I peak one eye open, then another. The rising morning sun is playfully hitting my face and warming my head. The sunrise is always my light at the end of the tunnel. For every night of tortured dreams, I wake to sometime real. Something beautiful. The orange glow rimmed around the bottom of the horizon immediately reminds me of Peeta. I turn my body swiftly, and accidently hit Peeta in the process.
"Good morning my little baker" I kiss him gently on the forehead, as I do every morning. Peeta then turns reluctantly around from his spot on the bed, and his eyes grow to two times their normal size when he sees me.
"Whoa, Katniss, were the nightmares that bad last night?" Peeta laughs with his crooked smile and playfully tussles my apparently horrifyingly messed up braid. I smile and look him in the eyes, feeling even warmer and more pleasurable than when the sun was stroking my face. His relaxed expression immediately turns to stone when he says in a furious hushed tone, "Get up. Now. Gale is coming today remember? You scheduled this war, so you need to go prepare." Right. Today was the day. I mean the day Gale was coming to visit, and we were telling him the news. I haven't even seen him since the wedding, and yet I still find myself getting giddy over his appearance. Swooping out of bed, I call to Peeta before leaving the room, "Why don't you start us some pancakes, huh?" I run out, but not before catching his eye roll.
Spiraling my fingers down my braid, I sing the melody I sang to Prim years ago. My eyes don't tear up as they used to every morning. Prim is just like a word you say in your head so many times, it looses its meaning. Her smile. Her laugh. Her death. All just meaningless, over thought events in my head. Sure, I miss her like crazy, but the real Prim and the Prim in my head are too hard to tell apart now. Cringing as Buttercup walks across my feet, I growl at him, followed by a welcoming smile. Buttercup and I have this new profound relationship ever since Prim's death. He returns me with a meow, probably meant more for food than for comfort. Leaping on my tiptoes out of the bathroom, I open my auburn dresser with the trees carved out on the doors. The dresser reminds me of the old District twelve. The woods, mostly. Running my finger along all my summer dresses, I pick out a strapless sea-green dress that goes to just above my knees. It billows out at the waist with numerous ruffles and creases. Every time I spin around in it-just as I had done during my first interview- the ruffles crashing against each other reminds me of the waves of District four. Skimming through the top row of shoes, I choose a pair of simple cream-colored ballet flats with a bow on the top.
Feeling like a princess, I remind myself that today wasn't meant to go well. That with the release of mine and Peeta's exciting news, I may as well end the friendship with Gale that had kept me strung-together all these years.