Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games

The screams were awful. So strangled with pain and fear, but there was nothing I could do. They could be heard from my house and I'm sure if Haymitch wasn't passed out he could hear them too. They floated out her bedroom window which she kept open all day and all night. They permeated through the thin walls of my house and found me wide awake in my bed from my own nightly terrors. All I could do was lay there and listen. I went to my window and opened it to hear her more clearly. She was screaming my name, but she didn't really want me. She wants the person who I used to be, not the mutt I have become. I returned to my bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

The next morning I rose early to begin my daily baking. I was tired and didn't want to do it, but I knew I had to do it or I would lose all motivation to do anything. Dr. Aurelius told me that routine would be good for me. I kneaded the bread and then put it in the oven. When it was done I took it out and sat it to cool before taking it to Haymitch. I knocked on his door but there was no answer. This wasn't unusual for Haymitch, he rarely ever answered his door. Too inconvenient he says. So I let myself into the house and found Haymitch passed out on the couch with a few empty glass bottles around him. Also not unusual.

"Haymitch," I said and threw the bag of bread at him. He awoke with a start and grumbled as he realized what had just happened.

"Can't I ever wake up naturally?" He muttered as he pushed past me and into the kitchen.

"You're lucky you wake up at all," I said and sat down at the little wooden table in his kitchen. Haymitch cut a few slices of bread and sat across from me. He began complaining about me and several other things and then fell silent. My mind wandered back to last night and the screams I had heard.

"Do you hear her? At night?"

"Who?"

"Katniss. Her screams."

"I hear them. She doesn't have anyone, you know," Haymitch said.

"What do you mean? She has more than me. She has her mother," I said. My whole family had been killed in the bombing of District 12.

"Her mother left her, Peeta. She went to some other district claiming it was too hard for her. Her own mother," Haymitch said. A memory flashed within me. A flash of Katniss starving behind the bakery and her attacking me for bread.

"Haymitch," I whispered, but it was too late.

"Peeta!" His yell sounded far away. I was back in the bakery. I was about twelve years old and there she was laying in the shadows of the bakery. She attacked me. she pushed me into the mud and beat me repeatedly. I gripped the edge of Haymitch's table to try and pull myself out of it, but it was strong. I flashed to a later event from in the games. Katniss was pulling a knife down my thigh. She was the reason they had to cut my leg off and I hated her for it. She was the reason my family was dead. I could feel my body convulsing. Where was I? I couldn't remember. Pain ripped through my body as I tried to decipher what was real and what wasn't. Her face flashed before my eyes and seemed so real. Her face had looked worried her hair a mess and still in pajamas.

"Peeta!" She screamed. Katniss. She had never hurt me, I forced myself to think. It's not real and I opened my eyes. It was over. I was laying on Haymitch's kitchen floor. The chair I had been sitting in was broken and the table was knocked over. Haymitch and Katniss stood over me. I looked at Katniss. This was the closest we had been since I returned to District twelve. I was too exhausted to move. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths before opening my eyes again. I struggled to get to my feet again and started for the door. I had made a fool of myself. No wonder Katniss thought I was such a monster. I put a hand against a wall to steady myself. I pulled the door open.

"Go after him sweetheart," Haymitch whispered to Katniss. She didn't respond and I kept struggling toward my house. I closed the door behind me and pulled myself down the steps. The door opened again.

"Peeta," She said quietly. I looked up at her. What was I supposed to say? What could I do?

"I'm sorry," I said and started away again. She ran down the stairs to catch up to me. She didn't say anything to me just walked beside me. I made it to my door without completely looking like a fool.

"Would you like to come in?" I asked without facing her.

"No," She said and hurried away and back into her house. I sighed and went into my own house.

Again the screams were pouring into my room and woke me from my own nightmare. She was screaming my name. More frantically than I had ever heard her scream before. I had to do something. I had to. I quickly attached my leg and ran as quickly as I could to her house. I tried the front door but it was locked. I ran to the back door and found it unlocked. I ran up the stairs and followed her screams into her room. She was asleep on her bed still screaming my name.

"Katniss," I said and shook her gently. She didn't wake up.

"Katniss!" I said louder becoming a little more frantic myself. She opened her eyes and lashed out at me. Her nails ripped into my face and her feet connected with my ribs. I quickly let go of her and backed myself against a far wall. She let out a scream of anguish and began to sob. I stayed in the shadows against the wall, my breathing heavy and ragged from the terror and probably a broken rib. She turned toward me startled.

"Peeta?" She asked. I scrambled to the door. She hadn't known I was there.

"Peeta! Wait!" She said and cut me off before I could reach the door. I stopped and stared at her.

"Peeta, your face. It's bleeding," She said.

"I know..." I said.

"Why? Why is it bleeding?" She asked, but recognition began to show on her face and I remained silent. "Oh god, I did that to you." I nodded slightly and breathed in another ragged breath and cringed at the pain.

"I'm so sorry," She whispered.

"You were scared," I replied and started to move around her toward the door.

"Wait, Peeta. I... Let me clean you up," She said. I could very well do it myself, but I could hear something in her voice that made me turn around. She led me to her bathroom and sat me down on the edge of her bathtub. I didn't say anything. She got a wet towel and some disinfectant. She sat on the edge with me and started to clean my face. I remembered her cleaning my wounds during the first hunger games.

"Katniss stop!" I said quickly and turned away from her. Two episodes in one day was rare for me, but I hadn't seen much of Katniss in a long time. The memories burned in my brain.

"Peeta it's not real," I felt her hand on my shoulder. I shook my head and didn't turn back toward her. I still felt the threat of the vision coming. Then she did the most unexpected thing. She wrapped her arms around my body and laid her head on my shoulder. My body tensed involuntarily.

"Peeta, I promise you it's not real. I would never hurt you," She whispered to me. I thought about her words and everything the doctors and Haymitch have told me. Katniss has never hurt me, I convinced myself. My body relaxed and she released me. I turned back around and she looked me in the eyes.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said and reached up to wash off my wounds again. When she was done I rose to my feet.

"Thank you," I said and rushed from the room and out of the house.