Mockingjay: What If......

Chapter 14 - Katniss

I woke up, screaming, from a nightmare. I looked around, and that's when I realized I wasn't in the torture chamber anymore. I seemed to be in a small, bland room with nothing but a bed and a table. Then my surroundings started to look familiar. I realized I was in my house, my old house, from before the games. 
I must have had million questions, but there was no one to ask. Who brought me there? Why? How? What happened? At that moment, I heard someone come into the house. I stayed quiet, not knowing if they were a friend or a foe. The steps were heavy, so I knew it was a man. I wondered who it was. Haymitch? Plutarch? Peeta?
Peeta.... It all comes rushing back to me. It was a dream. It had to be. He would never.... A man steps into the room. A very familiar man. The man I've been longing for in the past weeks. I try to speak, but no words come. This is a dream. A hallucination. It's not real. He stepped closer to me, and realized I was awake.
"Hey, Catnip." 
Those words had more of an affect on me than anything else could have. I started sobbing, and he knelt beside me. He tried to put his arms around me, but I pushed him away. "Stop!" I screamed, "Leave me alone! You aren't real! You're a hallucination, a nightmare! Another way for Coin to torture me!" 
He looked hurt, and I almost felt sorry. But then I reminded myself that he wasn't real. 
"Please, Katniss, just let me explain," He begged. I nodded, interested in what he had to say. "I was never really dead. I faked my death, so that I could escape. So that I could rescue you. I found a secret tunnel that led out of the torture chambers. I knew if I escaped, they would never admit it. They would tell everyone I was dead." He paused for a moment, letting it sink in, then continued.
"In order for my plan to work, everyone had to think I was really dead. Your response to the news needed to be completely genuine, or Coin would have suspected something. I had to make sure you didn't get arrested before I put my plan into action. I was going to take you away while you were hunting in the woods.
"I should have realized you would do something stupid to get revenge, and you would get arrested for it. You're just so impulsive! It was pure luck that they left you in the torture chambers. Do you remember anything from when I visited you?"
That was when I realized the other dream wasn't a dream. He had really been there that night. 
"Why didn't you just take me then?" I ask, "Why wait?"
He hesitated before answering. "There were some.... complications." I could tell he was hoping to leave it at that, but I wasn't about to give up so easily. 
"What do you mean, complications?" 
He frowned. "We wanted to get the others out first. We knew they wouldn't be safe once you were gone. But...."
"Gale Hawthorne, I want a straight answer from you and I want it now! What happened?" 
He finally answered me. "They were gone, Catnip. All of them! Annie was the only one left, besides Haymitch and Peeta. I don't know why Coin left them alone."
No. He had to be lying. They couldn't be gone! They just couldn't! As for Peeta, she didn't leave him alone. But I couldn't tell Gale about that. I felt so guilty just sitting there with him, knowing what I had done. Maybe I would eventually tell him, but not now.
"Are they...." I couldn't finish the sentence. I felt like saying the words would seal their fates.
"She killed them, Katniss. All of them. I'm so sorry." I could see tears streaming down his face. "I could have done something! I could have saved them! This is my fault!"
I shook my head, and embraced him. "No Gale, it's not. The only person to blame for this is Coin. And she's going to pay. I'll make sure of it. We'll make sure of it together. Because, no matter what, I will always love you. And nothing, or no one, can ever change that."
He looked more hopeful. "Not even Peeta?" He said the name with resentment, maybe even hatred. 
I answered without a doubt. "Especially not Peeta."
Then I kissed him. But this was different than any other kiss I'd experienced. This wasn't like kissing Peeta in the games to stay alive. This wasn't like kissing Gale out of pity, or him kissing me last year. This was true love's kiss. And that was the best kind.
I don't know how long we sat there for, kissing and talking and just being together. But I eventually pulled away, because we had work to do. I started to get up, but Gale stopped me.
"You're still weak, Catnip. I don't want you to injure yourself further. Coin's torture can be.... excruciating. If you don't mind me asking, what did she do to you exactly?"
I wanted to tell him the truth, but I knew I couldn't. I was too afraid of how he would react. The worst part was, I had accepted it. I hadn't even fought back. And that shame was the thing I couldn't bear.
"It wasn't much, really. The guards were rough with me, but other than that it was just whipping. My back really doesn't hurt anymore either. I'm fine!"
He shook his head. "No, you're not. You were out cold for almost a week! Something else must have happened. But what?"
My eyes widened. "A week!"
Gale nodded. "Catnip, something's wrong. We really should go to a doctor, but who?"
I sighed. "The only doctors I knew were my mom and Prim. Our only option is to sneak back into 13. Do you think someone could get me in, if I had a disguise?"
"You aren't going anywhere. We, on the other hand, are sneaking back into district 13."

So are you guys surprised? I'd been planning this from the beginning. What do you think is wrong with Katniss? Please give me suggestions for future chapters in the comments, and don't forget to vote!

~Katrina