Broken (Peeta Mellark Fanfiction)

Chapter 6 - Real or Not Real

In the morning, Katniss, Finnick, and Gale head off somewhere to film propos with the television crew. A little while later, Jackson and the others sit around me in a circle. Jackson hasn't forgotten about the conversation last night, because she has thought up some sort of game that could help me with my memories. She's called it "Real or Not Real."

"You tell us something you think happened. And we tell you if its true or not. Simple as that."

"Okay. Hmmm.... My entire family was killed when District 12 was destroyed."

There's a short pause before Jackson answers.

"Real. The bombs hit the merchant section first, most of the people in that area did not survive."

I stare at my feet while everyone else is still staring at me, waiting for me to say another thing for them to elaborate on.

"Most of the people from Twelve were killed in the fire."

"Real. Less than nine hundred of you made it to Thirteen alive."

And I'm still alive, Snow did it because I didn't follow his rules when I warned Thirteen about the incoming bombs.

"The fire was my fault."

"Not real. President Snow destroyed Twelve the way he did Thirteen, to send a message to the rebels."

No wait, the bombing occurred after the Quarter Quell, I keep forgetting that it happened before I was even a prisoner, I only found out about just recently, she must be right.

From the corner of my eye I can see Katniss and the others returning to camp, they seemed to be listening in on what we were just saying. Jackson breaks everyone up into watches, she matches up Finnick, Gale, and Katniss with a soldier from 13 so that there will always be access to someone who knows me more personally if I ever have a question about something. I'm amazed at the effort they're all making to help me, I had figured that they didn't care at all.

Finnick is the one who knows about both Games, he was a mentor in the first one and a tribute in the second.

"The sky, it was pink, wasn't it? In the Quarter Quell?"

"Yes."

"And the berries, they were called nightlock."

"Correct."

I asked him to summarize both Games, and when he did, It seemed like I'd already known about it all, but for some reason the tiniest details are unknown to me and it's
extremally bothersome.

"The story about the goat was real right? And the wolf mutts chasing us, that was real too?"

He nods, "Yeah, they were made to look like the fallen tributes."

I remember now.

"Did Katniss threaten me? Sometime in the woods?"

I remember murderous glaring eyes and a hissing voice full of threats.

"No, not real. She either ran from you and the Careers, or looked for you. When you were a team she cared for you when your leg was hurt."

Not real, it didn't actually happen. Come to think of it, the memory did seem pretty fake, there is always some kind of obvious, shiny detail or quality in memories that have been tampered with that shows it's not real. This idea will help me sort through the fake memories.

For most of my childhood and after it, I was jealous of Gale Hawthorne. He had the hearts of pretty much every girl in District 12. I could always hear them whisper about him at school. My jealousy mostly came from the fact that he spent time with Katniss the most out of anyone else. I remember watching her walk home with him sometimes, and that pang of intense jealously inside. Even after the Games, I could easily tell that she preferred him over me. Right now, I've come to realize that he's actually a pretty nice guy. He fills me in on a lot of stuff about 12. I know for sure that he likes Katniss, he tries to support her in everything she does. There's a point in time where I wonder if he felt the same way when Katniss was with me like I did when she was with him. I can't blame him.