Always

Secrets Revealed

The doors to the training room open and the smell of cleaner hits me like a bomb. I cover my mouth, to keep from throwing up while walking towards the center of the room, but I stop. There are blue matts covering a round area that smells strongly of the bleach.
Oh Peeta, what have you done? Why are you always trying to protect me?

It's my job, remember?

His voice fils my head as I stare at the ground. The answer he had given me before we went into the arena, last year. I shake my head and look up at the game makers. Peeta can't die for me, I won't let it happen.

I grab one of the dummies and red dye, quickly writing and drawing on the body. Using the knot skills the instructed taught me, I quickly tie a series of difficult knots and attach the dummy to the end. Throwing the rope over the beams on the ceiling and securing the end to a table, I step back and take a bow. The dummy swings in the air on the end of a noose. I hear glasses of champagne drop and shocked breaths, at what is written on the chest in crimson colored dye.

Seneca Crane.

"How did the private sessions go?" Effie asks with such ambition I'm sure her face could fall off. I stare down at my plate of food and move the potatoes around. "Peeta, why don't you tell us what you did?" Effie asks. I look up to my husband and I see him hesitate before revealing what happened. I sit with open ears, waiting to hear.

"I painted something." He shoves a mouth of food in his mouth and swallows loudly.

"Did you paint Katniss?" Portia asks squealing. I roll my eyes at the Capitol's love stuck lives.

"In a way, yes I did." he trails off and Haymitch grunts. I stare at him with a schocked face.

"Spit it out kid. What did you paint?" Haymitch questions and I wait as well.

"I painted burnt bread. The time Katniss sat under an apple tree, half alive. The time my heart fell even harder for her. And the time I took a beating for her. When we were 11 Katniss had to take on the role of the main supporter for her family. Her desire to survive never stopped amazing me. But when I saw that she had all but given up, I threw her the bread in hopes of her returning to the girl she once was. In hopes of her falling for me as well." He admits in the silent air. Effie sits with a blank face and Haymitch runs his hands through his hair. Portia and Cinna softly smile at Peeta, while I try to hold back a sob.

"I thought you had painted something to make the game makers mad." I tell him quietly. He hangs his head low and chuckles.

"I tried, but all I could think of was that moment. And maybe it did make them mad, but nothing would stop me from doing it again." He tells me as he leans in and pecks my lips.

"And what did you do,Katniss?" Effie asks me. I look around the table and slide down my chair.

"I hung Seneca Crane. " The table gasps and Effie cries in anguish.

"How'd you know about that?" Haymitch asks while partly growling. 

"I didn't need someone to tell me! Think about it, you don't just get a new game maker without a reason. If the Capitol doesn't like something you do, they make you stop breathing. They kill you off. Seneca is gone and it's only a matter of time before we are too." I yell while getting up to leave.