You Said Always

Chapter Seven

Peeta POV:

Doctors scurry around a dying Katniss.

"Get the defibrillators!" One of the doctors yell to one of the nurses.

"Haymitch?" I yell. "Where are you?"

The room is so filled with nurses and doctors, I can't seem to find Haymitch. I finally see him pushing through doctors, to get to Katniss.

"Everyone stand back!" A doctor, holding the defibrillators, yells. They shock her, but nothing's working. I rush to the side of her bed.

"Come on, Katniss." I cry.

"This is all your fault." Haymitch yells at me, but soon after, the machines start to beep again. It's a few seconds before she talks.

"Prim!" Katniss screams soon after her heart starts working again, her eyes still closed.

"Dad, mom, Finnick, Rue!" She's gripping onto the sides of the bed.

"Come on Katniss, wake up." I cry, shaking her fragile body.

She takes a sharp breath and jolts awake.

"Where are they." She yells, frantically looking around the room. She notices where she is and collapses onto the floor.

"You should have let me die." She yells at the doctors, sobbing into her hands. "I saw Prim and Rue and my mom and dad! I don't want to live anymore. I told them that before I slit my throat." She croaks, gesturing towards me and Haymitch.

"I'm just going to try to kill myself again." She whispers, looking up at me. There's a long period of silence. "Melanie's cheating on you." She blurts, and I scoff at her.

"How do you know that?" I ask, looking down at her frail body.

"P-prim told m-me." She stutters. "When my heart stopped, I saw Prim, my family and all of our passed friends. Rue was there, and so was Finnick," she sighs. "Prim told me to come back and tell you. I was just going to tell you and try to kill myself again." Tears are pouring down her skinny, pale face.

The doctors surrounding me, are looking at Katniss like she's crazy. She seems to notice too, because she says,

"If you don't believe me, go look through the window of your bedroom."

"Okay." Is all I can say. She can't mean it. I mean, Melanie's been whispering to people on the phone and trying to say that she wasn't talking to anyone, for a while. But she wouldn't cheat on me. Right?

I reach to help her up, but she scoots out of my reach.

"Don't touch me." She croaks. "Please." She tries to get up, but collapses back onto the floor. Haymitch tries to help her too, but she refuses.

"Just let us help you, Miss. Everdeen." The head doctor says, but all Katniss does is put her head into her hands and cries.

"Just leave her alone." Haymitch grunts. "She wants to be alone, and I should know. I've spent the longest time with her, out of any of you people. Even bread boy." He says, gesturing towards me, and everyone starts to leave the room.

I feel a fragile hand, grab my arm as I'm walking towards the door. I turn around to see Katniss's red, puffy eyes looking up at me.

"Peeta." She whimpers. "Just look through the window, I'm not lying. When my heart stopped I went to Heaven for a few minutes." There's a period of silence. "Just believe me." She finally says, letting go of my arm.

I walk out of the room with the rest of he nurses. I'm deciding to trust Katniss's words, and I run home. I stand next to the bedroom window, and hear laughter. I look throughout the window to see Melanie sitting on a strangers lap. I run to the front door, and throw it open.