IMPORTANT A/N: Long time no read!? I'm always on here reading but haven't published in so long. ANYWAY the important note. I recently read a fanficiton and was so frustrated with the execution, that I re wrote it (LMAO) so therefor I DO NOT OWN OR CLAIM ANY RIGHTS TO THE STORYLINE PROVIDED.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN OR CLAIM ANY RIGHTS TO THE HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY
CHAPTER TWO UP WITHIN THE NEXT TWO DAYS *ENJOY*
When I bolt upright I can still hear Finncks scream bellow through my ear drums, smell the bits of mutt and human flesh that shot out and showers us after detonating the holo, and I feel my voice dry from screaming. Peeta arms are their to reassure me and whispers of calming coos but the smell is all too real. The nightmare is all too real, I snap out of the embrace and scramble for the outside. The woods.
Scrambling through the house I can hear the heavy rainfall and wind smacking against the windows. I trip onto the stairs, but with the desperation for fresh air screaming throughout my being, I ignore the shooting pain riddling up my leg and clamber out the door.
Running in bare feet the prickling bark pierces my feet, but just like the tripping of the stairs, I have too much running through me to stop and let the pain over take me. I keep running, and running, I can almost hear Peeta shouting for me, I turn my shoulder to inspect, and stupidly slam into a cold lodgepole pine tree, causing a spasm to my diaphragm, leaving me winded clutching my chest on the muddy ground.
"Catnip?" A voice questions, it sounds familiar but it isn't Peetas. When I look out I can make out the tall, well built figure. Gale. I have so many questions but my voice is dry and my chest tight and painful, I can't speak. I can hear Peeta shouting in the distance.
"Oh the baker boy here to the save the day." Gale says in a salty tone. He kneels down beside me, to help me up I think but I refuse to have his hands tainted in Prims blood touch me. I smack them away quickly.
Aggressively Gale grips my shoulders, forcing me to my feet pining me against the tree I had just collided with moments ago. As my aching body adjusts his salty oily lips smother mine without consent, my arms pinned I can't fight back. His poisonous lips caress my neck but quickly pull away. My body crumbles underneath me and I fall back into the puddle of dirt and rainwater.
"I'm." He pauses in shock of himself. "I'm sorry." he adds clasping his hands over his mouth in disbelief. I think he wants to stay and try to rationalize his behavior but quickly sprints off as the shouting of Peeta becomes more and more clear. I'm thankful for it.
"Katniss!" Peeta shouts as he begins to reach me. I can't breathe to say a reply.
"Katniss." he whispers at the sight of me. I want to yell at him, to stop worrying and go back inside, but even if I could shout he wouldn't be able to hear me over this damn rain.
Peeta wriggles his hands underneath me to scoop me up.
I pull myself out, I can't be smothered, swaddled like a baby in distress. As I stand onto my feet, the bark that priced my foot, the tripping on the stairs catches up to me and I crumble down onto the ground, as I do I let out a scream and regain my voice back in the process.
"Katniss!" Peeta repeats once more.
"Get away!" I shout back.
"Katniss please" Peeta cries.
"I can't go back!" I shout, admitting defeat.
"Why?" Peeta asks softly, but loud enough for me to hear.
"I just can't" I scream stubbornly, afraid to admit the truth of why I can't handle the inside of the hollow victors village.
"It least let me take you to get dry." He says attempting to approach me. But just as Gale pinned me against a tree moments ago my instincts kick within me and I push Peeta away again.
"Katniss, please." Peeta pleads with me.
"No." I mutter.
Peeta lets out a heavy sad sigh and crawls up next to me, doesn't appear to be attempting to hold me, or even touch me but just sits beside me in the mud and the heavy rain.
"What are you doing?" I shout.
"Waiting for the bread to rise." He mutters almost smiling.
"What?" I question.
"When we would bake in the morning in the freezing winters, my brothers and I would just wait in front of the ovens waiting for the bread to rise. With nothing better to do, we would just wait it out." He says softly.
"Oh." is all I can manage out. The calm nature of Peeta gives me the credence to tell him the truth. "I can't go back." I pause before admitting, "It's were the past comes back to life. Torturing me every night Peeta."
Eventually Peeta coaches me inside, into his house as opposed to mine hoping it would be less daunting.
When we get inside he props me up onto a kitchen stool and approaches with with a first aid kit. I'm surprised he is supplied with one, but not at the same time.
Gently he takes out all the splinters my foot is riddled with, and bandages it nicely, he takes a damp rag and wipes all the mud that covered my scared lumpy body. I forgot how gentle his hands were. Reflecting on my own, they are much nicer and softer, as opposed to my own dry and permanently calloused hands.
"Peeta were did you learn to care for someone like this?" I let the words slip as the curiousty reaches the best of me.
"Before I could leave the capitol to come home, I had to learn first aid. To take care of myself, I was taught by your mother actually." he replies softly.
"Oh." is all I can muster in my exhausted state.
After exchanging the muddy outfit out for something more warm, dry and delicate, Peeta and I find ourselves entwined together once more in his bed. I want to tell Peeta of my encounter with Gale in the hopes it would help, but I can already feel the guilt of upsetting Peeta bubble up my throat. So I leave it, for now anyway.
"I'm sorry." I whisper as the darkness takes overs me and the nightmares that prepare to follow me.