrifying,” I sum it up in a simple word. There is no point in telling her what I’ve been up to, she probably saw every moment on TV. “How much was shown at the end?”

“They showed you saying you loved Thresh, and the cannon going off. Then they cut it and said you were a little upset and they were going to check you out. Then they called me up and I came here, they told me about the Tracker-Jacker sting and here I am. You were asleep for over a day. It’s midnightish about now. If you’re awake now, everyone will want you up again tomorrow.”

She sighs.

“They showed me what happened that wasn’t on the television. Are you still angry?”

I shake my head.

“I was miserable and I still am, but I’m not mad anymore. It must have been the poison. I won’t try to kill anyone, if that’s what you mean.”

“Good,” she smiles. “Go to sleep. You have a long day ahead of you.”