Those Ocean Eyes

Chapter 2:

16 Years Ago..

PEETA

The grass tickles me as I run through it, stumbling on hidden roots and upturned clods of dirt. The sun shining through the leaves above me dapples the ground, as if lighting a route for me to follow. A faint buzzing noise can be heard coming from somewhere above me.

I stop in my tracks, trying to figure out where the buzzing is coming from. Then I spot it. A tracker jacker nest is sat nearby in a tree, buzzing away and ignoring my watchful gaze. There's no way I can get away without getting stung.

A tracker jacker flies close to me as I struggle not to scream and run away. It stays hovering in the air in front of me before flying and landing on my nose. My breathing becomes more and more rapid as I watch it stand on the end of my nose, minding its own business.

A scream escapes my lips before I stop it as I feel the first sting of many soon to come. The pain is excruciating as more and more of their stings enter my body. Poison enters my body as I faintly hear urgent footsteps and the horrified screams of my mother as she finds me, her son, possibly dying.

'Peeta?! Oh my god, Peeta!' A pair of strong arms pick me up and carry me back to District 12 to Ms. Everdeen, the local doctor.

I get placed on an uncomfortable wooden table as wave after wave of pain wracks my body, causing me to cry out in agony as she injects something into my arm to calm me down.

'Count to ten, Peeta,' Ms Everdeen says in a soothing tone of voice, 'It'll all be over soon..'

I do as she says, drifting off into a slumber full of nothingness.

~

I jolt awake covered in sweat. The nightmares are getting bad again. I thought I was over the worst of it. Turns out it was just beginning. It's been years since that day, the day I almost died, the day I should have died. I should be grateful, I should feel lucky, but I don't. That day hundreds of people died because of an explosion, and yet I survived a tracker jacker. Or maybe the guilt is that my father died that day when I should have. I should have died. Not him. Me. Maybe then mom wouldn't be so depressed. Iroll out of bed, getting dressed to go into the Bakery. Making sure not to wake up Rye and Ma. Devan used to live here, but he left after dad died, and he hasn't been back since. And Ma since in any shape to be the parent Rye needs, so at 17 I'm acting as father.

I walk up to the bakery, unlocking the door and going inside. Haymitch is supposed to be here to open up but he's always late. He's been working here for over a year now, his family is in a tough spot at the moment, but that doesn't stop him from being late. Turning on the lights I take in the environment for the millionth time, Since the remodel there still are days that I come in here and just stare at everything. We've spent months and saved all the money we had to fix this place up, but I never imagined it ever looking this good.

Haymitch as always barges through the door pushing his way through customers sweating. He lives almost 30 minutes away but somehow still makes it on time. He married Effie, the love of his life a couple years ago and they have a beautiful baby girl who is only 2 months old. He's been struggling lately, with being a new father and trying to provide for his family. His father got injured in the explosion and hasn't been able to work since, so Haymitch is the soul provider, helping out any way that he can.

"Sorry I'm late. Mia had a rough night," he says, grabbing his apron and getting to work on the dough.

"It's okay, we just opened,"

We start getting into a routine when the bell rings, I turn around to see a little girl and her father. But the little girl looks so beautiful and familiar, and then it hits me and all the blood comes rushing to my face, and my eyes begin to ring. I never thought I would see her again, or anyone from the dreadful day. The day that keeps me up at night. The father talking to Haymitch is too distracted to see that the little girl has wandered off to the show case, or maybe he doesn't care. I make my way over to her trying to breath in and out and trying and failing to remember her name.