The Hunger games - I'm still breathing (Everlark)

Chapter 40

"Peeta, where are we going?" I ask, exasperated.

I scratch at the blind fold that has been rubbing against my eyes profusely for the past hour.

"It's a surprise, Katniss," he says, tugging my hand onwards.

We're in the woods, this I know. The smell of pine needles in the air gives it away. That and the sound of twigs snapping every other second from Peeta's heavy-footed tread.

"Has anyone ever told you you're about as quiet as an elephant when you're walking through the woods?" I ask him, sarcastically.

"I think you've implied it a couple of times," he replies.

This is Peeta's idea of cheering me up. It's a futile attempt at the most, there's nothing in these woods that can turn the clock back. Nothing can erase what the doctor told us in that hospital room. Still, Peeta's been persistent in trying. I've had an endless amount of cheese buns waiting on a plate for me. Lamb stew with dried plums. Roast chicken with the orange sauce inside. It all gets taken away untouched. My mother, who's staying in Peeta's old victors house, tries to coax the pills that the doctors prescribed into me. They are supposed to stop my moods from getting too low. I hide them in my mouth and then spit them out when she is gone.

Haymitch often makes an appearance, sober for the most part of it. He claims he's laying off the drink since waking up face down in a pool of his own vomit isn't that great an experience anymore. He doesn't talk about what happened, which I'm grateful for because I can only hear it said out loud so many times.

I've lost count the number of times Peeta has had to say it through the nights when I've come to unable to separate my reality from my dreams. Real or not real is the question frequently asked. The answer always makes my blood go cold. Some nights I can't bring myself to go up to bed, I stay on the couch in the nest of blankets and heartache that I have made for myself. Peeta stays with me. When I want to talk, he is there, ready to say all the right words back to me. When I want to cry, he lets me, mopping my face with a tissue when I'm done.

Today he has decided that I need to get out of the house. And apparently blindfolding and dragging me senseless is the best way to do this.

"Peeta, are you sure we're not lost?" I ask him.

"No, Katniss, I know exactly where we're going don't worry," he says.

My feet snag on something in the ground and send me careening forward. I collide straight into the back of Peeta with such a force that the impact knocks me backwards onto the forest floor.

I angrily rip the blindfold off, sick of the whole element of surprise this afternoon. I'm tired and irritated and I want nothing more than to be back on the couch being miserable at home. I squint up in the light and see Peeta staring down at me with a smile plastered on his face.

"What?" I snap at him.

"We're here," he says, helping me up.

"Finally," I say, brushing the dirt and leaves from the green dress that he had me wear. "You know I'm not really dressed for this kind of expedition through the woods."

He stares at me expectantly.

"Oh I'm sorry, are you done moaning now? I thought there was more to come," he says.

"You've had me blindfolded for half of the day.."

"Oh wait, there was more to come," he interrupts.

I glare at him and sigh.

"Come on, I promise this will be worth it," he laughs, holding out his hand.