The boy with the bread: The back story to Peeta Mellark

Chapter 17

    It was only a little over two hours later, when Johanna was thrown back into her cell. The walls were still half down, so Peeta saw them toss her back in there. 

    Now, he was at the metal bars, trying to talk to her. He kept calling her name. Over and over, but nothing came out of it. She's just laying there, crouched in a ball on the cold floor. He is starting to think she's dead, but her jerk motion every minute or so makes him have hope. Because that's all he has to have now, right?

    "Johanna please! Talk to me! Tell me what they did to you!" Peeta screams out. He grips the metal bars with such might and strength that his knuckles begin to turn white. What's worse, though, is that he can't do anything about it. Johanna, the girl he and everyone in this damn country thought was fearless and incapable to being broken, is now shaking like a stray dog on the night of a thunderstorm. It's scary to watch, but even more frightening to know what the Capitol is capable of. 

    "Johanna!!" He screams one last time. This makes her jump, and eventually, she lifts her head from her chest, and Peeta is now seeing what she really looks like. 

    "Stop looking at me like that." Johanna says quietly. Her voice sounds croaky and low. Her lips are trembling as more tears roll down her cheeks. 

    Peeta doesn't say anything. He just stares, and instantly regrets it. 

    "I said stop looking at me like that!" She yells with fierceness. Peeta jumps back, placing his hands on the floor behind him so he doesn't fall back. 

    "Johanna, I--I didn't mean to--" He starts with a unsteady voice. 

    "Just shut up! Okay? Shut the hell up you asshole!" She continues to scream, looking straight into Peeta's eyes. He tries not to look up a few inches at her bald head, but it's impossible not to. They shaved her full head. And he has no idea why. 

    "You have NO idea what I just went through." Johanna says sternly. Her face is puffy from crying and swelled from who knows what. 

    "Johanna stop, you don't have to get mad--"

    "Just shut up!!! I told you to shut the fu--!" 

    "Hey! What's going on in here?!" Suddenly, a loud male voice sounds and they look to see four Peacekeeper's outside their cells. One has his mask off, while the other three stand directly behind him, with a gun in hand. 

    "I said, What the hell is going on in here?!" He screams out again. 

    Peeta back up against the wall trying to stay small and hidden. He doesn't want to get caught in anything. Johanna starts to cry again, sobbing like she can't breathe and will die that very second. 

    "You!" He points directly at Peeta. Peeta's eyes widen, his heart beats rabidly, and his hands begin to sweat. "You're going to have to come with us."  

    "No no no no," Peeta whispers, shaking his head. 

    They come in anyway. All four, with equipment ready for fire, and handcuffs in the perfect setting to be used. Peeta doesn't move. He starts shaking his head quickly and looking down at the floor. They grab his shoulders and pull upwards. His strength is enough to keep them from succeeding, but then three of them are now on him, and there's no use to even try anymore. One holds his hands behind his back, the other two rap each shoulder tightly. He breathes deeply, nostrils flaring in anger and hate as the handcuffs lock around his wrists. 

    "Stop it. Now." He tries. 

    The peacekeeper with no helmet chuckles mockingly, "Oh that's cute. You think anything you say will stop this from happening." He steps forward, so that their noses are only an inch away from touching. "You have no power against us, boy. Prepare to pay the consequences. Like she did."