This Peeta's POV of the strangle scene after his arrival to District 13. I hope I did him justice, and please tell me what you think! I hope you enjoy. :)
~Terri
You don't know where you are when you wake up. A doctor explains how you were rescued and are now in District 13, but that can't be. You shake your head in confusion and it hurts. Your fucking head pounds with shiny memories of needles and Capital doctors running tests on you. Your eyes pinch shut, trying to block out the sight, and these doctors, the doctors who claim to be from District 13, believe it's the light that is bothering you.
You ask where they really are, is this a test? Your room is sterile, just like your prison. There are no windows, there is nothing else besides you, a bedside table, and the two doctors under a large industrial light. The light burns your eyes, but it is the images that flash past behind your lids that make you flinch.
"You were rescued," the older doctor says, checking your pulse. "You're in District 13, Peeta, and you are safe."
You want to know who would ever want to rescue you. You're worthless. Not even your own mother wanted you around. Who would care enough?
"It was the Mockingjay's order," the other one says, his voice deeper than the first's. Something tingles in your mind. Mockingjay. That sounds familiar. It's a bird, you know this, but it has another meaning to it. Something you can't quite grasp at, but you wish you could because maybe it would make this headache go away.
A man comes in and the name Haymitch is attached to him, but that's all you know. He gives you an incredulous smile and comes over to put his hand on your back. You flinch, moving out of his hand's way. Human contact means pain. You're tired of being in pain.
Sleep would be nice. You haven't had a decent rest in months. Would you get to stay in this bed? The springs squeak in protest to your weight as you give it a gentle bounce.
"She's going to be happy to see him," Haymitch grunts, running the hand you had rejected through his grubby beard. Your own face is clear of any facial hair and a part of you wonders if facial hair will ever return to it.
"How has she been?" the older doctor asks, taking notes on his medical board.
"Not so good, but now that he's back she'll be more compliant to Coin's demands." He laughs, "Well, as compliant as she can ever be." The doctors all laugh along with him and you wonder what is so funny. Who are they talking about?
"How you feeling, boy?" Haymitch asks.
"My head hurts," is all you say. Something about the way he calls you a boy makes something deep within start to bubble with anger. The man laughs again, and you decide it is the most irritating thing in the world. "Stop that," you snap.
The pounding in your head increases and the younger doctor worries the Capital had decided to put some chip in your brain after all. God you hope that isn't the case, but what if it is? Will they finally kill you? That's really all you want is to die. You're all used up, useless. No one wants you and no one ever will.
He flashes a small light in your eye and you have to force yourself not to react. How would the Capital put a chip in your head, anyway? Would it have been when you were sleeping?
Sleeping.
Where is Johanna? She was in the cell right next to yours, you remember. Did they rescue her? You hope she's not still in that water cell. The thought of her screams and smell of human flesh burning makes you want to vomit.
Where is Johanna?
A guard comes in, interrupting the doctor's examination on your head. He informs Haymitch that the Mockingjay has gone missing again, along with a Finnick Odair. Finnick. You remember him. He saved your life back in the arena, but he allowed you to live. You should have died when the knife hit the force field. What was Finnick doing here? You hate Finnick, you decide. He left you to die at the Capital's hand.
Haymitch sighs and hoists himself off the counter he was leaning against. "I'll go find the two troublemakers," he sighs, exiting the room with the guard.
"Where is Johanna?" you ask when he leaves. Somehow you get the feeling not to trust Haymitch. He has betrayed you before, but you can't remember why just yet. He can't be trusted. No one can. Except Johanna. Where is she?
The doctor examining you writes another note on his board. "Miss Mason is across the hall getting her own examination, Peeta. Does anything besides your head hurt?" You shake your head no. You haven't been able to feel any other pain in weeks. The nerves to signal pain have shut down, and for that you are thankful. It's just your head. It hurts so much.
"I want to see her," you insist.
"Wouldn't you want to see the Mockingjay first?" the young one inquires. "You are her fiance after all."
A flicker of a girl with snarling teeth and lethal grey eyes flashes through your memory, startling you. She's growling and pinning you to the wall with her ferocious claws, telling you you have to marry her or else you die. The image is so real, so painful, that you clutch at your heart in pain.
"I don't have a fiance," you mutter in agony.
Your head is pounding harder now, as more and more images of this monstrous girl flashes by in your memory. From the moment she attacks you after your first games interview because she was upset you had won over the crowds to her sending trackerjackers down on you because she enjoyed seeing you suffer from the bees' deadly venom. She's the one who convinced Cato to cut off your leg and drank the blood for her own survival.
"Where is she?" you panic, frantically looking around for Johanna. Where was Johanna to whisper that little poem she had created to you? The one that would calm you down? "I need her!"
The older doctor put his hand on your shoulder, telling you to calm down. "She will be here any minute." Oh good. That's good. Johanna will be here soon. You calm down instantly at the thought of seeing Johanna again.
You hope her face is less swollen now.
A new guard comes in and announces to the doctors that the Mockingjay is here.
"Let her in," the one still flashing that blinding light mutters. How long does it take to examine a head?
A small, scrawny girl comes in and your attention snaps to her. Your vision is a bit blurry at first from the light, so all you can do is blink in astonishment at this girl that is smiling in front of you.
When the dancing spots have faded, you see her for what she is and start to panic. That is her. That is the girl who has made your life a living hell. She is the reason your leg is missing, and that you were left abandoned in the arena. She's the reason your family is dead. Katniss Everdeen, a voice hisses in your head. Beware of Katniss Everdeen.
Where is Johanna? Where is she to keep you safe?
Katniss Everdeen tried to kill you, the voice continues, and you try to block it out, but it shouts every word. Katniss Everdeen must be killed.
Kill Katniss Everdeen to save yourself. Trust nothing she says. She is a mutt. She wants to kill you. She killed your family. She killed your friends. She wants to kill you. Kill Katniss Everdeen. Kill her.
You push the doctor aside, having no control now over your muscles, and walk over to her. Her smile widens as she opens her arms up, running toward you to strangle you. That's how she got you to trust her before your leg was ripped off. That's how she convinced you to stay behind while she left for safety. Her and that damn smile. She's going to kill you. That is her plan. That's always been her plan and she was finally going to complete it. Not this time.
Your hands wrap around her thin neck, and in a heartbeat you hear a snap