A Fresh Start-After Mockingjay (Before the Epilogue)

Chapter Forty-Two

Katniss POV- (A few months later, August)

"Get out of here!" Peeta yells at me as I walk into his bedroom. I freeze, taken back by him, by the look in his eyes and the hatred in his voice. "Get out of here you stupid mutt! Go!" He screams at me as he backs himself into a corner, defenseless.

"Peeta? I promise, I'm not a mutt. Please, don't think that." I say shakily.

"Yes, you are. Please, go away." He begs me weakly.

"Its just me, Peeta. It's Katniss. I'm not going to hurt you." I say, inching closer to him.

He picks up a pillow from his bed and throws it at me, "Go!" I keep coming closer to him and he swings his hand across the bedside table and breaks a lantern. It shatters into a thousand pieces. "Katniss, please? Go." He begs me, his voice sounding normal for a few seconds. He's fighting with what he knows is real and what isn't. He is crying hysterically and squeezing his eyes shut, rocking himself back at forth. I want so badly to hold him but I know that I can't.

I shake my head, "Please, let me try to help you?" I say softly, trying to get closer to him. I step on a shard of glass, it stings as it enters my skin, "Ow." I mumble, trying not to get too upset over my bleeding foot.

"You stupid mutt, just go before I kill you. I will kill you." He snarls, the hijacked Peeta taking over now.

"I just want to help you, Peeta. I'm not here to hurt you." I say, ignoring his name calling.

"You're not helping me!" He screams at me, angrily, the veins in his neck popping out and his face growing redder. I take a step back, growing frightened. It's the first episode like this that he has had since he has been home again and it's worrying me sick because there was absolutely no reason for him to go off. We woke up and he seemed happy and I went to the bathroom and came back and he's like this.

"Peeta, please?" I say, nearly in tears.

His cloudy eyes look sympathetic for a quick second and then he screams this blood curdling scream and bangs his hands over the broken glass repeatedly. Blood gushing from them, "Get out of here!"

"Please, stop? Don't do that." I say, kneeling down in front of him, taking his bloody hands.

He yanks them away from me and pushes me back, hard, "Katniss, go! I'm going to end up killing you. Please, just go!" He yells loudly, begging me. That's when I know I need to go get Haymitch before Peeta does something crazy. "Agh!" He screams, holding his hands and lets out an agonizing cry. With that, I turn around and run down the stairs, "You mutt! Get out of here and never come back!" I reach the front door and I run across the way to Haymitch's house and begin to bang on his door with the palm of my hand.

"Haymitch! Open the door!" I yell hysterically, bawling. Peeta's going end up hurting himself worse if he doesn't get help. I can't risk trying to help him because I promised him if he ever had another flashback, I would leave and get Haymitch. And if I wouldn't have promised him that I would've stayed longer than I had but I had to at least try.

Luckily, Haymitch opens up immediately. "What's going on?" He asks me worriedly, examining my hands that have Peeta's blood all over them and my feet that are bleeding too.

"It's Peeta. He's at the house and he's having a flashback. Haymitch, please go help him? He's already hurt himself. Please, make sure he's not hurting himself anymore?" I beg him with tears running down my cheeks.

"Shit. I'm going now. You stay here." He instructs me and takes off running. Luckily, he's sober enough.

I feel like I'm going to throw up when I look at my hands that are stained in Peeta's blood. How can he be fine one second and the next be like that? Especially after being okay for so long. How can he just flip? "Please, be okay." I cry to no one but myself, hoping somehow the message crosses over to Peeta. I go inside Haymitch's and wash off the blood from my feet and hands, pouring some of his liquor into the cuts on my feet, the burning and bubbling almost feels good. It's been over twenty minutes since Haymitch went over and I'm getting really really worried.