A/N- Hey I'm theeShadyLady and this is just a short chapter I wrote called "What She Doesn't Remember". It takes place during the time when Katniss was in that room after she shot Coin.
I might add another chapter, not sure yet, so for now it's just a one-shot.
((DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games.))
What will I say to her? Will she even talk to me? Maybe I should wait. Maybe I shouldn't even try. Maybe I should just go. She'll think you did it. You didn't do it. Well, not on purpose.
"You said your name was Hawthorne?" asks the small woman behind the counter. Her brown hair is in a braid that rests on her right shoulder, it reminds me of her so much it hurts.
"Yes," I nod.
"We've been instructed not to let you see her."
"By who?!" I reply angrily, leaning over the counter trying to intimidate her.
"Peeta Mellark," she says so quietly I can hardly hear.
"Of course it was!" I shout.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing, I think I'm just gonna go." Go find Katniss that is.
I start walking towards the door trying to decide the best way to sneak past the desk, when the sound of ringing fills the room and out of the corner of my eye I see the woman turn away to answer the phone that's hanging on the wall. Deciding this seems like as good of moment as any, I sneak back past the counter and down the hall. Once I am out of the woman's sight I start running. I can see an elevator at the end of the hall, when I get closer I see there is a sign on it that says 'Out of Order'. That must be her.
Next to the elevator there is a button with an upward facing arrow on it. So I press it once but nothing happens. So I angrily press it down as hard as I can and hold it. Even though I don't expect them to, the doors slide open. And it's just in time, because there's someone coming down the hall now.
"Hawthorne?" shouts the voice which is accompanied by the sound of running footsteps. Luckily the doors close before the guy can reach me. But even though the doors are closed the elevator doesn't move. I feel trapped and start to panic.
They knew. They knew I'd think this elevator went to her room. It's a trick. Wait... I look down and see a row of buttons with numbers on them. I'm about to randomly pick one when I notice there is also a button with a little plastic flip-up cover on it that says emergency. I lift the cover and select the button.
The floor seems to shift and then the entire elevator drops. I brace myself for a crash, but before the elevator can slam into the ground it slows to a stop and the doors open. Everything is dark outside the elevator and I can't see anything in front of me. I know I have to hurry, but I'm not willing to just run into the darkness. I cautiously put one foot out and feel around. There seems to be a floor, so I take one more step, and then another. Behind me the elevator lets out a low squeak and starts to move again.
I have less time than I thought, so against my better judgment I sprint forward as fast as I can through what seems to be a long hallway. It only takes a minute for me to start wondering how I'll know when to stop, there'll probably be light or—SMACK—I run into a wall. I fall back and hit the ground hard. I can't move; everything hurts. I feel blood running down my face and even though I rub my arm across my face I can still feel more blood draining from my nose and mouth. But I force myself to stand.
I brace myself on the wall and struggle forward using the wall as my guide. After a while I come across a door but it's locked. I take a minute to regain some of my strength and then I back up away from the door intending to try to ram it down. I back as far as I can, which is the wall on the opposite side of the hall. But it's not a wall. It's a door. An unlocked door. I open it and artificial light floods into the hall.
"Katniss? Katniss, are you in here? Please be in here!" I shout as I squint trying to adjust to the light.
"Peeta?" I feel my heart shatter. She doesn't even recognize my voice anymore.
Before I answer I wedge a chair in front of the door to barricade it, hoping to at least slow down anyone who is following me.
"No, Catnip. It's me."
"Gale!" she runs towards me with tears in her eyes. It's a clumsy run and I can tell she's weak; like she hasn't eaten or moved the entire time that she's been imprisoned here.
"You're bleeding," she pauses.
"I'm okay," I hold out my arms and she closes the distance between us. For a few short moments I just hold her in my arms and we don't speak.
"It was you wasn't it?" she whispers into my shirt breaking the silence. I don't answer. I just wrap my arms tighter around her trying to forget everything. "You did it!" she cries shoving me away from her.
"I just helped make the bombs and gave ideas on how to use them. I didn't have anything to do with where the bombs went off."
"How could you, Gale!? I hate you! I-I can't even look at you!" she says turning to leave the room.
"That's why I came here, to tell you that I'm leaving."
"What?" she lets go of the doorknob she was fumbling with.
"I am moving to District 2. I got a really good job offer there and I think it'll be better if I go. I'll be okay."
"You can't just leave!" she cries now facing me. I see her tears are now falling freely and she makes no attempt to stop them. This is what I didn't want. I can't stand it when I hurt her.
"Then ask me to stay," I put my hands on her shoulders, begging her to say it. Say that she needs me.
"Gale, remember I—"
The door flings open and armed guards rush in. They knock me off my feet and start dragging me away. "Katniss! Katniss! Just ask me! Ask me and I'll stay!" But she doesn't. She says nothing as I'm dragged away from her. I see someone stick a needle in her arm and within seconds she collapses to the floor and then one of the men starts to close the door, smiling wickedly at me. The moment the door is shut I'm again blanketed by darkness. I kick at the men, pull my arms, and thrash around, but they don't even loosen their grip. "No! Katniss!? No! No! Katniss?..." my last word is quitter than the others because she can't hear me, we all know it.
"When she wakes up she won't remember anything you said to her," says one of the guards holding my arms. He could be lying, but I doubt it. I feel cold and weak and hurt. And I'm just ready to be done. The guards drag me into the elevator, I feel it shoot upward and come to a sudden halt. The guards then proceed to drag me through the elevator doors, down the hall, and then literally throw me out front door.
I lay on my back where I landed for a while watching the sky. The sun is just beginning to set and the sky is growing more and more orange each second. And I hate it because it reminds me of him, I hate him. I might even want to kill him, but I know I won't. Because when she is released she'll need someone to be there for her. And that someone can't be me. So it might as well be him. He'll make her happy. He's the one she's decided she needs now. I have been defeated. She is really gone. And it's time to leave. There's nothing left for me here.
I force myself to stand up, but keeping my feet going is a struggle. Somehow I make my way to the train station and buy a one way ticket to District 2. Once I'm actually on the train, I pick a seat in the very back and rest my head on the window. I watch the city begin to disappear as the train starts to move forward and I know there is no turning back now.
"Goodbye, Catnip," I whisper, but even as I say this I know that the Catnip I knew was gone a long time ago.
~theeShadyLady~
A/N- Okay, while I was proofreading this story for the hundredth time, I noticed that this could lead into two of my other stories. So I am going to call this the Pre-Prequel to my story "I Will Never Say Goodbye". So if you wanted to read these stories in chronological order, you'd read first "What She Doesn't Remember", then "Her Name Was Katniss", and finish with "I Will Never Say Goodbye." However, none of these stories rely on each other, so you can read them in any order you want or just whichever one sounds interesting to you (or none at all, but if you're reading this A/N it's a little late for that:) ).