Mentors

3

I wake up on the floor next to the bed, trembling. Suddenly a loud screech causes me to cover my ears and roll under the mattress. I come to realize that the train has stopped to refuel. This doesn't make my post nightmare any better. With blurry vision, I crawl to the door and down the hallway. I have no idea where I thought I was going, but I conclude that I will not get there. I face plant in the middle of the hallway. Don't recall making any sounds doing it. But I hear a door open behind me. Footsteps hop over me and I feel arms try to lift me off the floor. I squeeze my eyes shut and scream, making it difficult for the person to help me. Over my shrieks and cries, I hear my name from across the hall, telling me to shut up. If I could wake a hungover Haymitch, I must be loud. I open my eyes, to see a pair of blue ones looking back at me. That's all I could remember before I blackout.

I open my eyes, feeling an ice pack on my forehead. I take it off and sit up, looking at the surroundings of my bed on the train. Haymitch walks into the room, followed by Peeta, who is carrying breakfast on a tray. "Look here baker boy, sleeping beauty is awake." Haymitch says, sitting in a chair beside the bed. Peeta sits on the edge of the mattress. "How are you feeling?" He asks me. I'm confused as to why I wouldn't feel fine. "I am fine, why? What happened?"
"You passed out in the middle of the hallway, sweetheart. It woke us up." Effie calls Haymitch to the other room, and he leaves leaving Peeta and I alone.
"What district are we going to?" I ask him, looking at the plate of food he is holding.
"District 5." he answers, placing the tray in my lap. I thank him, tapping the other side of the bed with my hand. He half sits, half lays next to me. "It's a quarter quell, what do you think Snow will do this time?" He questions.
"Something just as horrible." I find my head leaning on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry if I woke you last night."
I say. "I wasn't sleeping, don't apologize."
The door swings open so hard that it hits the wall. "Up up up children! Another big, big, big day awaits for my two victors!" She closes the door again, and I hear her heels click down the hall. "I should go, you probably want to get dressed." He stands up, coming to my side of the bed to take the nearly empty tray, when I stop him with a hug. Although it lasts a while, I feel as if it is too short. But a hug can't make up to what I've put that boy through, messing with his feelings. He smiles at me, taking the tray, and walks out. I exhale through my mouth, causing the hair in my face to fly up. I do shower and pick out my own outfit to wear. Only five more days of halfhearted speeches. I notice something as Peeta speaks to the crowd off of the cue card. The people don't look convinced. "Tell us what you really think!" A woman calls out, and it starts a population of shouting. A few come at the front of the stage, Peeta grabs my arm and we slowly back away. "I wish I could." I say, just above a whisper. Peacekeepers finally realize what's going on and escort us back into the justice building.

That night I wake, screaming from the same nightmares. The door opens, and Peeta comes running in out of worry.
I swallow my fear to let the words out. "It was just a nightmare, I'm so sorry." His expression relaxes just a little bit.
"It's okay, me too... Goodnight."
I can't fight these nightmares off alone, the only person who I would want helping me is him.
"Peeta?" I call out.
He turns around,
"Yeah?"
"Will you stay with me?"
"Yeah." he says, quieter.
I move over, so that he can crawl in with me. I lay, protected in his arms.

I refuse any sleep medication offered to me, and instead I let Peeta into my bed every night. It's going to be fifty times harder once we get back to district 12. I've been trying to figure out the feelings I have for him. But it's hard to think about. Sometimes I would sit alone somewhere in the train and try to sort out my feelings, but I would always bump into him and I would mentally explode. Like today. I was sitting on the floor in front of the turned off television when he practically tripped over me. He asked me what I was doing and I answered honestly. "Thinking." I told him. "Well, try thinking at the table, Effie said it's dinner time." He offers a hand to me, and swiftly helps me stand. Effie, Haymitch, Cinna and our prep teams talk about the upcoming party in the Capitol. Which is in two days. The party has now been turned into an engagement party, since we have decided for Peeta to fake propose to me on an interview with Caesar. He actually picked out a beautiful ring for me.
Feelings, Katniss. Sort them out.
I look at him next to me, his eyes concentrate on his lamb stew, and nobody else. It's as if he's trying to sort his feelings out, too. His hand closest to me rests on his knee, as he taps his foot. Without giving it a second thought, I grab his hand. He doesn't resist it, but every minute or so I look down at our hands to see if I'm still actually holding it. "I want to show you something," he says, standing up. I follow him down the hallway fast, since Effie hates when we leave the table without permission. They won't even notice our absence. We run down the hallway like kids, occasionally laughing as our hands are still laced together. We stop when we reach Haymitch's bedroom door. "Why are we here?" I whisper, because I know we shouldn't be. "A few hours ago, I had to help him bathe again, and I think I might have found something in there." he says, carefully opening the door, closing it behind us. The moment I step in I start gagging. The strong smell of all types of alcohol. Peeta covers my mouth with his hand and tells me to be quiet. His hand stays there as we quietly walk around the mess toward his closet. He opens it and on top of a pile of dirty clothes, is a box with the number 50 on it. "I think this is his games." Peeta whispers, pointing at it. "Should we watch it?" I ask him. Invading Haymitch's privacy and watching his hunger games is sort of wrong, but he's never talked about his games. I would understand why Peeta would be curious. "We would have to watch it at night, when they're all asleep." he says, taking the box out of the closet. "Let's get out of here." I say.
We hear footsteps walking toward this room. "Shit. He's coming." Peeta says.
"What do we do?" I say. I know he's going to say that-
"In the closet!" I knew it.
"What? No! That's disgustin-" he covers my mouth gently and pulls us both into the closet, shutting the door just in time because Haymitch and Effie walk into the room. We sit on the floor in the corner, surrounded by smelly clothes. Since there is barely any room, I sit in between his legs with his arm covering my nose and mouth.
"Do you think that we should tell the children soon?" Effie says. Children referring to us. I look up at Peeta. "You don't think that-" I start, but he holds a finger up to his lips.
"Why do they need to know?" We hear Haymitch say.
"Because if we tell Katniss and Peeta that we are together, maybe they'll tell us what's going on between them."
"And we care about their relationship because?" Haymitch keeps his uninterested tone.
"Because I ship them, Haymitch! And I only want what's best for them, they've been through so much. They enjoy so little."
"Oh alright already. We will go find them." They leave the room and head toward the back of the train, thankfully.  He opens the closet and takes the tape labeled "50" and we bolt out of there and down the hall to my room. I close the door loudly.
"Where do I put this?" He holds the box to me. "Uh," I look around.
"In my bra drawer, it's the second one on the right."
"What? Why!" he asks.
"Because he won't look there if he realizes it's gone!"
He opens my drawer and stuffs the box under them, and before he closes it, the door opens. We both scream. "Ever heard of knocking!"
"Maybe we will come back later. Now doesn't look like a good time to talk.." Haymitch looks at Peeta wide eyed, seeing the open drawer.
"Oh no, it's not what it looks lik-" Peeta starts but the door closes. Peeta puts his head in his hands, embarrassed. "Come on bra boy, I have a plan."