For those of you who watched the trailer, you know what's coming. Be prepared!
For this chapter I recommend you listen to the song 'The power of love' by Gabrielle Aplin. It's beautiful and makes this chapter seem more alive. I attached it to this chapter.
This chapter...
Who
Will
Die?
I scream and water fills my lungs, burning as my body screams for air. I see the boat drive off and then I am alone.
My head pounds from lack of oxygen and my whole body starts to tingle. I feel myself getting dizzier and dizzier.
Slowly my eyes close and I drift off, letting the pain go away.
I open my eyes as the pain and burning in my lungs eases. I am blinded by a white light, and slap my hand over my eyes until I think I am used to it. I take my hand away and look around. Everything is white. I can't see anything else other than white.
What's happened? Where am I? I start to panic and then I see a dark blur, coming closer to me. I back up but it feels like I'm walking on air. I look down and notice that I can't actually see the ground, just lonely white.
"Katniss." I hear a voice, a familiar voice. I look up and see the dark figure has reached me. "Mum?" I whisper, shocked. She nods, tears flowing down her cheeks. I reach my hand up and see that I am crying too.
I run forward and fling myself into her arms. "Oh, Mother, I missed you so much." I cry, hugging her tightly. "I missed you, too." She says sadly. "Mum?" I ask slowly. "Yes?" She answers as though she knows what I'm going to ask.
"Am I... Am I dead?" I choke out. She lets out a shaky breath and nods. "My dear, you've done so well" she says pulling me in for a hug and brushing my hair with her fingers. I sob into her shoulder, my stomach churning.
"Katniss, you've grown into such a beautiful young woman. So, so beautiful." She cries and we stand there hugging each other tightly.
"Katniss." I look up from my mother's shoulder. "Daddy?" I ask in a small voice. He nods and I run up to him and hug him tightly. "I missed you." He murmurs.
I pull away as I remember something. "Peeta." I whisper and my parents smile at me sadly.
"PEETA!" I scream and fall down to my hands and knees. "What about the baby? And Peeta?" I cry and tears drip endlessly, pain shoots though my heart and my stomach drops. I feel a flying sensation and I look up and see I am standing on a beach, the wind whipping at my hair. I hear a pained scream, a heart pounding cry.
My head snaps up to Peeta, leaning forward, his hands still tied to the pole. He is screaming out for me, crying, begging. My heart rips and shreds into a million pieces.
"No," I gasp. "No!" I yell out. "Peeta, I'm right here." I yell and run over to him. I run straight into his arms but instead of being cuddled in his warmth, I slip straight through him. "Peeta, no!" I yell out. I walk back around but it still feels like I'm floating. I drop to my knees in front of him as he screams my name, begging me to come back to him.
"Peeta!" I hear a voice, other than mine. I look up and see all our friends sprinting towards us - him.
Cato, Gale and Finnick in the lead, Johanna, Annie, Madge and Delly running behind them. "Peeta, what happened?" Delly cries. "Where's Katniss?" They all drop to their knees in front of me, blocking him from my view.
"No!" I call out. "I need to see him." I cry loudly, but no one moves or pays any attention to me. "Peeta, please." I call, and I walk through all the others until I'm standing between them and Peeta.
Gale reaches up and unties Peeta from the post. Peeta scrambles up from the sand and starts to run to the ocean. "Peeta, no!" Annie calls out. "What are you doing?" She screams. "I have to try and save her!" Peeta calls out as he runs for the ocean.
He starts to swim out and Finnick runs after him. "Finnick, no!" Annie calls, but he doesn't listen. I fly out and follow Peeta and Finnick into the ocean. They finally reach my body, and I follow them under the surface of the ocean. I find that I don't need air to breathe. I see bubbles erupt from Peeta's mouth as he screams out for me. I look down and see my lifeless body floating in the water, still attached to the rock.
I feel sick. Peeta swims down and unties me from the rock. He wraps his arm around my lifeless body and pulls me up to the surface. spluttering and gasping for air. "Katniss." He gasps, holding my body close to him and hugging me tightly. I cry and sob. I want to feel his arms wrapped around me.
Tears fall as he calls out to me. "Katniss, please baby, don't leave me." He kisses me on the lips, long and lingering. "Peeta, come on, let's go." Finnick chokes out through his tears. Finnick is crying for me? This makes me cry even more. Will I never see them again?
Once they get to the sand, I hear Madge scream and Gale hugs her tightly. "Oh no, Katniss!" Delly screams and her and Annie hug each other tightly while Johanna stands there, immobile, staring at my body blankly. "Katniss." Finnick says, before he attaches his mouth to mine. Is he kissing my lifeless body? Suddenly, I feel something rip through me. I feel my chest rise and I look down on the scene on the beach and see Finnick with his hands over my heart, trying to restart it.
Finnick blows more air into my lifeless body and I feel the wind rush through me again. I feel myself flying backwards and I see my parents. "You're lucky." My mother says. "What just happened?" I ask, and my mum comes up and hugs me tightly.
"Sweetheart, you've been given another chance." She says. "Another chance at what?" I ask, confused. "I don't understand." I cry, and tears fall onto her shoulder. "I love you, Katniss, stay strong." She says, and I feel myself being ripped from her arms and everything goes black.
I wake up with a gasp, air filling my lungs. My eyes fly open. I am gazing up at the sky until Peeta's face comes into view. "Katniss, oh my God. I love you so much, I thought you were gone. Gone forever." He cries as he leans down and pulls me up, hugging me tightly as we sit on the sand. His arms shake around me as he cries into my hair.
I hug him back tightly. Unable to say anything, tears rolling down my face. I close my eyes tightly, focusing on how warm and strong his arms feel around me. I feel safe. I open my arms and Delly and Madge run down and join our hug. Soon everyone comes and we all huddle on the sand, hugging each other. Everyone is crying and sobbing. "Oh my God, Katniss, I love you so much. So, so much." Peeta cries and I hug him tightly. "I love you, too." I say.
We all stand up and Peeta keeps an arm wrapped around my waist. "I'm never letting you go." He whispers in my ear and I turn around and kiss him deeply. I fling my arms around his neck and pull him close to me. His arms hug my back tightly; we couldn't get any closer than we are already.
He pulls away and rests our foreheads together. "I love you." I whisper and kiss him again. "I love you, too." He says, hugging me tightly before we follow the others out to the cars. All the doors were left hanging open in everyone's haste to get to me.
I get in Peeta's car with him and rest my head against the headrest. Peeta climbs in the driver's side. "You scared me so much back there. I can't live without you." He says, holding my hand tightly. "I saw you." I say quietly.
"What?" He asks.
"When I was dead. When you saved me. I saw. I was watching as a ghost, a spirit, or something like that," I say quietly. "It scares me so much." I say and he squeezes my hand tightly.
"That's not all, is it?" he says and I shake my head.
"I saw my parents." I say, and he wipes away my tears. "They would be so proud of you." He cries and I nod. "Thank you." I whisper and I lean back and close my eyes.
Peeta keeps a hold on my hand as he drives to wherever we are going. When the car finally stops, I look up and see that everyone has come to a park. "Peeta, what about the baby?" I ask, and his face pales. "We can go for a check-up. I'll book one in when we get home."
"Peeta, we don't have a home. It got robbed and ruined, remember?" I say sadly. "Yes, I know, but when you were taken I... I bought a new place for us. I convinced myself you were going to come home. And you did." He cries and I kiss away his tears.
"Can we please try and forget about the past, remember the future and present?" I ask and he nods. "Let's go." He gets out of the car and joins the others who are all sitting on the grass. I go over and hug Delly, Madge, Johanna and Annie tightly and then all the boys as well.
"We missed you, Kat." Madge says as she lays her head in Gale's lap. "When did you two...?" I ask, gaping at Gale and Madge. "We got together when you were taken. We realised we couldn't live without each other." Madge says and she kisses Gale's hand.
"Peeta was so down and sad and ruined and we didn't want to waste a moment together. You never know when life can be ripped away from you." She says and I sit back in Peeta's lap. His arms wrap around me and I rest my head on his shoulder.
"I never want to lose you again." He murmurs. "You won't. I promise I'm not going anywhere." I say, and kiss him passionately. "So, what happened when I was gone?" I ask carefully. "Katniss, no one did anything but look for you." Delly says. "We were all so worried. Peeta was completely lost; he barely slept and never ate. He never stopped looking, not once." She says and I feel tears daring to leak from my eyes again.
"I'm not worth that, please don't ever die for me." I say and he wipes my tears. "Katniss, you are worth my world." He says and kisses my cheek.
"Hey, Katniss, Peeta, can I talk to you for a minute?" Gale says and stands up. "Uh, yeah, sure." I say, and we follow him away from the group. "What's wrong?" Peeta asks, and Gale glances over at Madge and then back again.
"I want to surprise Madge tonight, with a dinner and everything, but I need you, Katniss, to distract her from coming home, and Peeta, I need you to help me cook a dinner." I smile widely at him and I see Peeta smile too.
"That's a great idea. I'll take her shopping and then text you when she's on her way home." I say and Gale smiles and hugs us both. "Thanks, guys." He says and we walk back over to the group.
"Hey, girls, I need to go shopping for new clothes since all my other clothes got lost somewhere when we kind of got kicked out of our apartment." I say and they all stand up. "Yep, we're all coming." Annie says, and I smile. "Great."
I kiss Peeta goodbye and he lingers when letting me go. "Peeta, I promise I'll be fine. I have the girls." I say and he nods, kissing me one last time and handing me the car keys. "Be careful." He calls out to me as we all go out to the car. I get in and we drive down to the shopping mall.
"So where to first?" Annie asks, and I feel my stomach growl. "Can we go get food, I kind of haven't really eaten in the last week." I say, and then they all remember that I was with Snow for a week. "Oh my God, Katniss! What happened there? How bad was it?" Delly asks, and I shake my head. "I would rather not talk about it." I say, and they all nod in understanding.
We all head to the food court and order donuts and milkshakes, except I get pizza as well. We sit at a table as we eat and then head to the nearest clothes shop and we all go in. Everyone collects all the clothes that they want and then we go to the change rooms and try them on.
After several hours of shopping, I look at the clock and see that it is nearly 6pm. "We should head back." I say, and the others all nod in agreement. We head out to the parking lot. "Oh crap, I forgot where I parked the car." I grumble, and press panic on the car keys. I hear an alarm go off and we all head towards the car.
We climb in and I start it and drive out of the parking lot. "I'll drop you off first, Madge." I say and she nods. We are driving down the road when I feel the car hit something. "Oh crap, I just hit a bird." I say.
"Stop the car!" Madge screams so quickly that I slam down on the brakes and the car jolts to a stop. "What the hell, Madge?" I say, and she flings the door open and runs back to where I hit the bird. I open the door and stand up half out of the car, half in.
"Madge, what are you doing?" I say with a sigh. "Come on, let's go home now." I say, and Madge turns to me "What if it's not dead, Katniss?" She says and I shake my head. "There's nothing we can do." I say, and she sighs and starts to walk back towards the car.
It happens so fast I don't even get time to warn her. One second she is walking back to the car, and the next there is a loud, bloodcurdling scream, and she is under a truck and then lying on the road, still.
Gale's POV
Peeta has just left; Madge should be here any minute now. Peeta said he was waiting outside for Katniss and she will take him home from there. I hear a knock at the door and I check myself in the mirror before heading to the door. The place smells amazing from all the help Peeta gave me with cooking dinner.
I open the door, expecting to find Madge but instead I am met with a completely distraught Katniss. Her eyes are red and puffy and she is crying and sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm so sorry, Gale." She says, and I feel my heart sink. I feel it rip in shreds as I push past her and down to where her car is.
Peeta and Annie are down there. Peeta is hugging Annie tightly as she cries into his shoulder. "Where is she?" I sob, and Peeta starts to cry even more. Katniss comes up to me and hugs me. "I'm so sorry, Gale." She sobs, and I pull away from her hug.
"Where is she?" I repeat, and they all look at each other before Peeta speaks up. "The Royal Capitol Hospital." He sobs and pulls Katniss in for a hug.
"She's not here anymore, Gale. She was taken." Annie sobs loudly and I feel my heart pounding. My head spins and I feel sick. She's gone. No! She can't be.
She can't be.
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Edited by SunshineRainbow7
so there is the chapter. i cried so much writing it. it was so sad and emotional. i promise only one more emotional chapter after this and then i will try and put some happy into this story!
thank you all so much for the reads and comments. love you all!