The Hunger Games - I'm Still Burning

Chapter 15

"No, Haymitch! Let me go!"

I fight against his hands that are trying to restrain me. I can't stay here.

"Katniss you need to calm down, getting stressed will on make things worse!"

"I need Peeta! I can't do this without him!" I cry. I rip the IV's from my arms, not even wincing at the sting they cause.

"What are going to do, Sweetheart? Make your way home, stop and take a quick break to give birth and then carry on? You can't go anywhere, Katniss!" Haymitch wrestles my arms to my sides.

"It's not time!" I yell. "I have four weeks left! It shouldn't be coming now!"

"It's premature, Katniss. It's okay, sometimes these things happen. But you're not going to make the situation any better by getting so worked up," he says.

I groan as another round of pain hits. A contraction I guess. The hurt makes me bitter.

"I don't want you here, Haymitch," I say, coldly.

"You think I want to be here? Seeing you, do this?" He points to my stomach. "I don't want to be here anymore than you do but right now you don't have anyone else so you're stuck with me."

"Why isn't my mother here?" I ask, trying to steady my breathing. This pain is in no rush to ease up.

"Because she's having to catch the train from District 8. Believe it or not, Sweetheart, I can't just make her appear out of thin air," he says sharply.

I throw myself back down on my pillow with an exasperated sigh.

"Get out, Haymitch," I say.

If there's one thing I don't need right now, it's his sarcastic remarks.

"You really want me to go?" he asks.

I don't say anything, turning my head to face the window. I can just see the first rays of sun, peeking over the rooftops. The sky is a glorious golden colour, complimenting the blackbirds that fly against it. I'd give anything to be out there, instead of trapped in this room.

When I turn my head back to address Haymitch, he's stood in the doorway.

"You're really going to leave me?" I ask. A new stream of tears is released; I can't do this on my own.

He looks at me, with an expression that a person might hold if I'd just told them to stand on their head.

"You just asked me to go, Katniss?" he asks, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I didn't mean it. Please don't make me do this alone, Haymitch," I sob.

He sighs and walks back towards me, perching on the edge of my bed. I take his hand, feeling it shaking in my own.

"It's going to be okay, Katniss," he reassures me, stroking the hair back from my forehead.

"I need Peeta," I whimper.

"No you don't. You've done a lot of great things without him, Katniss. Remember the speeches you made in District 8? District 2? Peeta was not with you either of those times," he says.

"No but I was doing that for him! For all the people that had been treated the same way he had," I say.

"And who are you doing this for?" Haymitch asks.

"For the baby," I start, pausing for a moment to think. "And...And for Peeta."

Haymitch smiles in agreement with me. He's right. If Peeta can't be with me now, then I have to make sure that I do this for him. That I do everything I can to get this baby safely to him.