Life After War (A Hunger Games Fanfiction)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The nightmares that haunted me from the first Games never ended. They never stopped. Even now when we live in peace, I still have them. It's usually about someone I love, murdered. But gratefully, when I wake up, Peeta's there to hold me with his arms and they go away. Peeta is the only one that can calm me down. Nobody else has that gift.

I wake up screaming, like I usually do. I look around the room. I'm the only one here. Where's Peeta? I start panicking. But why? Because of the nightmares. In my nightmare, Peeta died. And so did my children.

"Peeta?" I say softly.

No answer. I jumped out of bed and ran to Willow's room. I opened the door and checked. She's still here. I walked across the hall to Rye's room. Before I could place my hand on the doorknob, the door swung open quietly. I took a step back. When the door revealed who opened it, I flung my arms around his neck. I bet he was confused, but he didn't hesitate to put his arms around me.

"What happened?" Peeta asked.

"Nightmares. When I woke up, you weren't there." I say trying to hold back the tears that were welling up in my eyes.

"I was just checking up on the kids, make sure they were okay." He said. "I'm sorry."

We walked back to our room, hand-in-hand. When we got into bed, I didn't dare go to sleep. I don't want another nightmare. Peeta promised he would stay up with me. We just waited until morning, and I never let go of his hand. Not once.

______

In the morning, I assumed we fell asleep because someone was hitting me with a pillow. I looked to my right to see Rye with a pillow in his hand.

"Rye . . . why are you hitting me?" I ask still trying to wake up fully.

"You weren't waking up. I thought you were dead." He replied.

I laughed. "I'm not dead, honey. I'm awake, see?"

I look to my left and Peeta isn't in bed. I turn back to Rye. "Where's daddy?"

"He and Willow are making breakfast. It's almost ready, that's why I was trying to wake you up."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few." I say.

Rye nods and runs downstairs. I get up from the bed and walk into the bathroom. I take a quick shower, put my robe on when I get out, and walk downstairs to the smell of eggs, bacon, toast, and my personal favorite, cheese buns.

"It smells wonderful." I say.

Peeta jumps when he hears me. He must've not heard me come downstairs.

"You scared me." He says.

"Sorry." I say with a chuckle.

I sit down at the table. Willow and Rye are already at the table, gobbling up their breakfast. Peeta slides a plate of everything across to me. I say thank you and start eating. When we finish eating, Willow and Rye beg us to go to Haymitch's house.

Haymitch still lives next to us. He still drinks, but not as much anymore. We begged him to because of the kids. It took a lot of convincing, but he finally gave up arguing. He's quite old, I can guess because almost half his hair is gray now. But he dyes it, so you don't notice.

"Alright, we can go to Haymitch's." I say, defeated because of their puppy dog faces.

They jump up and down, cheerfully. I go upstairs to change. I don't put on anything fancy. I just put a green long sleeve shirt, some blue jeans, and sneakers. I braid my hair down my back and walk back downstairs. Peeta and the kids are waiting by the door. We all walk outside to Haymitch's house.

When we get to the doorstep, I knock. We hear Haymitch stumble to the door. When he opens it, he looks down at the kids and frowns. He slams the door shut and we hear liquor bottles clang against each other. He might be cleaning up. After a minute or so, he opens the door again. Rye and Willow run up to hug him. I see him roll his eyes before hugging them back.

Peeta and I walk inside and sit on the couch. Haymitch sits in a sit across from us. Rye and Willow are chasing each other around the house, not bothering us. Haymitch sighs.

"So . . . what brings you to my lovely home?" He says putting up a fake smile.

"The kids wanted to come over." says Peeta.

"Of course they did." says Haymitch.

"I see you've been cleaning." I say looking at the not-so-perfect-but-it's-better-than-usual living room.

"I'm learning." He replies.

"Have you heard from Effie lately?" asks Peeta.

Effie. Wow, haven't heard that name in a while. Effie keeps in touch with us, but we don't see her so often. She busy. The last time we saw her was . . . I think 6 years ago. A year right before Rye was born.

"No," Haymitch begins, "But I think she's trying to get some days off so she can visit."

After we visit Haymitch, we take a stroll in the Victors Village, together, as a family.