Epilogue
Katniss P.O.V.
It's a lie. It has to be a lie. I can't believe what they're telling me. It's just... Impossible.
Impossible is the right word.
"It's not a lie", Ella insists.
I can't even answer her. My eyes are focused on the mirror. On the reflection of the beautiful creature that I see. The beautiful creature has a long white dress. A breathtaking dress with spaghetti-straps, glitter under the breasts. The dress is silk and flowing, white lace in a beautiful pattern covers the white silk. A long white vail is flowing down her back and down onto the floor. The vail is being hold on place by a beautiful tiara. The light makeup in her face brings out the shadows her in her face, making her silver eyes pop out. Her long dark hair is curly and glittery and it's flowing down over her shoulders.
This creature is breathtakingly beautiful.
"It is you Katniss", Annie says.
"It can't be", I say, shaking my head. "It just can't be".
"But it is", Prim says. "Why is it so hard for you to believe?"
"Because", I say, taking a short pause. "I'm not beautiful, I never were, and this ... Creature in the mirror is breathtaking".
"Katniss it's you", Madge says. "And for the record, you've always been breathtaking".
"No!" I protest.
"I don't wanna get into an argument over this today", Glimmer says shaking her head. "Today is supposed to be a happy day remember".
I let out a giggle.
"Well with this dress on, it's hard not to remember", I say.
Peeta proposed to me right after high school graduation and of course I told him yes. But I wanted to wait a few years, before we got married. We're in our senior year in college and I didn't want to wait any longer.
"I can't believe you're getting married today!" Annie let's out a sound of joy.
"You're not far after", I tell her, knowing that Finnick and Annie are getting married in like four months.
"Still!" She says.
Ella rolls around in the room. She's very skilled with her wheelchair now. She's in a wheelchair basketball team. And she can do all of these tricks with the chair. She's really become one with the chair. It's pretty amazing.
The doctors said that she shouldn't expect to ever walk again, when it first happened. And I don't think she does. I think she's embraced her new lifestyle. It's taken a while, but she has. And she's doing really well.
Ugh I'm so nervous right now. I have my girls here, and my sister. But I don't know where Peeta and the boys are. I don't know anything. I just know that we're in the church, in a back room, and soon I'm going to walk out of here and down an isle to meet a boy that will soon become my husband. Nothing to be nervous about. Absolutely not. Nah-ah. Nada!
I feel how I'm starting to breathe really fast. The nervousness totally takes over my body. I'm trying to not think of nervous things. But it doesn't work.
It's just... I'm getting married.
"Katniss are you okay?"
I jump.
"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine", I say a bit distant, feeling how I get harder to breathe.
Something must have trigged my PTSD. I gasp. Breathing harder and faster. I feel how tears starts to fill my eyes.
"Oh no", Annie mumbles. "Katniss look at me, it's okay", she takes my hand. "It's all right, you're safe".
I take a deep breath. Trying to calm myself down. I nod, closing my eyes.
"I'm sorry", I mumble. "I'm so sorry".
I open my eyes, and find everyone looking at me worried.
"No", Madge says. "No you know that it's not your fault, why're you even saying sorry?"
"I... I don't know, but I know that I am sorry about panicking in front of you", I say.
"You shouldn't be", Clove says. "We all love you".
There's a knock on the door. Plutarch peeks in with his hand over his eyes.
"Is it clear?" He asks.
We all giggle.
"It's clear", Prim says. "Come in".
He smiles and takes away his hand.
"Wow you're beautiful Katniss", he says and kisses my cheek.
"Is it time?" I ask.
He looks at me with a warm fatherly look and nods.
I take a deep breath. Okay. I hook my arm around his.
"This is it!" Annie says excited. We all walk out of there.
We meet Alison by the door. She's standing there with a bouquet of flowers. She's my flower girl. Peeta's groomsmen comes up to us. They find their bridesmaid and hook arms. This is making me even more nervous.
When the music starts, I feel my legs starts to shake.
Alison walks in. Than my bridesmaids with their groomsmen.
I'm last. Of course I'm last. When all the bridesmaids and groomsmen are at their destination, it's my turn.
"It's okay", Plutarch says. "Just a deep calm breath".
I nod and take a deep calm breath. We start walking. We walk slowly. I have time to analyze the whole ceremony. Right now everyone are looking at me.
I don't look at anyone. I don't even know what I'm gonna look at. But that's before my eyes are met by ocean deep blue.
Just like that, all the nervousness washes away. As Peeta looks at me with does big eyes, and sweet smile, I feel more confident then when I told Peeta yes.
Plutarch slowly leads me forward, but I want to run. I want to grab my dress and hold it up. I wanna take off my high heeled shoes and throw them away so I can run a lot faster up to Peeta.
But Plutarch arm keeps me walking slowly. And it makes me frustrated.
Finally we're there. Finally we're beside Peeta. Peeta takes my hand and kisses it.
Soon we're going to be married.
***
I dance like I've never danced before in my life. I'm happier than I've ever been before in my life. I'm dancing with my husband Peeta. Peeta Mellark. And I am now Katniss...
"Why are you giggling?" Peeta chuckles, looking at me with an amused expression.
"I was just thinking", I say with a big smile.
"About what?" Peeta smiles, happy to my big smile.
"Katniss Mellark", I say with an ever wider smile. "I love how that sounds".
Peeta laughs and spins me around. He catches me again.
"So do I!" He says and kisses me.
Something catches my eye and makes me look past Peeta.
"Wait Peeta, let me go", I say.
Peeta lets me go with a confused look. I keep looking ahead. Peeta turns around to see what I'm looking at.
Ella. She's right now holding herself half up with the help of her chair and she pushes herself up. She stands up and walks a few baby steps.
"Oh my god!" Peeta and I both exclaim and run up to the rest of the group and Ella.
Tyler grabs her arm to steady her.
"Ella!" I say as I come up to her. "You can walk! You can walk oh my god!"
"I wasn't sure if I could, but I started to feel a tangling in my legs during the ceremony", she says. "I started to feel something tickling my feet. I couldn't feel that after I woke up at the hospital... I took a guess".
She's crying. Ella is crying because she can stand and she can walk.
I'm standing a bit apart from Ella right now.
"Ella, can you walk over here? Take any bigger steps?" I ask her.
"I don't know", she says and suddenly looks scared.
But she jerks her hand away from Tyler and looks at her feet. She takes first a small step at my direction. She looks concentrated. She takes a bigger step and it looks like she's gonna fall. Tyler starts to walk up to her but she stabilize herself and takes another step. She takes a bigger step, and a bigger and then she takes a real step. And another. And another. She reaches me. I take her in my arms.
"Oh my god, you can walk!" I say with so much happiness filling my voice.
"Yeah, I can walk", she whisper.
Tyler touches her arm. She turns around and cries onto his shoulder.
"Baby you can walk!" Tyler tells her, picking her up and spins her around. Ella starts to laugh.
"Yeah! I can walk!" She says.
I run up to Annie and the girls. We laugh and hug each other.
"It's a wedding miracle!" Glimmer says happily!
Yeah. It really is.
It's so amazing. I can't believe it. Only happy things can happen this day. I did almost get a breakdown before the wedding but it's all good. I think every bride is suppose to get a minor breakdown before their wedding. It makes it all feel more real. Or am I just saying that to make myself feel better?
I feel something crash into my legs. I don't even have to look down to know that it's Adam. He and Alison are eight years old now. Adam looks more and more like Peeta, the way he flicks his hair. The way he walk and talk. The way his deep ocean blue eyes glisten when he's happy. That's all Peeta.
"Hey Adam", I say and hug him tight.
I don't carry him up anymore though. If I would I would get serious back problems because he's very heavy to lift now. I mean he is eight years old now. It not like when he was five and I would carry him around anywhere when I met him. On his demands of course. He never seemed to want me to let him go. And I didn't want to. I don't want to. He's the sweetest little guy ever. And our bond has grown stronger over the years.
"I love you Katniss", he says. "And you're very beautiful".
"I love you too Adam", I say and kiss his head.
I wanna sing. I seriously want to sing now. And maybe I can.
"Wait here", I tell Adam and the girls, I give Adam's hand to Annie and walk off to the stage. The band is currently on a small break and some songs from Spotify is playing right now.
I tell them that I want to sing a song when their break is over.
So that's how I end up on stage only a minute later.
"Ladies and gentlemen", says the lead singer. "Now you're going to hear a song, sung by none other than the bride herself. Give her a big round of applauds".
So I walk up on the stage to everyone's applause. I catch Peeta's eyes. He looks extremely confused.
"Hello everyone", I say. "Thank you all for being here tonight to celebrate with me and Peeta. Now this may not come as a surprise to some of you, but I do like to sing as well, just like my dearest husband, who of course you all know by name. Peeta baby, this song is for you".
I wink at Peeta and the music starts. Peeta looks at me as I start singing.
"The strands in your eyes that color them wonderful
Stop me and steal my breath
And emeralds from mountains, the thrust towards the sky
Never revealing their depth
And Tell me that we belong together
Dress it up with the trappings of love
I'll be captivated, I'll hang from your lips
Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above
And I'll be your cryin' shoulder
I'll be loves suicide
And I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life
And rain falls angry on the tin roof
As we lie awake in my bed
And you're my survival, you're my living proof
My love is alive and not dead
And tell me that we belong together
Dress it up with the trappings of love
I'll be captivated, I'll hang from your lips
Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above
And I'll be your cryin' shoulder
I'll be loves suicide
And I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life
Well I've dropped out,
I've burned up,
I've fought my way back from the dead
Tuned in,
Turned on,
Remembered the things that you said
And I'll be your cryin' shoulder
I'll be loves suicide
And I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life
And I'll be your cryin' shoulder
I'll be loves suicide
And I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life
The greatest fan of your life".
When I'm done with the last word, everyone explodes into a firework of applause.
Peeta. He's crying. I can't remember when I last saw him cry because he never does. You see it so rarely, you forget that he can cry.
I walk off the stage and Peeta rushes over to me. He sweeps me off my feet and plants his lips to mine.
"I love you so much", he says, with tears still flowing down his eyes. "You're so amazing, the most awesome girl in the whole world! And you're only mine".
"I'm only yours baby", I say.
"Always?" He asks.
"Always", I say and seal it with a kiss.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
So... What did you think? That was the epilogue and this book is officially over.
How does it feel? Ella can walk! Katniss and Peeta are married! Woohoo!
Please vote and comment for the last time in this book!
-Josephine xx