Hunger Games: the Boy with the Bread

Chapter 2

I woke up in a bed. I have this horrible headache. Someone's holding a washcloth over my head. My heads resting on their chest. I look up. Trying to place the blond haired girl next to me. "Delly." I question. My brain is trying to comprehend. My vision isn't right, everything is blurry and moving around. I think to myself. Delly... Delly Cartwright. She has olive skin, pasty-face, and yellowish curly hair. It is Delly I can tell now. Delly and I have known each other for years. Ever since we were children. Her eyes blue like the ocean. She is in the same class as Katniss and I. She gets me. She admires Katniss just like I do. She is like a sister to me.

I look around confused. This isn't my house. It's Delly's. I jump out of the bed. "What happened, why am I here." I try to walk but I just fall on the floor. "I need to get home Delly. I can't stay here."

Then a soft voice replies to me. "Peeta. Stay in bed okay." She grabs my arm helping me stand up. "The doctors say it's best to rest."

I'm in so much pain I just collapse in her arms. "Why am I here. Why am I not at home," I say quietly. My eyes want to shut but I force them open.

Delly grabs an ice bag. Place it on my head softly. The coldness already makes it feel better. She sits down next to me.

I remember hitting my head. They brought me to Delly's house because there was too much screaming at mine. I remember hearing it. It was loud. My mother's voice. When I looked over I could see my brother getting hit. She tried grabbing me but Charlie stopped her before she could hurt me. Then I must have passed out.

But I can't stay here. I got to get home. One night that's it. Tomorrow I'll go home. Bright and early. My family needs help in the bakery since I'm the only one who frost the cakes. I enjoy frosting. Reminds me of painting. My dad taught me how when I was five. He handed me icing and we started with flowers. We were making a birthday cake for my mother. We would make a huge mess with frosting all over our faces. I remember getting so excited to lick it off. Since that day my dad would always ask for help on the cakes. He told me I had a steady hand. An artist's hand. From that day he often brought home canvas and paint supplies, it wasn't much but I made due. Everyday more and more paintings were laid against my wall. Ranging from sizes big to small. A desk to the side holding paint brushes in a cup. I spent hours in my room painting more than I did baking. My mother didn't like it. Said I didn't do anything around the house. My mother wasn't always like this though. She used to care about me. We would throw on our aprons and start baking together. She taught me everything there is to know about baking bread. My brothers would come in and start throwing flour all over us till we were covered in it. We laughed so hard. After we were done for the day we would always steal just one piece of bread and go have a panic outside. We would lay down and watch the clouds go by. My brothers and I would chase each other around. We would pick flowers for my father. But all that changed when Charlie hit twelve. Instead of happiness and joy my mother became scared. Charlie's first year in the Reaping. My mother wasn't in the mood to have fun. Then I hit twelve. My mother grew more scared, panicked, and grouchy. After another year Rye hit twelve. Putting his name in the Reaping, that's when we lost her. For years this went on constant screaming and yelling at my house. My mom couldn't control her anger level so she would take it out by hitting us. The older we get, the more times our names are in the reaping, and that broke my mother. The old one we used to love. She is gone. And I know she's not coming back.

I can feel the tears running down my face. Delly places a locket in hand. It's a picture of my mother and I when I was four. Outside laying in the grass watching the clouds. I close the locket. I don't want to look at it so I throw it on the floor.

"You're okay Peeta," she assures me. Resting her forehead on mine.

Delly kisses me on the forehead and walks away. "Try to get some rest okay," she instructed. I don't want to be alone. Honestly the only person I have in my life right now is Delly and if I lost her I lost myself.