Always: A Hunger Games Fanfiction

Chapter 22

There's a small snippet of Peeta's POV, but I'm going to switch it to Katniss's after a few paragraphs.

Peeta (One day earlier)

When I wake up, my whole body aches. I don't remember anything that happened. I have no idea where I am.

A person dressed in white clothing walks into my room. I tense up. My brain starts to get cloudy and I feel alarmed and cornered.

I try to sit up, but metal restraints pulled me back to the tiny bed I was on. The person's eyes grew wide and concerned.

I clench my teeth and try to fight my way out of the restraints. A few more people come in, which didn't help the feeling of being hopelessly trapped. 

One whispers something to another. I catch a part of what he said. Katniss Everdeen.

Katniss Everdeen. Her name makes me angrier than I ever have been before. I hate her. All of my memories of her are bad ones. She killed my family. I have no one because of her. She's the reason everything is so horrible. I have to get rid of her. I have to protect everyone. I hate her.

Katniss (Present)

Peeta still hasn't been brought out of the hovercraft. I'm beginning to get worried. My mother has wandered off somewhere.

I push my way through the crowd. Then, I see him. He looks terrible. His face is full of freshly made cuts and deep purple bruises. His eyes are swollen and puffy. His arms are thin and frail. I can almost see the bones in his finger. His usually perfect blonde hair is sticking out at different angles. I see his eyes. The usual crystal clear blue eyes are gone, replaced by a cloudy black looking color. What have they done to him in such a short period of time? "Peeta..." I whisper.

He doesn't see me. I know what would happen if he did. He'd try to kill me. And I know my heart will feel as though its broken into a million pieces. But I have to try and get him back. 

A few more people push me to the side, trying to get by. I brush them off though, and make my way towards Peeta. I am surprised how short that hijacking took. Last time he was gone for so long. Now, only a few days.

"Peeta!" I say, loud enough for him to hear me. This time, he does. He turns and somehow, his eyes seem to grow blacker, if that was even possible. A horrible, disgusted look appears on his face.

"You're a mutt!" he growls. That brought me back to a year ago. That's what he said to me before. "You killed everyone! It's all your fault!" 

I feel strong arms around mine, trying to pull me away. "No." I scream "Peeta!" The guards pulls me away from him. He is thrashing around on his stretcher. "Peeta!" I break free of the arms and run towards him. I have no idea what I'm doing.

"Get away from me! You're a killer!" he yells.

"Peeta!" I say confidently. "This isn't real. I'm not a mutt. It's the Capitol. They did this, not me. The Capitol's fault. This is not real." 

I think that I've just made it worse. Peeta kicks and tries to get out of the restraints. His teeth and hands were clenched. "You're a liar!" He yells. 

"Peeta! Listen. This is not real. My favorite color is green, yours is orange. Like the sunset. My favorite food that you make is your cheese buns. You hold me when I have nightmares. You gave me a pearl in the arena. Those are real. This is not real." I coax. I'm using the strategy from before, but Peeta won't look at me.