Life goes on

Chapter 1

My head is pounding again, this is nothing new. The doctors told me it's because I'm not taking care of myself but I try not to listen to them. They remind me too much of the Capitol. The past is the only thing I do think about. Life during the games, going through war, losing everyone I love.

The only person who has managed to stick around is Haymitch but he's drank for so many years I'm sure he will go soon too. Then I'll truly be alone.

After I decide my headache isn't going away anytime soon I take some medicine. As I'm swallowing the second pill I start to read the label. Oh no.

One of the side effects is drowsiness. Sleep means nightmares and with these drugs they will be harder to wake up from. I decide to go lay down rather than throw up to get the pills out of my system because I need to get rid of this pain in my head.

I climb under the sheets of my bed and begin to drift off. Maybe I won't have any nightmares. Maybe I will sleep peacefully and feel refreshed afterwords. I can't remember the last night I slept without waking up screaming. Probably when I was wrapped up in Peeta's arms. This is the last thought that fills my mind before the drugs pull me under.

Bombs. Bombs are coming down and they're surrounding me. I'm trying to run away to flee the danger but that's when I see her. "Prim!" I scream. "Prim, I'm coming!" She's trapped behind some fence that is too tall for her to scale. I try to yell to her and I see her mouth moving but I hear no words. She's at least 100 feet away. All I see is her pointing. She's pointing to an aircraft that's coming towards us and then I see it release something and that's when the explosion hits.

The bomb landed right where Prim was standing a few seconds ago. I see ashes falling now. Wait, the ashes are coming down in large chunks. They're not ashes at all, they're white rose pedals.

I wake up and find that I'm dripping in sweat. My throat feels rough, probably from screaming. I kick off the covers and walk towards the shower when I hear a knock at the door.

I hardly ever get visitors so I decide to investigate. I open the door to find Haymitch.

"Well don't you look lovely, sweetheart." He says. I probably don't look my best with my wild hair and thin figure. I haven't been eating well the past few months. However, Haymitch has no right to comment on this.

"What do you want, Haymitch?" I croak. He walks around me into my house and sits down on my couch. I join him.

"I just wanted to let you know the boy is back. He was in the Capitol to see if they could erase his hijacking but they said that there was nothing left for them to do. He isn't completely back to his old self but he is as good as he will ever be."

I don't believe this. Peeta is back. After a year of not seeing him at all he's back. I can't wait to see him. My life will be so much better with him in it. Wait, I can't see him. Haymitch just said he's not even back to normal. Plus, he probably met some fancy girl in the Capitol. She's probably gorgeous and smart and doesn't keep him up all night with her nightmares. This all flashes through my head in an instant before Haymitch speaks again.

"Do you want to see him?" He asks.

"No," I reply instantly. "I can't." This is all I manage to say before I feel tears start to gather in my eyes. I dismiss myself from the conversation and head upstairs. I hear Haymitch get up and leave my house. I sit by the open window upstairs but I can still hear what's going on outside my house.

"What did she say?" I hear a rough voice ask.

"She said she needs some space for a while." Haymitch replies.

"Space? I haven't seen her in a year and she says she needs space? How much more space can she get!" That's when I know the voice belongs to Peeta. Peeta! Was he outside this whole time? I don't dare move from my position curled in a ball under the open window. I can't let him see me like this.

"I don't care what she says, I have to see her!" Peeta exclaims.

"Peeta wait!" Haymitch protests but I already hear my front door open.