In District 11, it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the people were sitting outside enjoying a meal, or sitting in the beach with their families. The birds were gently singing and the sky was a beautiful shade of crystal blue.
But in the main house there was a dark room, where the curtains were pulled over the window, and a man was lying in bed, sweat dripping in his forehead. The man's name is Benjamin Mellark he is the owner of the whole Mellark's farm. He is known as a selfish man, who never got married, now did he ever have any children. He was alone, and he didn't really have anyone who cared about him. He was never very generous with his workers,as he would make them work more than needed. But there was one worker who he treated far better than the others.
As Benjamin lied in bed, a worker of the farm, the only one he ever treated fairly entered the room.
It was hard for Benjamin to speak, as he was very weak and could barely breath, but he asked the the worker, Peeta where Father Anselmo was. He told Peeta that he needed to see father Anselmo urgently.
"He will be here soon." Peeta tells Benjamin.
"You know you are the only worker I trust Peeta. If it was for the rest of those miserable workers, I would already be dead, and they would steal all of my money." Benjamin slowly says in between breaths.
"Don't say that. If anyone would have wanted to steal from you, I'm sure they would have done it by now." Peeta says gently, trying somehow both to console Benjamin in his dying bed, but also assuring him that the other workers, people he called his friends, were not bad people.
"Father Anselmo told me that you...managed to end your career at the university." Benjamin says swallowing hard in the middle of his sentence.
"Yes it's true. It took me many years, and a lot of hard work, but I finally earned my title." Peeta says humbly, but coldly.
"If your parents..were alive..they would feel very proud of you." Benjamin manages to croak out, before Father Anselmo walks into the room.
"It's good that you are here father. Mr. Benjamin has been waiting for you." Peeta tells the priest.
"How is he?" Father Anselmo asks Peeta quietly, but Peeta only responds by shaking his head, as if to say that there really is no hope.
Peeta decides that he should leave the two men alone, and so without another word, he slowly makes his way outside to where the workers have their lunch. There he finds his close friend Delly Cartwright enjoying her lunch with her father.
"Why did I hear you and uncle Brian fight again today? Delly asks her father as she sips on her water.
"You know the way your uncle is. He never listens to what I tell him. And it bothers me." Carter, Delly's father answers.
Peeta makes his way to the table, sitting next to Delly.
"Don't get angry at him, we're all very nervous." Delly says.
"I know that. But we need to keep working, even if the patron is dying. Who knows what will happen after that." Carter says.
"Nothing bad will happen. I mean, the patron isn't going to leave us on the street after all these years of working for him." Delly almost laughs, knowing that that wont happen. It can't happen. If it does, her family will end up starving.
Peeta serves himself a glass of juice, and pours some for Delly too, witch he gently places on the table in front of her.
"Well Benjamin has never been a very giving man." Carter says.
"That shouldn't scare you Peeta, right? I mean after just having finished the university, I'm sure you were planning on leaving anyway right?" Delly asks.
Peeta doesn't have the chance to answer as Father Anselmo walks into the room telling Peeta that Benjamin has to talk to him.
Reluctantly Peeta makes his way to Benjamin's room.
"Come closer boy." Benjamin gently asks.
Confusion passes through Peeta's eyes, but he kneels down next to Benjamin's bed anyway.
"I just wrote my testament. I named you my only heir. Once I am gone, this will all belong to you."
"Me? Why?" Peeta asks shocked by the man's confession.
Benjamin pulls Peeta even closer, and says his last words before his head falls to the pillow, and his heartbeat stops.
But his words are left hanging in the air, as Peeta can still feel his breath on his neck. And all of a sudden Peeta starts sobbing. Anger, saddness betrayal flash in his eyes.
He repeats Benjamin's words in his head over and over.
"Because you carry my blood. You Peeta are my only son." he can still hear it.
Now it isn't just a patron who's death he witnessed.
But his fathers.
"Patron?" Peeta gently asks to the emptiness.
"Mr. Benjamin? No no, don't you die on me! Tell me it isn't true, tell me!" Peeta is now yelling and shaking the dead body, trying to get answers.
It's too late.
X
In District Twelve, it is also a beautiful day, and Katniss Everdeen is wearing a lovely rose colored silky dress, that was perfect for the beach. It had an open back, and she let herself enjoy the hotness of the beautiful day. Her hair was hanging loosely in beautiful long curls. She smiled. She was so happy. So very much in love. In fact she was standing in the beach right now, watching the ocean, waiting for the love of her life, Gale Hawthorne to show up. She didn't have to wait long, since soon she felt two hands that covered her eyes from behind.
Katniss pulles the hands to her lips and she gently kisses them, before she turns around to face him. Gale starts to kiss her, but gently she pushes away, laughing.
"Don't reject me like that. I want to kiss your lips, and show you how much I love you." Gale tells her, and this makes a playful smile appear on Katniss's lips.
"I love you so much Catnip"
Katniss can't help but to laugh as he calls her by that ridiculous nickname.
"I love you too. I love you no matter what anyone else will say." Katniss assures him.
"Well see, then don't expect for me to resist myself. Let me kiss you." Gale tells her, as again Katniss pulls away playfully, but soon she lets him kiss her.
"I know it's so hard to maintain yourself when it's me we're talking about." Katniss teases. "But I also don't want to risk anything, by making someone see us." she tells him, and then she places herself in front of him, pressing her back against him, so that he can hug her from behind. She watches the ocean. "Not until you have talked with my dad." she finishes smiling.
"Have you talked to him about me?" Gale asks.
"No. Not yet."
"But you at least told him that you won't be marrying that guy, Sebastian?" Gale asks serious.
Katniss sighs and turns around to face him. "No, no I haven't had the chance, but I will do it. I'm sure that my dad will understand."
"I'm sorry Catnip, but I really don't think that your dad will like the idea that you will be changing someone like Sebastian, for me." Gale inhales, his eyes looking worried, and scared. Scared of losing her.
"Don't say that." Katniss pleads.
"But it's the truth. That guy is from your social level. He can offer you so much money. The only thing that I can offer you, is love. I don't think your dad will accept you marrying a simple guy from the seam Catnip."
"My dad will be happy, once he knows how much I love you. He will be happy to hand me over in the church, for me to be your wife." Katniss says, and this makes Gale grab her harder with a smile.
"Can you imagine it?" Katniss laughs.
The pair then move to kiss passionately when a voice interrupts them.
"Katniss!" Sebastian calls out.
"I'll talk to him." Gale says as he pulls away.
"No no, I'm the one that needs to talk to him. Wait for me here." Katniss says, but Gale follows her anyway as they make their way to Sebastian. Katniss's fiance.
"Sebastian, please let me explain. I swear that I tried to localize you, in every possible way. But I could never reach you while you were in District three to tell you that we're over." Katniss slowly tells him.
"I thought that you wanted me to come home earlier, but I never though that.." Sebastian starts.
"..that I would fall in love with someone else?" Katniss gently asks.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Sebastian, but you left me for three years. Sebastian, I was barely even sixteen, I didn't even know what I wanted myself. My mother impulsed me, she forced me to tell you yes, when you proposed. And then you left for three years to study in District three Sebastian, and I'm sorry but I never loved you. " Katniss finds a way to finish her sentence.
"I realize now that you are not even worth it. Where is the ring huh?" Sebastian grabs Katniss's hand but finds nothing in it.
"I already stopped using it a couple of months ago, but don't worry, I'll return it to you." Katniss says pulling her hand away.
"No no, keep it. In fact, do whatever the hell you want with it, throw it to the trash, or sell it. Because your family is going to end up needing my money anyway." With this Sebastian gives one angry look at Gale, but then walks away.
"Sebas..oh no." Katniss fight the urge to cry, but soon she feels Gale's hands on her shoulder.
"I promise it's okay." Gale consoles her.
X
Later that night Katniss slowly and carefully opens the door to the Everdeen's mansion, scared that her parents would have somehow found out about what happened with Sebastian. She takes a deep breath and wipes a tear from her eye. Then she walks into the living room, where her father is expecting her.
"Katniss! Sebastian came back to District Twelve. I told him that you went to the beach, since he came looking for you. Did he find you?" Charlie Everdeen, asks her in a worried voice.
"Yes." Katniss croakes out, her face looking miserable.
"I get that you don't feel too exited to have seen your fiance?" Charlie asks.
"I need to talk to you dad." Katniss can feel tears burning in her eyes.
"I also have to tell you something. Come here." Charlie gently takes his daughters hand in his. "Sit down." he tells her.
"Tell me something Katniss.." Charlie sits down next to Katniss. "..do you really want to marry this boy?" Katniss sighs and cups her face in her hands.
"I'm sorry that I'm insisting so much Katniss, but you know that I would have wanted for you to travel more, that you could have studied a career for yourself. Do more things before marrying someone. You are too young." Charlie tells her.
Katniss moves to look at his father. She takes his hands in his, and gently gives one of his hands a kiss.
"But I also know that your mother has given everything for you to marry him. And I can't help but wonder if you're only getting married because you feel pressured to do so. What I want to know is, do you actually love Sebastian? Are you in love with him?"
"Yes. Yes I am very much in love, but not with Se.." Katniss cannot finish her sentence as her aunt Effie comes running into the living room dramatically.
"Katniss! Oh Katniss, tell me everything. What did you think when you saw your fiance? Oh what a handsome boy he is. And he comes from such a good family. You are so very lucky Katniss. You could not have found a better man!" Effie smiles.
Katniss cringes uncomfortably and Charlie stares at his sister with annoyance.
"What? What did I say?" Effie wonders.
X
It isn't until almost night when Katniss is sitting in her bed, that her mother flies into her room with a murderous face. Katniss gets up from the floor and greets her mother, only to get slapped in the face by her mothers hand.
"Why did you hit me mother?" Katniss cries out, pressing a hand to her cheek.
"Sebastian just took a plain back to District three, and he doesn't want to hear a thing from you. What did you do you stupid child, for him to have ended the relationship like that! How could you, in one day, ruin something that I have been planning for years? You knew what this marriage meant for this family. Your wedding with Sebastian, is the most expected event in District Twelve!" Her mother yells with her whole heart.
"Mom, I'm sorry but I have a perfect reason for not marrying Seb..."
"I don't give a damn about your excuses!"
"I don't love him mother!" Katniss is now yelling back.
"Please do not use that idiotic reason on me. Love? Love is something you might get, if you're lucky, if you get a man you can love. But it is not the point here. Pack your bags Katniss, because first thing tomorrow, we leave to District three to resolve this problem!"
"No!" Katniss walks as far away from her mother as she can, in her room.
"Either you liked it or not, you are going to marry Sebastian! You know me very well Katniss, and you know that once I have made a decision no one changes my mind."
"No one changes my mind either mother. I respect you very much, but I am not a little girl anymore, and you can't jump into my life like that. At least I know I have my fathers side." Katniss says, and then she starts yelling for her father, ignoring the yells of her mother.
"What is happening?" Charlie enters the room.
"Dad! You need to tell mother to not force me to do something that I don't want to. I can't marry Sebastian dad! Please help me. Because truth be told, I would rather leave this house than marry him!" Katniss pleads as she hugs her father. All this while Diana watches her daughter cry on Charlies shoulder.
"Diana, please leave the room." Charlie asks calmly.
"I cannot believe you will let this little brat.." Diana starts her yelling again, but this time Charlie yells even harder than Diana.
"Leave the room!" he commands.
With this Charlie is left alone with a crying Katniss, and he consoles her.
"Listen, calm down, take a bath, dinner will be ready soon okay? Shh, calm down." Charlie tells Katniss.
"Thank you dad" Katniss manages to give him a small sad smile, before she walks downstairs. She has a phone call to make, that she feels guilty she can't tell about even to her dad.
She calls Gale. "Can we meet up? I had a terrible fight with my mom, and she found out that I don't want to marry Sebastian. Shes's so angry."
"Calm down honey. We knew this was going to happen. But did Sebastian talk to her? Did he tell her that he saw us together?" Gale asks on the other side of the phone.
"No, I don't think so because I'm sure my mother would have said something about it." Katniss whispers.
"But are you okay? Tell me exactly everything that happened?" Gale asks.
"Well that's the thing. I need to see you because I can't talk much on the phone."
"Okay. On the beach?" Gale asks.
"Yes. I'll get going." Katniss agrees.
What she didn't notice was the fact that her brother Marvel was secretly listening to her phone call.
X
Peeta rides his horse in the middle of the night, his eyes are red and swollen from crying and he can't really see ahead of him due to the darkness. He soon hears a girl's voice behind him and he recognizes it as Delly's voice.
Peeta makes the horse stop and angrily jumps off of it's back.
"Why, why now!" Peeta yells.
"Peeta, what's wrong? Why are you acting like this? I never thought that the patrons death was going to affect you this much." Delly tries to catch her breath.
"I'm his son." Peeta says and he can't believe it even when it comes out of his own mouth.
"What?"
"All this time that man was my father. I don't know what to do, with all this courage I'm feeling Delly. That man that I only respected due to him being my patron but judged at the same time for the way he treated his workers, and now all of a sudden I find out he's my father." Peeta angrily walks back and forth while Delly watches him. Peeta couldn't believe it. It wasn't right. He needed answers. Answers he will never get.
Peeta gently grabs Delly by the shoulders. "I don't feel his blood in my veins Delly. How can this be true?"
"I understand that this is hard for you. But this is how things are Peeta. You need ton accept it." Delly breaks away from his hold.
"Why did he do it now? Why not when I could have confronted him, when I could have asked him about my mother?" Peeta cries, and Delly places a hand on his shoulder.
"I don't like seeing you like this. You know that since when we were children, I've always been there for you. I won't leave you alone Peeta."
He turns to look at her. "That's what I want Delly. I need to be alone." Peeta walks back to his horse. He then turns around one more time. "Please Delly, for this one time, don't follow me."
He then rides his horse as far away as he can, and after a couple of hours he arrives at a beach in District Twelve.
He stands alone, watching the black ocean. He thinks about his mother. Where she left, and why she left for that matter. He wishes he could have answers. He wonders if she is even alive, if there was anything out there, anyone.
Suddenly he feels someone hugging him from behind, and as he turns around he sees a strange girl with brown hair that has been braided to one side. She was beautiful. So beautiful she took his breath away.
And for a couple of seconds the two just stare at each other.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I thought you were another person." Katniss apologizes but frankly she can't help herself from smiling. She starts walking away when he speaks.
"You shouldn't be out here in the beach in the middle of the night alone. If you'd like, I could stay with you, until that person arrives." Peeta offers.
"Thank you. I'd rather be alone." Katniss gently tells him.
"We're similar in that. There are moments in where I too want to be alone." Peeta tells her, as he turns to look at the ocean.
Katniss takes a moment to look at him. Smiling she speaks again. "Then leave."
Peeta nods, feeling a little sad about her wanting him to leave. "Goodnight." he tells her, and then turns to walk away, but he stops walking after a couple of seconds and walks back to Katniss who wears a smile that holds both amusement and embarrassment.
"Sorry, are you waiting for someone? A boyfriend?" Peeta asks.
Katniss gives a little sarcastic chuckle, but she answers in a good manner. "Don't take it personally, but I'd rather not answer that question."
He smiles too, but his smile carries loneliness and sadness."Yes. Again I offer an apology. Goodbye." Peeta says before he walks away.
Katniss laughs and buries her face in her hands embarrassed after what happened. The way she tightly hugged the blonde stranger. And his eyes. They were beautiful. A shade of blue she had never seen before. She watches him walk away and chuckles slightly to herself.
But soon it starts to get colder, and the night turns even darker if possible, and Katniss finds herself waiting for nearly an hour.
Gale never showed up.