Author's Note: Thank you for coming to read my story. This is my first FanFic on this account and I'm really excited! I hope you enjoy.


(Katniss POV)

Since Peeta's arrival home from the Games a week ago, I have walked past the Mellark's Bakery 26 times. For some reason it was important for me to keep count. I wanted to know how many times it would take me to go past before I saw him, or he saw me. But he's never out in the front; never out like he use to be, smiling as the Town customers pick their cupcakes. Instead the middle Mellark brother stands behind the counter, never as charismatic as Peeta was. Before the Games.

The 74th Hunger Games were hard on District 12. Everyone who had ever heard or been to the bakery knew Peeta and no one had any reason not to like him. The girl tribute was a small 12 year old named Annabelle, who was painfully shy, but when she spoke you had to listen to her soft voice. She was wise beyond her years from growing up in the Seam, yet innocent as a flower and you could see that Peeta made it his personal goal to keep her safe. She made it to the top 5 before the dagger hit her and Peeta wasn't the same.

Truthfully, I was relieved when the girl died, no matter how much she reminded me of Prim or how innocent she was. I knew if it came down to the two of them, Peeta would rather die than hurt her and I needed to see Peeta come home. I needed to say thank you. Thank you for the bread. That didn't stop me from leaving the room whenever they played the clip of the little girl dying. I didn't want to see her life ended and my family seemed to understand.

I knew that was why I paced by the bakery at least 3 times a day. This year's Games were so painful to me because I knew if he didn't come home, I would live the rest of my life filled with guilt, knowing I had never told this boy how something he probably didn't remember saved my family's life.


(Peeta's POV)

"Peeta, Peeta, don't leave me!' Annabelle screamed, as tears ran down her face and she clutched at her stomach. "You can't leave yet!"I stared down at her and my lip quivered. "I'm not going to leave you, Anna. I'll stay with you as long-," I stopped. As long as it takes you to die. I didn't say it but her eyes showed she knew what I was going to say. I sighed and I moved so I was sitting closer to her as she laid on the ground. I needed to get her mind off of this; off of the reality that laid ahead. "Can I tell you a story, Anna?" She nodded tearfully and I grabbed her hand. I brushed some of the dirt off her face and looked up at the sun, which seemed out of place at such a somber moment.

"There was once a girl. She lived happily with her mom, dad, and her sister. She loved them more than anything in the world. She had a voice like a bird and a smile like the sun. The girl was poor but she didn't noticed because she was so in love with her family and the world they gave her. But one day, something happened and her dad was lost." Annabelle's eyes were closed now and she breathed through her mouth. I couldn't look at her without sobbing, so I focused my eyes back on the horizon. "The girl's world changed and she suddenly started to see the evil in the world, the evil that took away her father. She hardened her heart towards life and cursed what it did to her." I clutched Anna's hand harder as her breath became shallow and her brow furrowed. I sped up my speaking so she would hear the end. She had to hear the end. Before she- "The girl thought she would die because of her hunger but she was more worried for her sister. She ran through the rain until-" Annabelle pulled at my hand and she opened her eyes.

"Peeta," she gasped. "Peeta, look at me." I turned towards her, wiping the tears from my face and trying to hide the fact that I knew she was almost gone. But she knew too. "Thank you. Thank you for everything-" She closed her eyes and winced. "-everything you've done for me. But now you need to let me go so you can win. You have to win and I have to... I have to die." It's the first time either of us had mentioned the word and she seemed like she accepted it. But I couldn't accept it; she was my flicker of hope in the arena.

"Annabelle, we can get help," I pleaded. "You just need to hold on for a couple of hours. The other tributes could die by then and-" She laughed, which looked painful but she ignored it.

"And then what? You and I are left in this arena. I won't kill you and you won't kill me. So… So I need… need to go now." Her eyes closed and I knew she was right. "Finish the story," she whispered.

I cleared my head and thought about what I was even telling her. The girl. "The girl was running through rain and she was filled with hunger and she needed food soon." I spoke quietly so I could make sure I could hear her breathing. "She stopped at a tree and prepared to… prepared to die when she saw-" I couldn't hear a breath. I couldn't hear anything other than my beating heart. "Annabelle. Annabelle, wake up! You need to hear-" A cannon sounded and made its way through the screaming in my ears. I knew but I refused to believe it. I put my head against her chest and tried to hear her heart. There was only a whooshing silence. "Anyway, Anna, the girl reached the tree and she saw that she was in front of a pig pen." You couldn't understand anything I said because of the tears and snot muddling my words and eyes. I heard the hovercraft overhead and saw it coming closer, coming to take my hope away. "The girl sat at the tree and watched the pigs eat and she wondered why it was more important for pigs to eat than her and her family." The hovercraft claw was scooping up Annabelle but I refused to let go of her hand, until it was pulled out of my own. "No! No, you can't do this!" I screamed towards the sky. "Annabelle needs to hear a happy ending! She deserves one and you're taking her away from it!" The hovercraft pulled her through the door and I saw the last wisp of her dark hair disappear. "The girl found bread, Annabelle! She found hope and she lived and her family lived and there was hope, Anna!" I was left alone, screaming at the sky, when they jumped out of the bushes and-

I woke up with a yell and sweat covering me from head to toe. I couldn't move and I didn't want to. I've spent the whole week in bed, plagued by nightmares but refusing to let go of them. I can't let go of them or her or anything anymore because this is my life and I'm a Victor and I can't let go of my past.


Please comment your thoughts and thank you for reading! Next chapter soon... *kiss kiss*