Peeta's Story- The Hunger Games

Chapter 52

sorry if it's boring... :P also, if you like HP fanfics, check out my friend abbyjohnson 's fanfic The Prince's Tale. It's about lily and severus, and i love it so far!

x amanda

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I barely have time to taste the bitterness before trumpets start blaring.

“Stop, stop!” a frantic voice yells from the loudspeakers. I spit the berries onto the ground and they roll around a little before stopping. I'm already pulling Katniss to the lake when the voice yells, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to present to you the victors of the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. I give you, the tributes of District 12!”

Somewhere in the distance, music is playing, but I barely acknowledge it. I slap spoonfuls of water in my mouth, looking to the side to make sure Katniss is doing the same.

When I'm finally sure I've rinsed out the remains of the berries, I look up to find Katniss squatting down next to me. “You didn't swallow any?” she asks with concern in her voice.

“Nope,” I say, and she lets out a sigh of relief. “You?”

She smirks. “I guess I'd be dead by now if I did.”

I grin at her, a smile that stretches a thousand miles. My mind is washed with euphoria. This is over, it's finally over, I keep saying to myself. I hug Katniss tightly, ignoring the roar of the crowd that's playing over the speakers.

A hovercraft appears above us, and two ladders come to the ground. I scramble over to it, clutching Katniss's hand in mine.

Suddenly, I feel dizzy and lightheaded. Looking down in horror, I realize I've forgotten about the open wound in my leg. Katniss helps me stagger over to the ladder, and I grip her arms tightly, hanging on to the last bits of life. When my foot touches the ladder, I instantly go immobile. My breath seems to freeze in my throat, and I try to call out to her to not leave me, to stay with me.

Even though I can't make a sound, it's like she's read my mind. She clings to me tightly, right behind me on the ladder as we levitate into the air. Slowly but surely, the blood in my leg drips, and I see flashes of blackness.

Drip, drop, drip, drop.

And then we're finally in the hovercraft, and I'm unfrozen. My muscles are so weak they cannot hold me up and I helplessly fall to the ground.

Then I let the darkness wash over me.

*

They say that when you're in a coma, you are still aware of everything that's happening around you.

It's true.

I can't tell if it's my imagination or not, but Katniss shrieks from a distance, her voice muffled, as if she were calling for me from the other side of the door. I can hear the rhythmic beeping of the machinery surrounding me and the calm voices of the doctors as they yell mysterious codes to each other.

“Plan 8B,” a cool and high voice says. A few seconds later, something is plugged into my arm.

The machines keep on whirring, and the doctors keep on speaking. I keep on slipping in and out of darkness, and through it all, Katniss keeps screaming for me.

*

Yellow light. Warm, fuzzy, yellow light.

The first thing I think of is sunrise back home. The sun would filter in through the window, bathing my room in a warm yellow glow I could see even through my closed eyelids.