Everybody Talks: Sequel

Chapter Eight: Hunting

****Katniss' POV****

I've just got off Skype with Peeta. Seeing him sat there, unharmed and in pretty good spirirts considering the current situation was good but it's not going to stop me from worrying.
Worry like what I'm feeling doesn't just go away like that because of one Skype call. I won't stop fearing for him until he's home and I'm back in his arms but that day is months away and where he is a lot can happen in a few hours, never mind a few months so I'm not getting my hopes up too high.
I can't convince myself that he's going to come home safe and sound just in case it doesn't happen because it will break me even more.
I'm proud of the way I've coped for the past two weeks, obviously they haven't been perfect. How could they have been? But I've managed to keep a smile on my face even in the tough moments and a fairly positive mental attitude.
It's not just Peeta I miss, there's the other guys too, it's like I'm missing half of my family and I can't tell you how terrifying it is to think about how it's more likely than not that they won't all come back alive or in the way the left.
I've been to the bakery quite a few time and Mrs Mellark has only been there once. It wasn't even that bad when she was there as all she did was grunt every now and again as well as shooting evil looks in my direction from time to time, I'm more than used to those looks though because of school.
Mister Mellark and James are also managing well. They're, of course, worried for Peeta and Riley's safety as well as Finnick, Jo, Marvel, Cato and Gale who they're pretty close to but they have working at the bakery to keep them busy, I just wish I had something like that.
Maybe I could ask them if they need an extra pair of hands there, I don't even need to be paid, it's just something to focus on but I don't want them to feel as though they have to give me a job simply because I'm Peeta's girlfriend, it would make me feel awfully guilty if they felt as though they duty to give me a job and something to do because it really isn't.
Right now I'm sat on my bed trying to think of what I could do today to take my mind off of things.
I don't want to go to the bakery because I was there yesterday and I kind of feel like going again today would be crowding the Mellark family and I know how horrible that feels, I wouldn't wish it onto anybody.
I put my hands up and rest them near my temples as I try to think of where or what I could do today so that I can try to get my mind off things, even if it's only for a little while.
I sit there, like that, for at least fifteen minutes but I still don't think of anything so I decide to ask Annie if she can think of anything.
I walk downstairs, I'm ready to go out already and I have been dressed for hours.
I couldn't sleep last night, I never get a good nights sleep here but there's no other choice of where I could live so it looks like I'll just have to put up with being sleep deprived.
I walk into the front room, Clove, Glimmer and Delly are there but Annie isn't. "Do you guys know where Annie is?"
I get a one word answer from Clove, "Garden."
I should have guessed she'd be there, she's been spending a lot of time out there; alone with her thoughts and I'm not sure why. She normally talks to me about how she's feeling but I'm not going to push her to talk to me, she will if she wants to and if she doesn't want to then it's completely her decision and has nothing to do with me.
People don't give Annie nearly enough credit for being as strong as she is.
I walk outside and smile at the good memories I have out here, it's one of the few things I actually like about this house.
I look around and remember Peeta giving me the Tich tickets on Christmas Eve, me playing with Prim when we were both younger, barbeques with my family in the Summers and watching Prim's admittedly ghastly cat chasing around bees and all sorts of other things.
I wonder where that cat went? I recall it being called ButterCup and I don't think I ever saw him again after the car crash when we lost Prim and my father.
I didn't like him but he was a little part of Prim.
"Katniss? Are you okay?"
I wipe the single tear that I didn't realise had fell away and smile, "I'm fine. Just thinking about memories of this place."
"Oh Katniss..."
"No. No. Good memories Ann."
She smiles at me, "Okay."
I go and sit down next to her on one of the steps that leads up to the grass, "I've been thinking since I got up about what I could do or where I could go to take my mind off of things for a while but I can't think of anything that will work or that I want to do."
She thinks for a minute and then says, "Why don't you go hunting?" I didn't think about that but know that I do it seems like the perfect idea. "You said it used to calm you and you used to enjoy doing it so I don't see why you can't feel the same if you do it now."
I hug her, "Thank you Annie. I'm gonna go and get my jacket on and to change my shoes then I'm gonna go. I'll be back some time in the early afternoon, between one and two but if I'm a little late don't freak. I'll just be in the woods and will have lost track of time."
"Okay. See you in a bit sweetie."
I make my way out of the house, quickly making a sandwhich on the way out which I can eat in the woods seeing as I'll be out there at dinner and I won't be able to eat any of the stuff I will have caught as starting a fire in the woods is a bad idea when it's dry like it is now and I don't fancy getting food poising from raw meat.
I go under the fence which surrounds the woods seeing as I can't be bothered walking around to the nearest gate as it will take me a good five minutes to get to it.
By memory I find the hollowed out log where I used to keep my bow and arrows when I used to come and hunt when I was younger and, luckily, they're still there.
Of course, the bow is a little small for me but it's managable and I can always buy a new one if I'm going to come out here again.
I go further into the woods until I'm in a place which is good for hunting.
I still walk like a hunter even after all of these years as the animals cannot hear my footsteps even when I'm right near to them.
When I'm about to shoot at a squirrel I restrain myself and don't let the arrow fly because I don't need to have the food, I have plenty at the house and the money to buy any that I need so why should I be responsible for this animal's death?
I would understand and think it was necessary if I was starving and desperate but I'm not so if I would let the arrow fly it would be unjustified.
The squirrel scurries away and I decide to shoot at a series of trees.
Wherever I aim for I get within a centimeter of the point and seeing as I haven't shot an arrow in years I'm not complaining at all.
As the time progresses I get better and more accurate to the point of hitting exactly where I am hoping to every single time, without fail.
I think I'll make some targets or I'll bring some pens and draw targets of some sort onto a few trees because I'm definitely coming out here again, it's helped me to clear my mind and focus on something else.
At, what I'm estimating is, around 12 o'clock, noon, I decide to stop to have some lunch.
I pick a few blackberries off a bush and pop them in my mouth then I climb up a tree and perch myself on a thich branch with my back leaning against the tree trunk.
I eat what I've brought for lunch slowly as I watch over the woods.
I'm quite high up in one of the tallest trees in this area and I can see for quite some while.
I catch sight of the bakery with it's steaming chimney from the ovens which will have been on since the early hours of this morning. I should really go there after I'm done here, I'll go and tell the girls I'm going there so that they don't get worried about me being gone for longer than I said and then I'll go and see Mister Mellark and James so that I can tell them about the Skype call and how Peeta and James were and what's being going on at the base.
Next time there's a Skype call I'll have to get them to get to the house quickly so that they can talk to their boys themselves and see how they are with their own eyes rather than just hearing it from me... that's assuming there is a next time.
I need to stop those thoughts so I should probably get back to shooting.
I start to climb down from my spot on the tree but as I start to manouver my way down the trunk my foot slips off a branch that was thinner than I expected as it snaps.
I can't regain my balance despite my hardest try to and so, I fall until I hit the ground with a thud.
My head took a pretty hard hit so all I feel is pain spreading throughout my body until everything goes black....