From The Ashes

Chapter 2

Katniss POV

It has been a week and a half since Peeta left. Every night I have the same dream. I pretend he is there and that he is holding me in his arms but at the same time I try to be strong. I lie awake for hours, after being shaken by the dream ,before closing my eyes for even one measly second. Every time my eyes close, they bolt open again. It is hopeless to get sleep without knowing that I will be safe in Peeta's arms again. Who knows if he will ever come back. After the war in the capital, nowhere was safe. They were still rebuilding the city, and some parts were still falling apart. I jumped at the thought of a piece of a building falling and killing Peeta.

On the Friday of he second week he had been gone, I sat staring in to the fire. I watched each individual spark fly and hit the fireplace screen. I can barely see outside with all the rain hitting the windows. I stood up and grabbed an old, thick, woollen blanket. I sat back down and wrapped myself tightly in it. The crackling of the fire comforted me as I began to drift of to sleep.
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I woke up the next morning to a clattering of pots and pans. I quickly jumped up and grabbed for my bow that was leaning up against the side of the couch. I pulled an arrow out of my old, leather quiver. I pointed my bow at the ground. I began to walk towards the door. All of the sudden; a figure appeared and I automatically knew who it was.

It was Haymitch. I sighed in relief. I had never been so happy to see him in my entire life. I continued to sweat as I stared at him. Why was he in my house? Why does he look like he is half dead?
"Hey...," he said suspiciously. I looked at him in the same way he looked at me.
"What are you doi-," I began to say.

"My water is not running and I needed a place to crash. I got here about 10-11 last light and fell asleep in one of the chairs in the kitchen." He said with a smile. "Where is Peeta?" He said while looking around the room.
I walked into the kitchen mumbling to myself," He is in the capital,"

"What was that?"he asked. He looked at me with a puzzled expression on his face.
I sighed and said," He is in the Capital." I wished I had never said that. His mouth opened wide.

"What the heck is he in the capital for. That place is a blood bath!"he screamed.

"Don't remind me!" I grumbled. I was starting to get annoyed.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the couch this morning..."he began to say. I glared over at him. He put his hands up and began to back away.

"Ok, I will stop."he said.
After that, the room was silent. I walked over to the cupboards and grabbed some of the left over turkey meat I had hunted the day before. I brought it over to the corner and began to skin it.
After the bird was fully skinned, I walked over to the window and dumped out the shavings. I watched as the feathers floated down and hit the ground slowly and gracefully.

Then I carried the "naked" bird over to the stove and put it in the water I had boiled. It sizzled for a while before the colour changed to a nice golden brown. Then it stared to blacken. I quickly took the pot off the stove and put it in the sink. I waited not long before it cooled down and I was able to lay the bird on the cutting board. I skipped over to the cupboard and retrieved 2 plates, one for me and one for Haymitch.

After 20 minutes, The bird was ready to be served and there were two place settings at the table. We both sat down and ate in silence. The silence finally broke when I stood up from the stable," I am going hunting. We don't have enough food left for the both of us so I am gonna go catch more." I announced. I walked over to the coat rack and slipped on my hunting jacket and boots. I grabbed my bow and quiver and walked over to the door.

The air was cold in my face as I walked towards my usual hunting spot. I slid under the empty spot in the fence
and continued walking to the forest.

As soon as I reached the tree line, I grabbed an arrow from my quiver and readied my bow. The first thing I spotted was a dear. I knew that I would have to skin it there and carry the meat home in my bag. I shot the arrow and hit is strait in the eye. That is where I aimed every time. I watched it fall as if it were in slow motion.

It took me about an hour before it was skinned and it had no bones. That would lay us a few days. I could sell the hide in the market so I did not have to worry about that. I chucked the bones in a near by stream. Then I continued hunting.

When I reached home, it was around 4:00 and Haymitch had fallen asleep with an empty bottle in his hand at the table. I had caught 3 turkeys, 1 dear and a squirrel. I could sell 2 of the turkeys and the squirrel. Then I could keep 1 Turkey and still have 1 entire deer.

At about 5:00, it began to rain. I did not care because I knew that I would not be going outside again. By the time it was dinner, Haymitch was awake and nagging me about food. He did not make any sense after that so I knew that he had been drinking.

We ate part of the deer that night. We once again ate in silence. Until the front door swung open and in walked Peeta, with a terrified, deep gaze in his eyes.
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Thank you to those who have started to read my book. If you have any thoughts to improve my book, please comment or private message me. Thanks :)

-mackaygirlTB