Always and Forever

Chapter 3

Morning sweetheart, you going hunting? he says. Haymitch. I haven't seen him in at least three weeks. Surprisingly, he's not drunk. Yes, I reply. I was thinking about it. Ok, I just wanted to update you on Peeta's condition he says. I get this dark, deep, heavy, feeling inside. Oh no, I think. I wait in silence. He hasn't really progressed, he says. He still has nightmares and wakes up screaming. He still thinks you're a mutt and sweetheart, I'm not gunna sugarcoat it, he wants to kill you. I don't speak. I knew this was going to happen. There's no way he could've been better. Ok, well why didn't you just call me? I say. I had to pick up some things from my house, so I thought I would just tell you when I got here, he says. Well I'll talk to you later, I say and slam the door, blocking out whatever else he was going to say to me. There is nothing to say. I need to stop caring, because I know he's never going to be the way he was before. I can tell that he stands at my doorstep for a couple of seconds and then turns away down the street to his home. I put on my hunting boots, put on my jacket and wait for Haymitch to be out of sight. Once I can no longer see him, I walk out the door. I crawl under the fence and into the woods. My bow and arrow are still in the log of the tree. I go to the rock that I stood on, on the morning of the Victory Tour. I do not have the energy to hunt at the moment, so I just sit on the rock and let the breeze take over me. I breathe it in, bringing back memories of hunting with Gale. Usually the memories that come back to me are bad ones. But for some reason, not this time. These memories are good. They are the memories of playing out here when we were around 12 years old. Laughing and playing without a care in the world. Without knowing what was going to happen 4 years from then.