Troubled One

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Turns out in the Mellark household, you can't sit down, eat a cookie and have peace. Because the second Peeta grabbed a cookie and sat his ass down on the chair, his dad came barreling in.

"Peet, I need your help."

Peeta sighed inwardly as he finished off his cookie, raising an eyebrow at his father.

"Can you pick up Danny from kindergarten?" Simon questioned. "Your uncle William is stuck in traffic from District 4, and he's coming to pick Danny up soon. But can you just please go pick Danny up?"

Peeta hopped off his stool.

"Okay," he said. "I'll just go grab my phone."

Peeta left the kitchen and hurried up the stairs, his black slippers slapping on the wood. Before Peeta entered his room, his mother stopped him.

"Peeta, dear." She called.

Peeta turned, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Please don't wear those slippers out," a smile curled up on Iris's face. "You'll make a fashion statement. And not the good kind."

Peeta chuckled. "'Course I will."

He entered his room, shutting the door soundly behind him. Peeta glanced at his window consciously. He was now always scared and paranoid that this A person would leave him random notes everywhere, revealing to everyone Peeta was two quarters involved in Katniss's disappearance.

He shuddered and tried to forget about everything he had thought of in the past 10 seconds and grabbed his phone. He kicked off his slippers and slipped on his black sneakers. Peeta messed up his hair a little, like normal, and headed back downstairs to pick up Danny.

***
"Hey, little man!" Peeta greeted his nephew when Danny ran to him.

Danny crashed into his legs and Peeta scooped him up.

"Hi, Peeta!" The 5 year old said.

"How was school?" Peeta asked him, starting to turn and walk back.

"It was fun!" Danny replied enthusiastically. "We played with crayons!"

"Oh, yeah?" Peeta hummed. "Tell me, little man, you wanna walk or take the car?"

"Car!"

God, he was so loud. But Peeta didn't mind. As much as he wanted to be alone, picking Danny up wasn't such a chore.

Especially when the kid loved Peeta even more than his actual family.

Peeta plopped Danny down in the passenger seat and buckled him up before sliding into the driver's seat. He started up the car and took off.

"My teachers talked about you," Danny said. "They said stuff."

Peeta fidgeted. He had an idea what that 'stuff' was.

"What'd they say, Danny?" Peeta questioned.

"They said, "Peeta Mellark probably killed Katniss Everdeen"," Danny repeated. "What does killed mean? Who's Katniss Everdeen?"

Peeta licked his lips in anger and confusion. Those fucking teachers knew nothing about what happened that night. They didn't see what had happened. They didn't feel the hurt and the pain when Peeta's heart snapped in half, in fear that Katniss would leave him for Cato Ludwig. He gripped his steering wheel even harder.

"Peeta?" Danny said. "What does killed mean?"

"Maybe you should ask Papa about that," Peeta answered with gritted teeth. "Your daddy knows the meaning."

"Okay!" Danny agreed.

As soon as they reached the Mellarks', Peeta parked, turned off the engine and carried the toddler out. He unlocked the door to the house and let Danny down. Danny ran to Simon.

"Dad," Peeta called. "I'm going out."

Simon noted the stricken expression on his son's face and immediately allowed Peeta to have some time by himself. When Peeta left the house for the second time, he pulled out his phone and went straight for his contacts app. He then called the first person on his Favorites column.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Finn," Peeta said, walking towards his car. "Wanna hang out for a bit?"

"Sure, where to?" Finnick agreed.

"Let's go to the cabin at the beach," Peeta decided. "It's quiet there."

***
"Danny told me his teachers have been gossiping," Peeta began. "They're all saying I killed Katniss."

Peeta watched as Finnick rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Look, Peet, everyone's just paranoid," Finnick shrugged. "Katniss has been missing for half a year, everyone's bound to get scared."

Peeta sighed.

"But why do I get blamed?" Peeta asked quietly.

"Because you're her boyfriend," Finnick answered. "Everyone has a theory as to why the boyfriend killed the girlfriend, especially now that people are sure Cato Ludwig was involved."

Peeta stared out the window, watching as lightning streaked the grey sky and the droplets of rain beat down the window.

"Peet. You know you didn't kill her, I know you didn't kill her and your families know you didn't kill her," Finnick said. "What are you so afraid of?"

Peeta sighed again. But he definitely knew and agreed that Finnick had a point. If Peeta was telling the truth to everyone, and most importantly, himself, what was there to fear? He had to stand tall and protect himself.

"Thanks, man." Peeta said.

"No problem," Finnick chuckled. "You want one?"

Finnick held up a box. Peeta recognized the Malboro label.

"Katniss hated when I smoked." Peeta reminded himself and his best friend.

"Yeah, but she's not here to chew your ass out, so take one, Mellark."

💖✨🙌✖️
no A notes this time 👌

do you guys think those teachers are on the right track? did peeta really murder katniss? let me know what you think :)

please comment guys idk how many times ive said this, but i put in a lot of effort and time in my content, and you dont even give two shits and it sucks.

• Chapter 4 •
word count: 859 words 💬

Oh, you broke my heart ⚓️

-A 💓