The corpse of the past

Chapter 17: An unbeating heart

"Okay you can come in", I hear her say and I open the door.

I see her in a pair of tighter shorts than she usually uses and a crop top.

I raise my eyebrows. Not that she's not hot or anything like that. Because ... Oh my, she is. I'm just surprised. That's all.

"I know!" Katniss says in a complaining voice. "I found my closet with clothes like this, all my other clothes were gone. It's Effie's deed. She had to, she really had to, she couldn't stand my clothing, she threw out everything and put these kinds in. She really frustrates me, I just wanna..." Katniss makes a violent gesture with her hands in the air, like she's choking someone.

I laugh.

"Yeah, I know, but she means well", I say.

"I know", Katniss sighs, as she starts to braid her hair.

I remember why I came up here.

"Oh, there was something I needed to tell you", I say.

Katniss frowns and gets a worried look on her face.

"No, nothing like that, it's just, Felice called", I say and I explain everything.

"We gotta go!" Katniss shouts, grabs my hand and drags me out.

We get to the hospital in no time and Katniss shows me the way to the right room. It's obvious that she's been here a lot.

She opens the door. Two people are in the room. The younger one is a copy of the older one.

"Felice!" Katniss says as she embraces Felice in a tight hug.

"Katniss", she cries.

I walk up to Felice mother.

"Peeta Mellark", I say reaching her my hand.

She smiles warmly at me, considering the pain she's in right now.

"Michelle", she says.

"I'm so sorry", I say, looking towards the bed.

"Please..." Michelle says, gesturing me to go up to the man.

And so I do. I walk up to the bed.

The man tries to focus his eyes on me. A slight smile spreads on his lips.

"Peeta Mellark", he whispers so low, you barley can hear him.

I get why Katniss haven't told me that she's been here. I mean, I know she would've if I asked her, but she wouldn't bring it up herself. I know that this kind of stuff is really hard for her to talk about.

"In person", I smile.

Katniss plops down beside me and I grab her hand.

Even though I don't know this man it's really hard to see him in this state.

"Tell me some news", he begs really low, looking at me.

Hm...

"I'm reopening the bakery in two weeks", I tell him and his eye becomes bigger.

"Really? Oh I love the bread you Mellarks bakes, and those cheese buns are the best", he says. "When I was young I could not afford your bread, so when my wife found out she bought me all bread a cheese buns I could eat, us Seam people tend to appreciate things more".

It stings in my heart. The man is going to die so soon, and he still prises my cheese buns.

"I make those", I tell him.

"I could almost guess", he says and I see his chest move up and down faster, I know what that means, and I feel like crying.

I smile at him, not wanting to upset him with my tears.

"Would it be too much to...?" He asks making a gesture with his hand between me and Katniss. He wants us to kiss.

Felice and Michelle must also know that the time has come, because now they stand on the other side of the bed. Michelle takes her husbands hand in hers and squeezes it gently, and I can see that he tries to squeeze it back.

I smile at him and looks at Katniss, she's crying. I gently press my lips against her. It's a short, loving kiss.

When I pull away I look at the man again.

He smiles.

"Life is something precious that you need to take really good care of", he says. "Hard times comes and goes, but love remains, and love is the most important thing a human can feel, you need to take care of the love and cherish it tenderly, because when you least expects it, it can disappear".

He doesn't mean 'stop loving each other', he means that something can happen and it will be to late. And I agree with him.

The man looks at his wife and daughter.

"I'm going to a better place now, so don't be sad, we'll see each other again", he says and smiles.

I see his chest stop moving and his eyes stares without seeing. He's dead.

And now I feel tears flow down my face as well.

I wrap my arms around Katniss and pull her close to me. I need to feel a beating heart. And I do. I feel Katniss heart beating. I can't even image what would happen if it didn't. I'm not even sure I would be alive. I can't live without my Katniss. I have no life without her, because she is my life.

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Hey, I'm happy today so I decided to post another chapter, which I really hope you liked :D

Please tell me what you thought of this chapter, because I really wanna know :)

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-Josephine xx