A Never Ending Story ~Everlark~

Hope

Katniss' POV

When I see the paintings of me, my mouth drops. Why me? Out of all the beautiful things in the world..why me? They are so detailed it's as if it's a picture of myself. I mean, this is district 12..not many pictures are taken and if they are, we don't get to see. So I'm imagining it looks as a picture. I've seen myself in one picture before, when I received that medal from the mayor, because of my fathers death. I looked strange, mostly because my father just died, but everything looked strange. When I looked at the photo, I'd see a shimmering glow come from it and I never understood what it was. I was near peacekeepers at the time and I guess they noticed what I had saw and immediately ripped it away from me, taking me back to my home. Ever since then I knew there was definitely something more going on than anyone of us knew.

I walk towards every painting and gently guide my hand across, not enough to make any marks but enough to feel each detail. I look at each brush stroke and every little smear on it. They are all so beautiful it brings a little bit of tears to my eyes. Peeta clears his throat a little and I look back at him.

"Why?..." I ask in a quite tone.
"Why what?" he asks moving closer to me.
"Why are there paintings of me, and why are they so beautiful. Your other ones have so much more worth than me." I say, and immediately regretting, I sound like I'm all about myself when it wasn't even intended.
"See Katniss, you're beautiful. Just like these other things. That's how everyone sees you. Maybe when you look in the mirror you see something different. But that's not you. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I want you to believe that, and believe in me.." he trails off looking into my eyes. I have no words to conjure up. What am I supposed to say? thank you? okay? instead of saying anything I just nod and look back. I hope he isn't thinking that I'm weirded out, I'm not. I'm just trying to see if he's right.

"Peeta..." I ask
"Yes?"
"Do you have a mirror here?" I ask looking around. I have an idea.
"Uh, yeah here." he says going to his desk and grabs a small little mirror. I take it and I look at myself. Scars on my face, gross hair, ugly smile. I look back at the painting and see a beautiful version of me. Peeta is wrong. That isn't me. I need to try and believe. Believe. Believe. Believe Katniss. I hear peetas voice in my head saying those words. After a few seconds I look back in the mirror and see her! I see her! I see the girl in the painting staring back at me!

"Oh my god.." I say looking at it closer.
"What? what wrong?!" Peeta asks in a worried tone.
"Nothing...I just...I see the girl...I see the girl you described me as. I've never seen her before." I say. He stands there looking at me for about a minute then opens his mouth to speak.
"You are seeing the real you then. Now do you believe in me?" he asks, staring me dead in the eyes. I wait a minute then whisper 'yes'

He steps a bit closer, and pushes a strand of hair away from my face. What is this boy doing to me? why do I feel warm when he touches my skin? When he removes his hand I can still as if it's still there. He leans in a bit and that's when we hear Peeta's father.

"Peeta! Katniss!" Peeta's father yells beneath the tree. He steps back and looks into my eyes for a moment then takes my hand. We climb down from the tree and see peetas father standing there.

"God, I'm sorry, I got worried. I knew where you guys were but I didn't know when you left." Peeta's father cried out

"No, no it's okay don't worry dad." Peeta says
"Yes don't worry, we're here now" I say with a smile. Peetas father gives a smile back and we all head back to the bakery. While we're walking I replay in my mind of what had just happened minutes ago. He made me feel happy and actually made me see the real me. Gale never could do that. Gale...gale isn't really boyfriend type guy. I've only seen Gale as a brother to me but, he thinks other wise. We kissed once but I didn't feel anything besides warm lips against my face. No spark like others have described kisses.