Hijacked

Chapter Seventy Three

Chapter Seventy Three

PEETA'S POV

I wake up in the middle of the night to see Katniss in the corner of our room, covering her eyes with her hands and gasping for air with her dark curly hair covering her face.

I slowly drop down and inch my way toward her as she is gasping things under her breath. I knew this was going to happen even before she got home. When she went back into battle I knew that for the millionth time someone, somehow would break her and I would be left with the pieces and every night I pray that I'll put them back together correctly. It's hard in my opinion, seeing the normal Katniss with Willow and Kaden during the day, being a mother and wife... But at night you see the other Katniss, the survivor, the broken MockingJay, the young brave girl from District Twelve buried beneath the ashes.

Not only did many people die from Twelve but apart of Katniss did as well. Within her long list of people she mourns I think she also mourns herself. I gently touch her shoulder and she looks up quickly, her grey eyes glowing in the darkness. "Katniss?" "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She says, her voice shaky. "I'm surprised you didn't, usually nightmares make you scream honey." "Ever sense, ever sense I came back home before being executed it feels like the noose is always around my neck."

She grabs her neck to show me. "With every nightmare or flashback it just gets tighter, and tighter, and tighter, until there's no sound that can come out. I'm left with no cry for help." I hold back my tears. "Katniss-" "And I try so hard for the kids not to see me like this, I don't want them to know why I have nightmares or why people call me the MockingJay because all it would do would scare them to death!" I nod.

"I know sweetheart." I take her hands. "I'm right here, you have nothing to be scared of." She smiles sadly. "Do you know how many times a day I'm horrified to think you won't be here?" I look down. "Katniss-" "Peeta, everyday I try to pretend that my life is normal, that everything's okay and that I'm a normal wife and husband but at night... It's virtually impossible to think that because my life has literally gone to shit. I've lost so much and gained so little and it hurts Peeta! It hurts to know that I've failed so many."

"Katniss you haven't failed anyone." She scoffs. "Tell that to Prims tombstone." She grabs my shirt collar. "You gotta help me, you gotta help me Peeta before the noose gets to tight, if it does then I won't be able to do anything! Please help me!" She says frantically, shaking me like a mad woman. I grab her pills from the window sill and put them in her mouth. "Katniss take your medicine-" She spits them in my face. "They won't help, they can't help-"

"Katniss take the pills now or I'll make you, it'll help you honey." I put them in her mouth and she tries to spit them out again but I cover her lips with my palm and make her swallow them. After a while she does and tears flood down her cheeks. I hold her closely to my chest and then carry her back into our bed as her sobs rack her body. "Cinna, Prim, Rue, Finnick, Dad-" I hold her as we are now under the blankets and I kiss her forehead.

"I know, I know." "I don't want you or the kids to be next." She sobs. I kiss her lips gently. "They won't be, try to get some sleep." She nestles closer to me and let's out a shaky sigh. And before I know it she's drifting off and so am I.

____The Next Morning___

I wake up to feel Katniss still sleeping soundly. I kiss her ear. "Honey?" "What?" She moans. "Do you wanna get up." She shakes her head. "I need a little bit longer, I'm hurting and I just want to sleep." I nod slowly.

"Okay Katniss, I'm going to go get the kids situated with being fed and let them watch their Sunday cartoons." She nods and I give her a slow kiss on the lips. "I love you." She smiles a little, falling back to sleep. "I love you too." I get up and walk down the stairs to see Willow sitting on the couch already watching tv with Kaden in her arms.