The Hunger Games - Peeta's POV

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Reliving Nightmares

Katniss looks dazzling, in a yellow plaid dress. Her hair is loose, wavy and shiny. She was elevated on a podium similar to mine on the other side of the stage. It reminded me all too much of the arena, when I was deciding what to do with the 60 seconds until the bloodbath. I realised I had been holding in knots - the same ones I had in the arena, They only release when Katniss rushes over, and we are embracing like we would never see each other again. I guess I thought that was reality - that the last time I would've seen her was in the hovercraft, before I blacked out.

"Um, excuse me." Claudius Templesmith tapped both of us on the shoulder playfully. We followed him to the plush sofa, which replaced the regular single armchair during Victor's Interview. I sit down as gracefully as I can with my prosthetic leg, which alarms Katniss to the change. She doesn't act upon it, just acknowledges.

"So, what can you tell us about the arena. The nightlock moment, more specifically." It's only now do I remember what happens at the interviews. First, they ask questions about memorable moments in the Games. Like that time the Victor stuffed a flesh-eating mole down his opponents throat, and left it eating her from the inside. It was all anyone could talk about.

"I just," Katniss starts. She kicks off her shoes, and snuggles against me, intertwining our fingers together. It's her warmth that keeps me going through the night. The starless night. "I just couldn't bear to live without him." Her eyes glisten in the spotlight, and she smiles.

The next part is a video of the whole two weeks condensed into three hours. It starts off with the reaping. Katniss volunteering, my bewildered face once my name is called. Then it cuts straight to training. Thankfully, they didn't include me falling off the rope. They show instead the private training sessions. First me, throwing the weight into the empty space. Then Katniss, who shoots only once. It's not how she told us, when she shot it into the apple. Just her against the target, where her arrow lodges in the bullseye. It then goes to the interviews, only showing the most memorable lines.

"I told her I would win. I told her I would win for her."

"Because she came here with me."

The video is quick to get to the actual Games. It skips the sixty seconds on the podiums, and goes straight to the bloodbath. The first death to be seen was Timmer. Then the bloodbath is directed mostly on Katniss. In none of the frames could you see my cowardice. Instead, I watch with the audience as Katniss is seemingly stuck to her podium. She watches something in the distance, and the camera swivels around to the point of interest. A girl, I think from District 5 or 6, sprints around the edge of the Cornucopia. As she approaches it, she grabs a backpack without slowing. Katniss considers this for a fraction of a second, before dashing to a nearby orange pack. She struggles against a boy for it, before he collapses onto the ground in his own pool of blood. He reveals Clove, multiple knives in hand. One skids past Katniss' ear, and the other is sure to hit her heart. Instinctively, she pulls up her pack, and the knife sticks out. Clove sees something else worth her interest, so this gives Katniss her much needed chance to flee into the woods. It then shows the Careers considering whether or not to kill me. To my expense, Maryar does not make an appearance. We are just roaming around, and the camera cuts between shots of the Careers and Katniss. Mostly Katniss. She was sleeping peacefully in a tree, when the wall of fire came roaring towards her. She climbs down and runs. Runs away. Runs into the Careers. The fireballs come quickly, and one makes contact with her leg. A scream escapes. How did she recover so quickly? Oh yes, the medicine that arrived during the anthem. Then our journey to the tracker jacker tree. Katniss saws the branch, and the Careers go running. Katniss falls - rather than jumps - off of the tree, next to Glimmer's dead body. I come running back, telling Katniss to run. She grabs the bow and quiver, then staggers away. I lead Cato towards the stream until he turns around and follows his hallucinations. Covering myself with mud and moss, I lay in the sun, eyes shut, body resting.
Katniss is seen waking up near a broken log. The magic leaves the relieved my stings are situated on her neck, arms, and a few on her face. She picks up and strings her bow. And then, she spots a foot peeking out from behind the nearby tree.

"Hello?" Katniss grabs her head, steadying her dizziness. No response.

"Come out. I'm not going to hurt you." She says softly. Who is behind the tree? How does she know who it is? The foot lifts to the side, and reveals the body and the face. Pocket-sized. Rue. It's Rue. Katniss allied with Rue. Katniss watched Rue die.