building back together

chapter 9

Katniss

A few minutes later, I hear very loud footsteps come up the stairs followed by my door opening. I look up to see Haymitch in the doorway.  "Hi sweetheart. Your mother forced me to apologize so I'm sorry." He says. "I mean a real apology, Haymitch!" My mother hollers up the stairs. Haymitch groans and mutters something under his breath. "Look sweetheart, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I was just teasing you. Your mother told me off and said that I shouldn't have brought up the subject at all." He tells me. "She's right." I say. "I actually came up to tell you that Paylor said she'll be having Peeta flown in instead of waiting for the trains to take passengers again. According to her, he was worried about you when he heard the news. All he asked was if you were on the train." He says. "Thanks for telling me." I say. Haymitch gives a small smile and leaves the room. My mother calls me for dinner and invites Haymitch to join us. After dinner, he heads home. My mother decides to call Annie and I go upstairs and fall asleep.

The following is a dream

I'm in a small room with almost no light. I go to move and realize that I have a chain on my foot that's connected to a hook on the floor. Immediately I start to panic. A door opens and three peacekeepers walk in. They undo the chain on my foot and cuff my hands. After that, two of them lead me down a long dark hall while the third one keeps a gun to my back. We reach a door and the one with the gun shoves me inside. In the room, Snow is standing there against a wall full of torture tools. "Since you refuse to give me answers, why don't we give you a reason to talk?" He asks. A door opens and Prim and Peeta are dragged in and thrown to the floor. They both have tape over their mouths and are blindfolded. President Snow orders the peacekeepers to chain them. While they are doing that, he walks over to the wall of torture stuff and grabs a few things. "Tie her up. I want her to watch." He orders. He goes to Prim first and starts hitting her. Then he does the same thing to Peeta. He goes back and forth between the two of them, doing different things each tjme. By the end they are both bruised up and very bloody and Peeta is missing his prosthetic leg. "Say goodbye to your loved ones miss Everdeen. Maybe you shouldn't have lied to me." He says before shooting them both.

Dream over

I wake up screaming their names. I hear footsteps on the stairs and soon my door opens. My mother is there looking concerned. She immediately comes over to me and hugs me. "It's just a dream." She tells me as she strokes my hair. She holds onto me while I cry and whispers soothing words into my ear. After awhile, I stop crying. "Do you want some tea?" My mother asks me. I nod and we head downstairs. While she makes the tea, I catch a glimpse of the time. 3:07 AM. "Sorry for waking you up." I tell my mother. She waves off my apology. "It's okay. I wasn't asleep for very long." She tells me. "How come?" I ask. She hesitates. Suddenly I know. "You went in her room didn't you?" I ask. My mother looks down. "I was looking around the house and I was curious. I wanted to see if you did anything to it. It looks like it hasn't been touched since that night." She says quietly. "I can't bring myself to clean it out." I say. Just then the tea kettle starts making noise. My mother pours the tea into her special cups. My stomach twists when I remember the last time I had tea in this cup was when President Snow threatened me just before the Victory Tour. I attempt to shake that thought away but I am unable to and begin to freak out. My mother notices that I'm panicking and runs outside. A few minutes later, Haymitch comes running in. "It's okay sweetheart. I'm right here." He says. I close my eyes. "My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am almost 18 years old. I was in the Hunger Games twice. I was the Mockingjay. I shot Coin and she died. Snow is also dead. Peeta is my boyfriend for real this time." I say. I continue to repeat this until I finally relax. Haymitch looks at me. "Very good sweetheart. You're safe. Like you said, he's gone. He can't hurt you anymore." He says. "Do you feel better?" My mother asks. "Yeah." I say, taking a deep breath. "I'll get a different cup for you. I wasn't thinking about that. I'm sorry." My mother says. She turns to Haymitch. "Thanks for helping." She says. "No problem." He says. My mother hands me a cup of tea and holds me as I sip the tea.

After I finish my tea, I head back to my bed. The next time I wake up, the sun is shining. Suddenly, I hear a loud noise downstairs. I jump out of my bed and head downstairs. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up Katniss." A familiar voice says. I gasp.

Standing there in the kitchen is Peeta.