Rose on Fire

Chapter 56

(Katniss POV)
When we get to thirteen hundreds of people greet us, but Annie has a freak out from the attention, and runs to one of the guest rooms Plutarch has set up for us. I stay next to Peeta, we follow Plutarch, eager to see Paylor. Plutarch leads us to the president's office silently, he opens a door, we walk in to see Paylor surrounded by paperwork. She greets us with a smile, and worried eyes. "Welcome back Katniss and Peeta," she says with tired yawn, making Peeta and I yawn as well. "Nice to see you again," Peeta says with his charming smile. "So I'm going to need you guys to tell me everything that has happened during the past few days," so we tell her every detail, and action that was made since the war began. It must of taken us a few hours to finish our story, because Paylor was nearly passed out on the desk when we finished. During the story Paylor had written all the important details on a piece of paper. My jaw was sore from talking so much, and Peeta's jaw was probably sore too, as he kept rubbing his sharp jawline tiredly. Paylor thanked us, and we left her office tired, we went to our guest room, and laid down next to each other, Peeta wrapped his arms around me, I quickly fell asleep. What felt like after 5 min. I woke up, but I was in the middle of the woods, I knew I had to be dreaming, but instead of standing up from the dream, I felt every muscle, and tendon working to get me on my feet, I looked around, the trees are pinned to the ground like an atomic bomb hit it. I look around to see people, first I see Greasy Sae, then Annie, Finnick Johanna, my father, Effie, Plutarch, Paylor, Seneca, Boggs, Castor, Pullox, Cressida, even Buttercup. I walk farther from where I woke up, I see Gale, my mother, and then, Peeta. My already watering eyes look at Peeta's scorched face, the bomb had done a lot of damage to everyone, but Peeta didn't get the worst of it. I kiss his forehead, a few of my tears falling on him. I walk a few more steps, and I see Prim. I walk over to her body, her two blond braids with the tips of the hair charred. I kneel next to her small body, covered in blisters, and sores. I let the tears flow down my cheeks, I sob uncontrollably, but I force myself to stand up, and walk further. I see a mockingjay on the ground, it's wings sprawled on the ground. I hear a noise behind me, I turn quickly to see the person I thought I would never see again. President Snow. He walks toward me, I take in his appearance, he is dressed in a white suit, his signature white rose in his breast pocket. He gives me a sinister smile, blood spilling from his mouth, and slowly dripping down his chin. He walks with a slow and steady pace, like a snake slowly stalking its prey before delivering the lethal bite. I turn and run, I run to the parts of the woods unaffected by the bomb. I quickly tire, and stumble upon a pond, I look at my reflection in the still water, I stumble back, and almost shriek, I see my face scorched and blistered, it barely looked like me. I look again at my reflection, after a few minutes of taking in my appearance, something catches the corner of my eye, it's a reflection of Snow right behind me. I scream at the top of my lungs, and turn to see him jumping at me, I narrowly miss him, and stumble to my feet, I run screaming, but I feel my mouth starting to foam uncontrollably. My vision starts to blur, and my run slowly turns into a stumbling crawl. I scream when I see Snow approaching me, this time with a knife, he's just about to plunge the knife into my torso, when my eyes open, and my body jerks up to see Peeta next to me, his eyes wide wide from my terrified screams. "It's okay Katniss, I'm here, everyone's fine!" he yells over my scream. I hug him, and let a few of my tears escape my eyes. "It was so real, I felt everything, I could do anything I wanted, but I couldn't control what was happening," I tell him. "Katniss, that's called a lucid dream, they're very rare, so you don't have to worry about getting another one anytime soon," he assures me. I hope his words are true, because that was one of the most terrifying things that have every happened to me.