The boy with the bread: The back story to Peeta Mellark

Chapter 10

There are many horrible events that take place in District 12. Peacekeepers catch citizens breaking rules and always end up punishing them. For some reason, all of the sudden there has been more disasters that have been called out. It's ugly to watch. Seeing a new Peacekeeper holding a whip whoever he goes, is frightening. A while ago, someone was caught illegally trading and was publicly whipped. It didn't go too far, he only got a few whips to the back. The point was to send a message to everyone, to show that nobody messes with the Capitol. They always win in the end, everyting. And the games prove it.

Fright is going through Peeta right now. Down his spine and through his bare chest. Looking around, he glances at his brothers and notices that they feel the same.

"A scream?" They ask.
"Yeah . . . It was a woman's," Peeta says, walking up to the small window, and taking a look at it. "I can't see anything from here. I'm going out." He grabs a sweater and zips it up, then try's to walk out, but his oldest brother stops him by grabbing his arm, "No, are you crazy?"
Peeta just yanks it free and responds confidently, "No, I'm not. Just curious,"

He walks out and notices that his parents aren't up. So before his chance to escape disappears, he quickly opens the door and walks out, looking around the area. It's empty on his side of the Seam, but walking outside he can feel himself getting closer and closer to where the sound was produced. Someone is calling his name. From behind him, it's probably one of his family members, wondering why the hell he would go out at 5 in the morning after what just happened. But there's only one answer to that: curiosity.

Getting closer to the square, more people start to show up, so it's not just Peeta who's curiosity got the best of them. He ignores the name calling and turns the corner only to see a Peacekeeper with a woman holding a child. Her grey dress ripped in multiple places, calves exposed and scars run along her worried face. The child, -only about six or seven, clutching her mother, probably scared for her life.

More people start to crowd and the peacekeeper doesn't tell them to go away. Peeta is just standing there, from a far distance and watches to see what will happen.

"It was an act of defiance!" The Peacekeeper yells, his deep voice echoing in everyone's ears.
"No, no it wasn't! She doesn't know any better, it was-"
"An act of defiance!" He hollers back at the woman and smacks his whip on the ground, creating dust to arise and fill the air, "this child is hearing things at home and repeating them! You need to watch what you say, because we will find out at some point. We've kept an eye on this child and she has done many illegal things."
"But she's only a child! An innocent girl who made a small mistake!" The woman is sobbing her last few words, holding the little girl even harder, who is also crying.

"In District 12, we do not tolerate any of this behaviour. I don't know how things worked before, but from here on out, there will. Be. Punishments." He steps closer to the woman, where there's only a few inches of space between them, "Control your children, or we'll do it for you," his whisper is almost too hard to understand. He steps back, still looking straight at her, but then faces the crowd, "Now you hear that? Watch what you do for now on. We are always watching. The Capitol is notified when their are people rebelling." He pauses for effect, and faces the woman and her child once again, "Clear the square! And you, you need to leave now before your chance is up. And let me tell you that we are watching you and your big mouth daughter a lot more attentively," when she just stands there, frozen, he lifts the whip and throws it at her legs. She hollers a scream, and so does the little girl. "I said leave!" The Peacekeeper screams at her so loud that everyone jumps and starts to run away.

The woman and her frightened, still sobbing child also flee, trying to go fast and not look back, but the injury is hard to bare. Peeta starts to run but looks back a couple times and sees the Peacekeeper still standing there, with an expression that reads as angry, and dangerous. His whip has specks of blood on it and it makes Peeta realize that he hurt that woman pretty bad.
He turns back around and bumps into someone accidentally-Katniss.
"What happened? Did anyone get hurt?" She asks quickly, barely looking at him.
"Uh . . . Um, yeah, a woman and her daughter actually." He stutters.
"What?! Oh no. . ." She exclaims and flees away, leaving him to realize that she didn't really go up to him to ask that, just to the nearest person to find out information.

* * *

When he reaches the bakery, his father is there, crossed arms, and relieved to see him.
"Why did you do that?" He asks him, pretty calmly.
He doesn't look at him and says, "I just wanted to see what the commotion was all about. Curious I guess,"

"But what if it was serious! It would have been dangerous for anyone else to be in that perimeter." His father responds

"All I wanted to do is make sure no one was hurt,"

"And we're you satisfied?"

"No," he takes a second to continue not sure if he needs tom but realizes that the baker is waiting for more, "he hurt a woman and her child for their illegal acts."

"Yeah that's what I was afraid would happen . . ."
Peeta walks past him and try's to reach for the knob to open the door to the baker, but gets stopped by his father.
"Peeta listen to me. I've noticed your quiet behaviour. Something wrong?"

"No," he responds almost too fast, "I'm always pretty quiet, what's to get excited about anyway?"

"Yes your right, but your extra quiet. It worries your mother and I-"

"It worries you? Seriously? I find that hard to believe," his words come out harsh.

"Okay so maybe not your mother, you are right about that, she couldn't care less. But I have noticed that your slacking all if the sudden. With the baking and frosting cakes, there isn't any joy or creativity in your eyes anymore when you bake." The baker is still speaking calmly, which angers Peeta even more.

"Maybe I just realized, that what's the point of trying so hard? The Capitol controls everything and everyone! We can't win, we can't do of get what we want!" He's almost screaming now, but trying not to completely lose it. "I'm probably going to end up working at the bakery one day if the odds are in my favour, but guess what? They aren't. The games change people into . . .things they aren't. They take perfectly good an innocent people who have so much to them, so much talent that will be left undiscovered, and transform them into children who have fear building up inside every moment of every day. That Peacekeeper pushed the woman around like she's just a piece of flesh. How can I avoid seeing that? I had to go because I thought I could help but we are nothing compared to the Capitol. Nothing. And there isn't anything we can do about it or change it. So leave me alone."

Peeta walks past his speechless father and enters the bakery, not leaving him a chance to respond. He is just so furious with everything that has happened. With the games getting closer and closer and the more days that pass, the more Peeta wants to flee. To leave and never return. But his life is simply this: living in a world where the hunger games was supposed to solve everything, all the problems that the war 74 years ago caused, but they only created more. He lives in a world where it's hard to be happy and enjoy life. His dream of being with Katniss will remain a dream . . .forever.

Walking towards his room, he stomps past his brothers and closes the door. Hands in his knees, Peeta closes his eyes and for once wonders . . . What if I get reaped?