Doe In The Meadow | Peeta Mellark

seven

"Miss Stark." The voice caused me to jump back a little and I turned to see the tall man staring over at me. My white gown clung to my body as I crossed my arms.

"Mister Crane, what're you doing here?" I asked, realizing he was in my family's field, alone, in the middle of the day.

"I could ask the same of you." He stepped closer, brushing a strand of my hair behind my ear. I looked down at my feet. This man's personal relationship with my family was, well, in simplest terms, odd. The way he carried himself around me was even more so.

"I always walk through the field under the sunlight." I told him, calmly, trying to keep my cool. His hand dropped to his side and he smiled wickedly at me.

"Well, I suppose that makes two of us." He answered, caressing the edge of my dress.

"Do you always walk in my family's sunflower field under the sunlight?" I asked, in sarcasm. His creepy smile dropped as I looked up to his face. I could feel the heat from his body against mine as anger brewed inside of him. The man then turned and walked from me. I watched as his figure evaporated into the field. He gave me an uneasy feeling everytime I ran into him. I let my feet carry me into the house, as quickly as they could, escaping his presence.

I stared at the practice dummy that was placed six feet from me. The sword gripped tightly in between my hands. I crouched down and then in the blink of an eye, sliced the dummies head off in a perfect, clean cut.

I heard a loud crash and my head whipped into the direction of the clatter as I noticed Peeta fell to the floor below him. Everyone looked to him, because he now made himself look weak, which was placing a target on his own back. I rushed over to his side around the same time as Katniss. I crouched down next to him, pulling him to his feet. "Throw that medicine ball over there." She told him, before glaring over at me.

"What?" He asked.

"They're looking at you like you're weak. So throw it." She demanded, as I stay standing there beside him. "I've got it under control, you can go back to whatever you were doing, thanks." She snapped to me.

"Katniss," Peeta stopped her from being any more rude to me.

"No, it's fine, I got it." I stood up and walked back to my station, watching as Peeta lifted the weight which had to have been at least 100 lbs. He carefully pulled it up, lunging it across the room. As it smashed into a weaponry cart, creating a loud crash, I smirked at the tributes faces which had dropped in shock. "Damn straight." I said a little louder than I should have. Peeta looked over at me and gave me a half smile, as I saluted him and placed the katana back on the cart.

***

It was the day we were training for. We were getting scored today on our abilities with our weapon of choice. Lando was called back before I was. His weapon was an axe, which I hated to say it, but he really didn't know what to do with an axe. District 6 was known for their inability of use of weapons.

As he walked out, my heart began to race with nerves. The heat rose in my body once again, as I knew I was to be called now. "Arizona Stark." The grim voice said over the loud speaker. I looked around the half empty room and Peeta smiled up at me and mouthed the words 'good luck'. I nodded and walked into the giant room as my shoes created an echo with each step. I couldn't help but notice as Seneca stared down at me, waiting with eager.

Okay, be brave. Show no fear. I walked over to the cart and grasped onto the katana. Almost immediately after a long breath, I rushed forward, charging the moving dummy and slicing its head off, another clean cut. The second dummy was quicker but not as quick as I happened to be. I leaped into the air and landed down on it, causing it to break against the floor, plunging the blade into its chest. The final dummy began charging at me, but I thrusted the katana into its face, watching it fall onto its back. I stood up from the dummy I had been straddling and walked back to the center of the room, all eyes placed on me.

"Thank you." The sarcastic tone in my voice couldn't be contained. And then I smiled, with pure hatred beaming in my eyes, directly at Seneca.