Finding The Life of a Victor ~ The Story of Katniss Everdeen

10

     I wake up and feel his arms wrapped around me.

     "Good morning, Peeta." I tell him, but there's no response. "Peeta?" I sit up and find his eyes still closed. I look down at his stomach and see it. Blood. He'd been stabbed. No. No. No! Staring at the wound in shock, I hear his voice croak.

     "Run" as he forces the word out, I keep trying to make sense of the situation. What the hell happened? This can't be happening. He grips my arm forcefully. "Run!"

     I get up and run toward the door, but when I open it, there he is. He's standing right in front of me, with the overwhelming scent of blood and roses. Snow. I back away from him, terrified, and bump into something behind me. I turn around and am faced with Gale. Gale? What is he doing here? He grabs my arms and pins them behind my back as Snow walks into the room.

     This isn't happening. This isn't happening. It's not real. It's not real!

     "Oh, but it is real my dear, Miss Everdeen." Says his eerie, snake like voice. He picks Peeta up by the arm and drops him to his knees as he struggles to cling to life. I can't help him. I'm stuck. "It's the things we love the most, that destroy us." He says before slitting his throat. I scream, I cry, I weep, but I can't move. Gale won't let me go. Why is he working with Snow? Why doesn't Snow just kill me now? As I think that last thought, I feel an arrow shoot right through my stomach.

---

     "Peeta! Peeta!" I scream for him after waking from my nightmare, but he's not here. "No, no, this isn't real." I tell myself waiting for Peeta to burst through the door and hold me like he has so many times before, but he doesn't. I finally decide that I can't stay in this room and I run downstairs as quickly as I can hoping to find him down there, but instead I find a note;

     Katniss,

     I decided to sleep at Haymitch's house tonight because I thought you might need some space. I'll be back in the morning, but if you need anything please call Haymitch's phone and I'll answer, I promise. I'm sorry about what happened and I hope we can talk about it when I come home. I love you.

Love,
Peeta.

     I really do need him right now, but I don't want to wake him. I go back and forth on whether or not I should call, when I catch myself staring at the knives. No, you aren't doing this. No, you promised Peeta you wouldn't. I pace around and try to find the pearl he gave me. I mess with it sometimes when I feel distressed, but I can't find it. My back up for the pearl is the cutting. I can't do that. I can't. I really don't want to wake him, but if I relapse and he finds out I didn't call him, he'll be upset. So I pick up the phone and make the call, tears running down my face because I don't want to relapse, but I miss the feeling. After a couple rings, he picks up.

     "Hello?" He answers with a yawn.

     "Peeta?" I weep into the phone.

     "Katniss? Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?"

     "Yea. Peeta, I need you." I sob into the phone.

     "Okay, just hold on, I'm on my way." He hangs up. I'm alone again. I'm staring at the knives again. I picture myself, bloody, on the ground, dead, but then an even worse picture reveals itself in my head. Peeta, stabbed, Snow cutting him, laying in his own pool of blood. It all seems too real. I curl up, rocking myself back and forth behind the recliner.