The Beginning of the End

Chapter 8

-Katniss-

     This is what I know: My name is Katniss Everdeen. My greatest invention is The Hunger Games, and Peeta Mellark took that away from me. He also tried to kill me, and he hates me. I'm determined to set things straight.

     After they leave, Dr. Boggs walks in. He smiles at me.

     "I'm going to give you some morphling, and then send you across the hall for some tests," he explains. I smile. I like Dr. Boggs because he does an amazing job of telling me exactly what's going on. The morphling hit my body like a ball of fire, but this time I'm ready for it. I grit my teeth, refusing to scream.

     "Peeta Mellark will be outside ready to kill you. He's been here all night. Be ready to see him and don't make a scene. You can say something to him if you'd like. There will be nurses there to hold him back." he says, his voice full of concern for me. I'm put in a wheelchair and taken into the hall. Immediately I see Peeta, struggling against the nurses.

     "Katniss!" he screams. "Katniss, come back to me! Please Katniss, come back." I look at him, confused, and he breaks down sobbing. I don't understand his strange behavior. It doesn't seem like he wants to hurt me at all. Suddenly a vision comes to me of him holding my face in his hands on a beach and his lips on mine.

     "Peeta..." I whisper. He stops crying and looks up.

     "I'm here." he sobs. But the hatred is back along with another vision of his hands wrapped around my neck, trying to strangle me.

     "Go to hell!!" I scream, and look away. Dr. Boggs wheels me down the hall, leaving him crying on the floor behind me.

-Peeta-

     I sit on the floor in the hallways, and then Gale finally comes back with a tray if the Capitols gourmet food.

     "What happened? he asks. I can't speak so I just continue sobbing. He hands me a beautifully frosted cake, and I take a shaky breath.

     "She's gone." I sob. "They took my Katniss from me." I look down and see the cake has been crushed in my clenched hand.

     "What do you mean?" he asks, handing me a napkin. I force myself to calm down. After cleaning my hands, I look down the hallways where they took her.

     "She's been hijacked."