Chapter 2
Baby?
The words fail to form in my mouth, I probably look like a fish trying to catch a Cheerio of the surface of the lake. All this breakfast in bed, kindness, everything had been because he wanted a baby. A baby. A child. A thing that grows in my stomach that I then have to give birth too.
"Peeta," he frowns knowing the sound in my voice.
"I understand." He sighs. We'd been married three years. Five years since the rebellion. Five years since Prim died. Five years since Gale left. And five years since I was the Mockingjay and led the districts into a battle that killed many. I push the tray off my lap and onto the soft mattress that Peeta and I shared before slipping out from beneath the covers and standing.
"I'm sorry Peeta, I'm just not sure if I'm ready for a baby." And with that I leave the bedroom and walk down the steps of our shared home in Victors Village, pulling my fathers old hunting jacket off the hook and leaving into the warm spring morning and for the woods.
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Once out of the village I broke into a full sprint for the fence, the squishing of the dew covered grass under my feet was all I heard. Peeta wanted a baby. Our own child. A family. And I turned him down. But I wasn't ready for this, a baby would be so much work. I reach the tangle of wires, signs, and wooden posts that were once the fence that blocked the citizens of 12 from the woods. As I weave through the wire, choosing each step carefully, memories from my past flood into my mind. Fox face and her dance through the mines to the tower of supplies. Rue, her whistle, and her death. Thresh. Cato. Clove. Brutus. Enobaria. Rebellion. Finnick. Mutations. And worst of all, Prim. All the tragic memories seem to all flood into my mind, and suddenly can't see, I have to grab onto the trunk of a tree and reclaim myself.
My name is Katniss Mellark.
I am in District 12.
I am safe.
I was the Mockingjay.
Prim is dead.
But Peeta is here.
I am safe...I am safe.
Then the voice rings into my mind, one I haven't heard in too long.
"Hey Katnip."