Tortured but Together (A Hunger Games Fanfiction) [UNDER EDITING]

Chapter Twenty-Two

A/N: Usual PSA that the Hunger Games characters belong to Suzanne Collins and not to me. That said, enjoy!!

(Katniss POV)
The doctors check my bandages and put on fresh ones; as I see them go to dispose of the dirty bandages, I'm shocked to see how bloody they are. "Peeta...is...is that all my blood? Did I really bleed that much?" He nods shakily, rubbing my back in an effort to help calm me down.

It works, to a certain extent. Although I'm still not entirely sure where I am, or what's going on. At least Peeta is here, so I have someone I trust and love with me. Maybe he can even help me make sense of some of my fuzzy memories. "What do you think they're gonna do to me Peeta? Do you think it'll hurt?"

"How about we ask them that once they get back," Peeta says. I notice that whenever he's saying things to me, he's using a really calm and gentle voice.

"Peeta...is there something wrong? You look worried and well..." I pause, not sure of the best way to put it. "Why are you talking to me with the same voice you'd use on a frightened and skittish animal?" I grab onto his hand and give it a gentle squeeze while I'm saying all of this.

"I...Katniss, you were really panicked earlier, I just...I wanted to try and help make sure I didn't do anything to agitate you," he says. He runs a hand through his hair, seeming to be deep in thought.

Just as I'm about to ask him another one of my many questions, the doctors come back into my room. "Alright Katniss, we're just going to give you some new bandages for your head now, alright?" There it is, that same voice again. What are they hiding from me?

"What aren't you people telling me? I want to know!" I mutter, crossing my arms over my chest. They rewrap the bandages on my head without saying anything. Why won't they answer me?

"Katniss, Peeta, the two of you might want to sit down for this next part," one of the doctors says quietly.

"What if I'd rather stand? You people can't make all my decisions for me," I say in a huff.

The doctor sighs, I think she can tell that I'm going to be a stubborn person, at least as long as they withhold things from me. "Alright, if that's what you prefer. Now, I'm Chantelle, and I'll be your therapist and memory specialist."

"No."

"Miss Everdeen, this isn't a choice. It's an essential part of your treatment. I will of course do my best to make it a positive experience for you and..."

I don't let her finish. By this point I'm fed up. "Can all of you stop being so freakishly calm! My mom practices medicine with my sister back in district 12 and when she uses that calm voice there's only two possibilities! One of them is that the patient is dying and she wants to make their passing easier, and the other is that she's hiding something from them for whatever reason! So which one is it," I say angrily.

There's silence for several minutes. Eventually, Peeta speaks, breaking the silence. "Katniss...you...you got shot in the back of the head...that's why you're having trouble remembering things. The doctors told me before I came in and I was hoping I wouldn't be the one to tell you."

At this point, Peeta does have to gently lead me over to the hospital bed so I can sit down. I think I'm in shock; who the hell would want to shoot me in the head? Who the hell would try to kill me? Wrapping my arms tighter around Peeta, I crawl into his lap, burying my head in his chest. Whatever the doctors have to say next, I don't want to hear it. All I want is some calm, some quiet.

I'm pretty sure I hear my name a couple times, but I don't even look up. Then, that doctor Chantelle taps my shoulder gently. "Katniss, we need to do our first session now, can you look up? It'll be easier for me to work with you if I can see your face."

"Go away! I don't want you poking around in my head! I don't want you expecting me to trust you people when I've barely even met you!"

"Katniss, could you please take some deep breaths so that your heart rate doesn't spike," she asks. Why do people keep expecting things of me? Why can't they just let me be?

"I said go away! I don't need you! I need my mom and my sister and Peeta and that's it! I don't need people who I don't know I can trust!"

After a minute, Peeta responds, and I'm happy to hear him defend me. "Chantelle, is it possible to wait till tomorrow for the first session? I think we all just need some rest at the moment."

"Well...I'm not supposed to do that..."

"Why can't you," I cry. "Why can't you leave me be? Why can't I just have some time without you doing your "treatments" on me?"

"Because we want to make sure you heal up as soon as possible Katniss. Now, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room for the next hour Peeta, I need to get a sense of Katniss' progress." Before she even really gives him a chance to respond, she's dragging Peeta out the door, and then she shuts and locks it.

Almost as soon as I realize what she's done, I run to the door of the room and repeatedly try jiggling the handle. It's a fuzzy memory, much fuzzier than the others, but I remember being locked up, unable to escape, and there were people in lab coats. "LET ME OUT! LET ME GO!! LET ME GO!!" I shout at the top of my lungs before I sink to the floor, trembling. When Chantelle taps me on the shoulder this time, I shove her away, hard. "DON'T TOUCH ME! I DON'T WANT YOU ANYWHERE NEAR ME!"

"Katniss, we still have 55 minutes in our session. Can we please continue with the session now?" When she says the word "session" another memory pops up in my head.

This time, I'm on a hovercraft. I'm strapped down to an exam table, and someone is telling me something. I strain to hear, from inside my memory. When I hear them say there's no district 12 anymore, I start screaming and screaming and I won't stop. By this point, Chantelle has no other option but to sedate me. Something tells me that something like this has happened before...