After The Games

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

Peeta lay still. Eyes closed and hands behind his head. His chest rises slowly and falls the same way. The room is silent. I lay on my side, staring at Peeta. I watch him. I listen to his smooth and steady breathing.

He is at peace.

Sometimes I feel like at any moment he could wake up and strangle me again; the way he did when we first saw each other after he got rescued from the Capitol.

"No!" I snap. I push the thought from my mind. I just can't afford to think like that. He's better now.

"Katniss?!"

I say nothing.

"Katniss?!" Peeta repeats. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" I say. "I-I was just thinking a-a-about --"

Peeta cuts me off.  "I know," he says. "I know."

He takes me and wraps me in his arms. I lay my head on his shoulder and we just sit there in silence. He presses his lips against my forehead and I know I am safe.

He is mine and I am his. Anything else is unthinkable.

That's the same thing I said about Gale.

Gale Hawthorne.

God, I miss him. I miss how we hunted together and how we could go out into the meadow and escape reality.

I shouldn't be thinking about Gale. Not now. Not when I am wrapped safely in Peeta arms and the warmth of his body.

A gust of wind fills the room and sends a shiver down my spine. Peeta gets up and pulls the blanket over us as we lay down. His arms wrap around me again as I get comfy and rest my head and hands on his chest. I hear his heartbeat loud in my ears and that is all I think about.

"Always."

"Always." Peeta replies.

That one word.

Always; is what will keep me going when and if I ever lose hope and is the last thing I hear before I shut my eyes and drift off to sleep.

+++++

I open my eyes and try to figure out where i am. I am on the ground. The forest floor beneath me is damp but hard and my body is warm and my head is sweating. As I look around all I can see is tall green trees and loud screaming birds. There is no hint of the of the sky above, not even a crack of sunlight and yet the forest is so bright that it's almost blinding. I shut my eyes tight for about five seconds and when they open I am greeted my a large bird sitting in front of me. The sight of it sitting there scares me and I scream. "Shoo! Get away!" It just stares at me with its beady eyes. I hear my voice, but it's not me who's speaking - it's the bird. I look up and see hundreds, even thousands of birds circling me, watching me, mimicking me.

Jabberjays.

About ten of the birds swoop down towards me, their screams getting louder and louder. They're going for my head. I try to cover my ears and face but my hands and arms are stuck, buried under the dirt and surrounded by rocks. The birds open the mouths, pluck off a few strands of hair from my head and then fly back up to join their flock. I scream again as my head begins to throb and pain fills my body. The jabberjays begin to screech louder and every so often more groups of them would fly down and repeat what the first group did, all in sync with each other. I somehow manage to get my hands free from the soil and rocks. I raise my hands to my ears and cover them as tight as possible as I lean forward onto my knees. My head and heart are pounding and my mouth is almost dry from screaming. I manage to let out one more cry of agony before everything stops. The jabberjays, the screaming, it's stopped. I uncover my ears, my head still pounding with pain. I bring my hands up to touch my scalp.

Blood.

My head and now my hands are covered with blood. My head is bald.

Then I see it.

Dark brown threads of my hair are falling from the trees above me. I look up and see the jabberjays, sitting on branches and staring down at me. They begin screaming again, I cover my ears harder and again, begin to scream.