Justice, the 4th hunger games book, the story after mockingjay

Chapter forty

Chapter forty

As I pull myself onto the branch I see he has pulled his knees right up to his chest and is pressing his knuckles into his temples. He hasn’t even made an effort to get my letter.

“Peeta?” He doesn’t acknowledge me so I take that as an okay to approach him.

Slowly and carefully begin to slide myself towards him.

“Peeta, I’m moving towards you.” I say making him aware of my movements. “I’m not going to hurt you; I’m Katniss, not a mutt. I am unarmed. See, look.” I add holding up my arms are I shimmy the last metre towards him. I see him glance through his eyelashes and I can see the internal battle going on. His eyes keep flicking from black pupils to the wonderful blue. I wait for a second or two before moving closer and reaching out to gently take hold of his wrist.

“I’m just taking something out of your wristband. I’m not going to hurt you. I’ll move slowly you’ll be able to feel my every move I promise.” He freezes under my touch and I can’t help but fight back the tears at his actions however subconscious they are. I know he doesn’t mean to do this to me and I shouldn’t feel rejected, tearful and most of all I should be scared but here I am. I am honestly terrified of what he will do when he is like this. He could easily push me out of this tree, strangle me, you can never tell what is going to happen.

I slowly unstrap his wristband from him and open it up showing him its insides. There stamped in the leather is a note from me.

“Peeta.” I read. “If you are reading this it means you are not in a good place. I don’t really know what to say other than, I love you.” I begin to well up at me having to read this to him.

“We have been through so much and through it all you have stood by me. I need you as much as you need me. I have never told you this before but I am so glad you stuck by me and had faith in me even when the odds were stacked against us which were more often than not. We gave each other hope when we thought there was nothing left, you gave me something to fight for. I will never stop fighting for you. Forever yours, K.” I finish though I am unsure if he has heard me. I don’t trust my voice to not betray me so instead of saying any more I rest the cuff on his knees allowing my hand to linger there longer than I should before I turn and slide back to where the rope is. Swinging my leg over I grab hold and slowly lower myself to the ground once again. I won’t give up on him but I know how much he struggles to snap out of one of these episodes when I’m around. By the time I reach the ground I am dripping from head to toe. Apparently the rain hasn’t let up, in fact if anything its falling more violently now. Great.

At that moment another cannon goes off causing me to instantly look up to check on Peeta. He is still OK. In fact he is staring back down at me with a look of relief. It was almost as if the firing of the cannon had caused him to come back to me. I smile sheepishly up at him, cautious that he may not be fully back to me. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding as he returns my smile and begins to make his way to the rope. I have him back, for now at least.

I remember a time when life was so much simpler. The games were gone and Peeta and I were free, well as free as we would ever be, to live our lives. We were able to bring up our children in a safe environment away from any fear of the games. We were finally able to be together. Just me and him, him and I, and Haymitch of course. We were able to just simply live, not be fighting for our lives.

When we heard the announcement we began training every day. We would begin before light, I would often start the day with a hunting trip in the forests with Gale and Peeta would have some down time baking before the day started. We followed the same regeime day in, day out. After breakfast, knife skills and wrestling followed by fitness. Lunch would always be quick and was the only time during daylight hours where we were able to see Fin and Rue. They would bring us out sandwiches they helped Sae to make. After lunch it would be tree climbing, archery and tactics. As soon as the sun set it was family time. We would retire to our home and spend time with the children, we needed them to have a sense of normality amongst the mayhem that was our lives.