Maybe It Can Be Real

Chapter 13

ALL RIGHTS GO TO SUZANNE COLLINS. I OWN NOTHING.

ENDING OF LAST CHAPTER:

As I drift away, one thought keeps me here: I almost lost my boy with the bread.

But I got him to stay. I somehow did it with a kiss and a pathetic speech. It worked. I don't care how pathetic it was, I got him to stay with me. And I know he's not leaving.

****

I pat the other side of the bed seeking Peeta's warmth, but I don't find it. I groggily sit up and look around the room. I don't see him in here. He must be down in the kitchen.

I get up and walk down the stairs. When I look into the kitchen, I don't see him in there either. I wake up fully as panic begins to overtake me.

"Peeta! Where are you?", I holler. No response. "Peeta!", I yell again.

"Oh my God," I whisper and run outside. I run over to his house and go inside. I jog throughout the whole house while calling his name. He's not in here either. Where would he be? I ask myself.

Nothing comes to mind, so I slowly walk back to my house. I go inside and crouch on the floor with my head in my hands. The full force of what happened hits me, and I start to cry.

"Oh my God, Peeta! Why did you leave me? You promised you wouldn't go!", I scream through my tears. They drop into my mouth, but I continue to scream. It's a gut-wrenching sound, one that shouldn't come out of a human. "Peeta! You promised!"

I lay on the floor and curl up into a ball. I cry much harder, and eventually a puddle of tears forms around my head like a halo.

I decide to try one more time and go outside. I stagger to the center of the village and yell as loud as I possibly can, "Peeta! Where are you? You promised you wouldn't go!"

I don't hear anything, so I curl up on the ground in a ball again.

Peeta left me.

****

I gasp and sit up. I can feel salty tears on my face and in my mouth. My head whips to the side to see a frantic Peeta.

"Peeta!", I shriek and hug him. He wraps his arms around me and rubs my back. Hot tears fall onto his back, soaking his shirt.

"Shhh it's okay. I'm not leaving you," he whispers. I just nod my head; I don't trust my voice to speak.

"Oh my God, Peeta," I say a few minutes later when I feel that my voice will work.

"What?", he mumbles against my head.

"The nightmare! It was awful! Y-you left me," I explain sadly. "I woke up and you weren't there, so I walked around the house and didn't see you. I went to your house and around the village without seeing you. Then I came back to my house and screamed for you, but you weren't there," I tell him while starting to shake.

"Katniss, I'm never going to leave you. Especially the since feeling from yesterday of almost leaving was so painful."

"I believe you, but the dream felt so real," I mutter.

"Hey, look at me," he says while pulling my head away from the crook of his neck. "The dream wasn't real, and I'm never ever going to leave you. Remember that. You got it?", he asks firmly.

I nod my head and quietly murmur, "I got it."

He kisses me and says, "Good. Are you ready to go to sleep again?"