It's A Jungle Out There

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

My head is throbbing, each beat feeling like a fresh blow to my skull. Thump. Thump. Thump. When my eyelids flicker open, I’m blinded by a white flare of light. I groan in pain and lift my hands to my eyes, rubbing them fiercely with the heels. “Wha . . .” I mutter. Thankfully, the blurriness in my eyes clears as I prop myself up on my elbows and look around.

Jesus, is this a hospital room?

My mother gasps in relief and I jump in surprise. My mother’s here? “Mom?” I ask in confusion.

“Oh Katniss,” Mom says, grabbing my hand and squeezing it desperately. “Thank God you’re okay.”

“Mom, what’s wrong?” I frown. “Of course I’m okay. What happened? Why am I here?” I try to pull the covers of my bed back and get up but Mom stops me. “Mom, you’re freaking me out. What’s going on? Where are we?”

“You’re in District 13 hospital,” Mom gently says. “You’ve been here all night.”

All night? Then it rushes back to me. The painkillers, the water, the pain in my ankle, the slip. “Did I break something?” I ask, lifting my arms. I wouldn’t be surprised if I did hurt myself, the fall was pretty hard. “Or a sprain or something?” I lift the covers and my heart skips a beat at the sight of a huge cast swallowing up my entire leg.

“Sweetheart, it’s going to be okay,” Mom insists.

“No, it’s not!” I exclaim.

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not!” I look at my Mom in blind panic. “I can’t cheer with a broken leg! How long is it going to take to heal? Will I be able to cheer at the homecoming game?”

Mom shakes her head. In fact, she looks a little confused. “I don’t think so, sweetie.”

Oh my god. This isn’t happening. My world is crashing down around me. If I can’t cheer, what am I supposed to do? Cheering is my life! If I can’t do that, there’s nothing else worth doing. I groan and fall onto my back again on the bed. “This isn’t happening. I’m going to wake up and is will all be over. It has to be a dream. A horrible nightmare or something. My life is over!”

“No, it is not,” Mom says firmly. I lift my head and frown at her. She sounds so determined. She’s never been all that worried about my cheerleading. In fact, I know she’d prefer that I didn’t do it. That I focused more on my studies or whatever. If anything like this actually happened, I would have thought that she’d have been overjoyed.

“What is up with you?” I demand to know. Mom looks uncomfortable. “Mom?”

“Dr. Aurelius wants to talk about you,” Mom blurts out.

My frown deepens. “Who?”

Mom touches my hand again and I look at our joined hands, completely perplexed. “He’s a psychiatrist,” she explains.

“Why does a psychiatrist want to see me?” I ask.

The door to the room opens and a man in a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck steps in. “Hello Mrs. Everdeen,” he said. “Katniss.”

“I don’t understand what the hell is going on,” I say.

“Dr. Aurelius,” he introduces. He approaches my mom and places a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Would it be okay if I spoke to Katniss privately?”

My mom nods and, with one last look towards me, she gets up and leaves. Dr. Aurelius takes her spot by my bedside and smiles this weird, overly bright grin at me. “So, Dr. Aurelius,” I say, dragging his name out, “what the hell is happening? Why is my mom acting weird?”