Deep in the Meadow - Peeta Mellark X Reader

13. The end of it all

"When I was a child, I heard voices
Some would sing and some would scream
You soon find you have few choices
I learned the voices died with me"

𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊

Somehow, that ointment worked a miracle. Not enough to save his leg entirely, but enough to get him walking again. We decide that now is a good time to get some food, foraging berries and mushrooms. Though, as we walk, I begin to regret letting him tag along.

"Peeta, you're walking so loud." I mutter. He grows a bit sheepish at this and glances away. "Sorry."

"Maybe take your shoes off?" I suggest and he shakes his head adamantly. "No. Why don't I just go that way? I won't be far, I promise."

I consider this for a moment, letting out a sigh. "Okay, fine. But stay where I can see you, and keep your knife at the ready."

He gives a goofy grin at this and nods "Okay, thanks for letting me go play outside mom." he says jokingly.

Part of me wants to be annoyed with him for joking at a time like this, but I can't help but to laugh.

"You're such an idiot. I'm glad to see you in better spirits." I smile at him and he nods.

We split up, and because I still can only hear out of one ear, I make it a point to occasionally glance up to check that he was still visible. However, after a while, I forget that that's what I'm doing as I get focused on the task at hand. Yet, I'm drawn quickly back to the cruel reality as the sound of a cannon blares. I waste no time sprinting in the direction I saw Peeta last, being met with his confused and packed face.

"Peeta! Peeta what happened I heard a cannon! I thought something happened to you." I spew out, my hands flying all over his face and body as I examine him in a panicked state.

He places a hand onto my shoulder, calming me down for a moment as his confusion grows more. "I thought something happened to you!" he says, his eyebrows furrowed.

My eyes land on his other hand, noting the berries in it. I instinctively smack his hand, just as Katniss had done to me two summers ago when I held the same berries.

"Peeta that's nightlock! You'd be dead in a minute!" I ring out. It was exactly what Katniss had yelled to me when she saw what I was holding. They looked like simple berries, but they were lethal.

"I didn't know! I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I had no idea." He apologizes repeatedly and I shake my head, my eyes landing on something behind him.

"The cannon." I mutter. "It was her."

Peeta turns around, seeing the girl from five lay lifeless, the berries in her hand.

"Woah. I didn't even know she was there." Peeta mutters in awe, staring down at her.

"She must've been picking off bits of food from other people. She was so sneaky, nobody saw her whenever she was in the cornucopia. She was fast too. One second she was there, the next she wasn't." I mutter, staring at her.

Peeta stands in shock for a moment before I convince him to go wash off his hands, and I pocket some of the berries from the girl's hand. According to Katniss, nightlock was only native to the outskirts of district twelve, so nobody in the other districts would have a chance at knowing about it.

If it killed off this girl, maybe we could use it to kill off Thresh and Cato, or whichever is left after the inevitable show down between them. Surely they'd be hungry, especially since the cornucopia no longer has a food supply. This would be a quick and easy way to catch them. Leave a bag of these mixed in with other berries somewhere.. They come across the bag, likely starving and eat them. They'd never know.