Life With No Games

Chapter 11: Home Sweet Home

I get off the train so fast I have to wait a couple minutes for my family to catch up. I grasp Peeta's arm.

     "Aren't you guys excited to be home!" I say excitedly. They don't answer. "What?"

     "Well, I'll miss learning about the history of Panem." Rue says.

     "I'll miss the amazing food." Finnick chimes in.

     "And I'll miss seeing the other victors." Peeta says after a couple seconds. So the rest of my family loved victors week while I counted down the days till we got home. I slump.

     "Oh. Well it's good to be home though, after a long week." Is all I can come up with to say. Peeta squeezes my arm, understanding my pain, which he isn't because he liked Victor's week. He can only picture how I feel. I'm silent on the way home and when I see my house, the one in the victors village, I'm so happy I could cry. It's funny, this is the house that I never thought I would call home, but here I am.

I run inside and take a deep breath in, smelling the air that was lacking in the capitol. Everyone walks in what seems like 10 minutes after me and they all definitely don't look as excited to be home as I am. I unpack and decide to go for a walk around town. Peeta asks to join me, but I tell him that I want to be alone. I leave the victors village and walk down the streets of district 12.

Things are different. They rebuilt the district after they were done rebuilding everything else. There is still a town square and it's still a mining town, but other than that everything has changed. District 12 is what you could call a village. There are cottages everywhere you go. Not a lot of people live here anymore, about 1000. But I get the people that do. They want peace and quiet, mining pays a good amount and it's not modern like the capital and some other districts. They paved the roads and built monuments. To my surprise they built a statue of Gale, but he was the reason a lot of people got out when the capital bombed it. Lots of people have gardens and I'm in my own thoughts when someone comes up to me.

     "Katniss, Katniss!" I look at her, confused. "It's me Delly!" Delly, Delly Cartwright is still living in district 12!? I'm actually not that surprised this was her home and she isn't a person to back away from that.

     "Oh Delly!" I say and smile. "It's so good to see you."

     "I would say that too, but I just saw you."

     "What?"

     "I saw your speech, they just replayed it and it was so good I just had to hear it again!" Again with my speech! I was just trying to forget it. "I never knew you felt that way, but it was very inspirational." I roll my eyes, everyone keeps telling me how great it is and that just makes me feel worse. I try to change the subject.

     "So, what are you doing these days, Delly?" She smiles like I couldn't of asked a better question, but she always smiles like that.

     "Oh Katniss, I've taken over the clothing store in town square, I just love people's faces when they find an outfit they love!" She puts her hands over her heart. "What are you doing these days Katniss? Taking care of your family?"

I nod. "Yup, Peeta runs the bakery, so I take care of Finnick and Rue." She nods

      "Oh ya I see Peeta all the time, the bakery is right beside the clothing store." She pauses. "How old is Rue and Finnick now?"

     "Rue is eight and Finnick is four. Rue's in school, but Finnick hasn't started, I think he has like 2 more years until he starts." We chat for a couple more minutes and then I tell Delly that I have to go and she says that she does too, but it was nice seeing me.

I continue walking and thinking. Why did they like Victor's week? Peeta could ask the victors to come visit us all the time, History is history and we have good food here too. I get angrier and angrier. District 12 is our home and I'm outraged that they even liked Victor's week a little bit. It is a punishment, it's a time when we have to relive traumatic memories. I thought that this walk would help, but it just makes me not want to go back, to face my family that love the capital so much.

I decide to take a walk in the woods and I sat by me and Gale's meeting spot and let myself cool down. It took a while, but finally I decided to head back. I walked very slowly and I no longer felt angry, but sad. My family loved what I was dreading for weeks. I finally make it back and don't even make eye contact with my family. I just go upstairs to my bedroom and start running a bath, hoping it will help with what I'm feeling. I get in and realize that the end to the victors week, the thing I was so excited for has been terrible. I slump and just sit in the bath, not thinking about anything for the next couple of hours.

Peeta comes in and finds me still in the bath after 4 hours. 

     "Katniss, are you still in the bath? Didn't you run it like 3 hours ago!"

     "Four actually." I say as I run my fingers through the water.

     "Get out Katniss," I don't move. "We need to talk." He crosses his arms and waits for me to get out, put my towel on and sit on our bed. He puts his arm around my wet body and says,

     "Katniss, I don't know what going on, but you left immediately as soon as we got home, something you were really excited about, didn't come back for hours and then went straight upstairs and sat in a bath for 4 hours. What's going on?" I take a minute to reply, Peeta loved victors day, but he's also my husband and I've been telling him everything for the last 25 years.

     "You, Rue and Finnick all loved Victor's week, but I hated it. I was dreading it and really excited to come home, but you all actually enjoyed it." Peeta shakes his head and hugs me.

     "No, no, no, Katniss. I only enjoyed seeing the victors, I was just as excited as you are to come home, to the place I raised my family with the love of my life, away from all the trama." He holds my hand. "But it's nice to see people who understand what I've gone through. Especially Johanna." I know what he means, he's talking about when he got captured by the capitol and I realize that maybe I've been too harsh.

     "Finnick is small," He continues. "He doesn't really care and I think you should be glad, he just thinks it's a fun vacation." I guess so, I already have to go through the trouble with Rue, I guess I should be glad that he doesn't suspect anything. "And Rue is just excited that she found out the history about it, since it was basically a mystery. It's a phase, let it pass Katniss. This is our home and if you think that changed because of a week in the capital, you're wrong and you should be happy about that."

I hug Peeta so hard that his face turns red. "Thank you Peeta!" I say. I'm so glad I told him my thoughts because he always knows how to make me feel better. 

     "Of course Katniss, we all love home, I promise." I let my head fall on his shoulder and we embrace and I smile for one of the first times since we got home.