Rated Teen for Intense Situations

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GIFTED

She holds onto the sides of her head as her nails sink into the scalp enough causing it to bleed. The already tangled strands become matted underneath her fingers. She winces when she pulls at her hair, looking for anything to ground her, even pain. While she rocks back and forth on her heels in the corner of the room. Katniss slams her eyes shut when the fluorescent lights above become too bright in the white walled room. Everything is too much. She tries to concentrate on the rhythm of her body, back and forth, back and forth. She can feel another wave come on and she begins to whimper. She sounds so small and broken, that she hates to even be in her own skin. She attempts to take in deep breaths when the first wave of emotion hits her, causing her to lose her balance and fall back into the wall. She opens her eyes and braces herself placing her hands on both sides of the wall as she sits in the corner. A bout of nausea travels through her body as the anger, frustration, and hopelessness begins to build until she feels like she's drowning. She doesn't like these, she prefers the lighter emotions like joy, curiosity, and love. They're so much easier on her system and they don't cripple her with fear like the harsher emotions do. Katniss breathes through her nose, in and out, in and out, until it's all too much and she falls to the floor clutching the sides of her head. She cries out as a sound rips through her throat that is almost not human and echoes off the walls. Katniss writhes on the floor as she rolls from side to side, waiting for the pain to stop, waiting for her mind to stop feeling as though it's caving in on itself.

She doesn't notice the orderly until he's standing over her. She panics when the emotions intensified and she knows it's because he's beside her. Katniss scrambles to the other side of the room on all fours as he walks behind her. He can't be in here and she wants to shout at him but her mind is hardly coherent enough to see straight. She tries to struggle when he takes her by the arms and forcibly pulls her off of the floor. It's all too much. The lights are blinding and the frustration she's feeling with a tinge of resentment is crippling. She doubles over as he takes her from the room and she empties her stomach on the floor. She can vaguely hear him curse as she's taken into the hall.

Katniss reaches up to hold her head again and she can feel her temple throb to the pace of her pulse. She wants it to stop but out in the hallway it becomes more intense until finally it all overpowers her. She can see people in scrubs walk up to the orderly to help him, since he's no doubt still covered in her vomit, and she's begun to shake uncontrollably. When he releases her she falls to the floor, landing on her knees, when finally she screams so loud that her teeth rattle. She's still holding her head when she looks up toward the ceiling and the lights blind her. They're too bright. Everything is too much.

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He wakes up, wide eyed as the scream tears through him. His breathing is heavy and forced as the sound echoes through his mind and he reaches up and places his hands over his ears. Peeta knows how useless the gesture is since by now he can decipher what he hears with his ears and what only his mind is picking up. It had terrified him at first when he was able to hear what others were thinking without their lips moving.

He's able to slow his breathing but the scream once again invades his mind and he can feel his body begin to shake. It isn't until he hears the other boys in the dormitory cry that he realizes that it's his bed that is shaking and not his body. He sits up to see that most of the other boys have woken up as their beds lift into the air, all of them floating at least five feet from the ground. Some are crying out and others who know the extent of his powers, like Gale Hawthorne, are yelling at him to get a grip. Peeta closes his eyes, but the scream once again fills his mind and his hold on his hair tightens painfully. He can hear things crashing against the walls and when he opens his eyes he sees books, clothing, and anything else in the room swirl through the air. He attempts to stop it, but he can't seem to concentrate. Peeta barely has time to glance to his right to see Gale Hawthorne approach him before he's knocked out by a right cross.

When he wakes up his head is pounding and he hears a faint buzzing in his ears. The rich colors of the Professor's office come into view and he groans. He's already profoundly embarrassed about what happened and he's already regretting having to talk about it. Peeta shifts his weight to his side to see Haymitch sitting in the chair beside the sofa he's on.

Professor Haymitch Abernathy wasn't someone that Peeta would describe as nurturing but the man had saved his life, like he did for countless of others who were gifted. Peeta had been at the school for seven years and in all that time he knew very little about the Professor's back ground, but there were times when he would notice the older man look off into the distance, longingly. Peeta recognized that look, he usually noticed it on his own face when he thought of loss. For what it was worth to Peeta, the man's past wasn't important, what was important however was the school. Haymitch had founded it when he was younger to give those like him an opportunity to hone their powers and have a safe place to mature into those gifts. Peeta respected the Professor, and at times he would describe them as friends even if Haymitch was at times prickly and most of his responses were grunts than actual language.

The older man scratches at his beard while watching Peeta closely. "What happened, boy? You usually have a better handle of your gift than that." Peeta could feel the humiliation at his cheeks as they became warm. It was one thing to have half of the boys in the school witness his panic, but Haymitch was one of the most skilled and practiced telepaths that Peeta knew and he felt like a novice in the man's presence at most times, but now it was worse.

Peeta reaches up and scrubs at his face. "I know. I was like some first year who barely had any control."

Haymitch nods. "The question still stands. What brought on the levitating beds?"

He drops his hands to look at his mentor. "I heard this voice in my head." Peeta rolls back to his back. "Actually it was a scream."

"A scream?"

Peeta glances over to Haymitch. "Yes and she sounded like she was in pain."

Haymitch stands up. "She?"

Peeta swings his legs over the side as he sits up. "Yes." He looks up at the Professor, pleading. "We have to help her."

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He wrings his hands as he sits in the middle of the room. Peeta knows that his anxiety is only going to make the process more difficult but his entire body is shaking and he can't seem to stop his knees from bouncing up and down. His can already feel the sweat form at his forehead as a few beads trail down to his lips. He darts his tongue out and tastes the salt as he wets his lips. Peeta watches the Professor as he settles into the chair across from him and he tries to draw strength from the man, since he seems calm, if not concerned. He wipes his sweaty palms onto his sleep pants as his mentor opens his hands and raises them flat in front of him. Peeta stares at them as his own flex and grip the material of his clothing before laying them onto Haymitch's.

Peeta looks up at him. "Why can't you be the one to do this again?"

Haymitch shook his head. "I can't seem to find her."

The younger man furrows his brow. "How many times has that ever happened?"

"This is the first."

Peeta shifted in his seat as he looked down to watch their hands. "Why is it that I can hear her?"

"Sometimes some people are connected and we never really know it until the time is right."

Peeta shifted his gaze up to Haymitch's. "Are talking about destiny or fate?" He failed holding back his laughter. "It's a little far fetched, don't you think?"

The Professor tilted his head as a smirk formed at his lips. "As unbelievable as those who are gifted?" Peeta opened his mouth to respond but Haymitch continued. "Close your eyes and concentrate. Let your mind drift away and think of the voice you heard before."

He swallowed hard before closing his eyes. A few seconds pass and he's beginning to feel like a fool when suddenly a rush of emotions hit him, hard. He shakes his head trying to muddle through all of them but panic is the most discernible. Peeta can feel his throat tighten and when he opens his mouth to speak nothing comes out. His anxiety reaches an all time high as he tries to open his eyes but the darkness still remains. He can hear Haymitch telling him to concentrate as the sounds of things crashing around him are apparent. Peeta is now shaking and he feels oddly detached from his own body but Haymitch's voice is clear to him as the man tells him to breath to pass through the pain and panic. Peeta takes his advice and soon he can feel himself relax as the darkness slowly clears.

He can now open his eyes and when he does he's expecting to be in the Professor's office but when he sees a white washed wall his confusion builds. Thankfully Haymitch's voice is still clear as he guides him asking what he sees. Peeta turns to take the room in fully and at first nothing seems particularly noteworthy until he sees her. He's frozen in place as he watches her struggle against the restraints that hold her to the bed and she raises up a few inches before crashing back down again. Her dark hair is matted around her face and her olive skin is a sickly yellowed hue. She begins to scream and it cuts through him as he holds his hands over his ears. It's too loud and the light in the room has suddenly brightened. It's too much. Everything is too much.

The tortured wail seems to go on forever until she stops abruptly and her entire body stills. He takes a few tentative steps toward her until he's close enough to lean into her. He's so drawn in by her as he studies her face and something begins to form inside of him, a sort of fascination. The silver of her eyes are striking but they begin to fade into a lifeless grey and he can almost see her spirit splintering into tiny pieces. Peeta can see her breaking in front of him. His voice is hoarse when he tells Haymitch what he sees and when his mentor tells him to look around for clues to where she is, Peeta is reluctant to take his eyes off of her, afraid she'll disappear.

Finally, he relents and looks around the room which is useless with it's tiled floors and lifeless walls. When he walks to the window that has bars laid across it he can faintly make out a sign.

Capitol Mental Facility and Rehabilitation.

He relays the sign to Haymitch and it's like a breath when he's suddenly back at the school with his mentor sitting across from him.

Peeta pulls his hands away as he establishes eye contact with him. "She's broken there. I've never seen someone like that."

Haymitch pushes back his chair before standing from it. "It's what happens when others don't understand our gifts." Peeta nods understanding fully. "You may have become like her, if I hadn't found you when I did."

The younger man stands up as memories from his past come flooding back but he pushes them to the back of his mind. There are more important things to think about.

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The light filtering in through the window lands at her face and she groans in frustration. Her eyes are still shut and she waits for the eventual throbbing headache to take over, but when she feels oddly clear headed, Katniss opens her eyes. The ceiling isn't covered with water logged stains leading her to believe that she isn't in the room she's usually kept in after her episodes. She sits up gingerly, since her body is still sore from the last few days and she winces when she moves her legs. Katniss leans forward to inspect her limbs and sees deep bruising at her knees and calves. She's always finding some sort of abrasions on her body after the fog clears from one of her attacks. The psychiatrists like to tell her that she goes into psychological breakdowns as her mental illness takes over, but Katniss felt as though it was something being done to her not something she was initiating. They would look at her with pity and blame her confusion on her minds inability to process information well. But she knew what she felt and sometimes her mind and emotions felt like they weren't her own.

She runs her fingers over the bruises and scratches before wincing as she pulls her hand back. Noticing someone sitting in the corner, Katniss scrambles back and presses her body into the couch that she had been laying on. She recognizes the room as the director's office as she looks around the room before bringing her attention back to the bearded man.

Her arms are spread wide and she digs her nails into the fabric of the sofa. "Who are you?"

He smiles which makes her bristle and as she's about to question his presence again, he speaks. "You don't have to be afraid to be around others now. I was able to put up a block of sorts, so the only emotions you'll be feeling are your own, sweetheart." She narrows her eyes at him as her confusion sets in. The man looks down to his lap where he has a file opened up. He skims through it and when he looks back up at her she feels herself relax. "Katniss Everdeen. You were orphaned at eleven when your parents and younger sister were killed in a car accident, there weren't any living relatives so you were placed in foster care. Not long after you started to show signs of schizophrenia and you were sent to a state hospital." He waits for her to sit down before continuing. "You've been moved around from facility to facility since no one can seem to understand exactly what happens to you."

Katniss reaches behind her to rub at her neck. "I don't remember much afterwards but I'm told I go into a fugue state and where I'm easily agitated by anyone in the room." She watches him for a moment before she remembers something he had mentioned earlier. "You said you put up a block. What does that mean?"

He stands up from the chair and places the file down before walking toward her. Katniss is surprised when she doesn't try to back away. "Do you feel clear headed? More like yourself?" When she nods he explains. "The things you were feeling were not from you. Those weren't your emotions, Katniss." She raises her eyebrow, unconvinced, as he stops a few feet in front of her. "I'm not crazy and neither are you. You're an empath, which means that you have the ability to feel the emotional state of others. You absorb all of their anger, frustration, joy, confusion, and love like a sponge. You're very special Katniss, most empaths at your age have already had their minds implode on themselves without proper training. You're one of the only sixteen year olds I've found with your gift that still has cognitive ability."

She sighs as she pulls her knees into her waist. "Say it again," her voice is quiet but it's steadier than she's used to hearing it.

"You're special, Katniss."

Katniss shakes her head as she looks up at him. "No. The part where you said I'm not crazy."

He leans forward and pats her on the knee. "You're coming with me to a place where you can be with others like you."

"Who are you?"

He stands up. "You can call me, Haymitch." He turns to go to the door and she finds herself asking him how he knew where she was. He glances over his shoulder to her and says, "A friend heard you calling out."

He leaves the room and she's left by herself clinging to her body in the flimsy hospital gown. She wants to feel hopeful that she's finally leaving but there's something that seems to play in her mind.

How could anyone hear her voice when she hadn't hardly spoken in years?

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She can't seem to decide what to look at first as Haymitch walks her through the gardens that lead to the entrance of the school. She fidgets with the worn sweater she had changed into at the facility, that and a holey pair of jeans along with her sneakers were all the belongings she had at the hospital.

Katniss had been expecting a typical brick building when he had mentioned where they would be going. Every image she could recall of school buildings came to mind and most were mundane but as they passed through the high iron gates she caught a glimpse of a sign, Abernathy's School for the Gifted.

Haymitch had parked the car a few yards from the gate, as Katniss pressed her face against the window to see the large estate. From her seat it seemed it so grand, and as Haymitch exited the car she was still staring at the structure. There was so much for her to take in and for once she didn't feel any anxiety about the unknown but an honest wonderment.

Her mouth hangs open as they approach the front steps, she couldn't have imagined such a place, not even in her dreams. Haymitch looks over at her and smirks, as though he can read her mind. She ducks her head, embarrassed and suddenly shy about her wide eyed behavior. The doors open before they reach them and she steps back, surprised. Haymitch doesn't look back to see if she's following as he steps over the threshold. Katniss fists the material of her sweater as she takes a deep breath and enters the building. She looks up and notices the architecture of the house right away with its high vaulted ceiling and crown moldings.

Katniss releases her sweater to mess with the end of her braid as her attention is taken away from the structure of the home, when she hears laughter. A crowd of kids who look around her age and a little younger walk along the end of the stairs. She watches at the landing where she stands with Haymitch and when the doors shut, she looks over at him.

He can clearly see her concern. "Don't worry, sweetheart. The block I put up in your mind will keep you from taking on their emotions and when you become stronger we'll lower the barrier until you won't need it at all."

She nods even though she's skeptical but as more children fill the main room and the only emotions she feels are her own she sighs a breath of relief.

Katniss stands there silently, still fidgeting with her braid, when suddenly the flesh at her arms pimple and she has the sense that someone is watching her. He doesn't appear in her line of sight until a group clears and he's standing there in the middle of the walk way staring at her. She looks around her assuming he sees someone he knows, but she discovers that Haymitch has already left her side and is now off to the side talking to a slight dark haired woman.

Katniss returns her attention to him and as his gaze hasn't left her. He's quite good looking with a strong jaw line and shoulders that stretch out the thin material of his t-shirt. She likes the way his dirty blonde hair falls into his eyes in unruly curls and how they set off his startling blue eyes. But there's something about his presence that commands her attention, and the way he looks at her makes it seem that he's known her all along and it makes her chest tighten. Katniss can't recall when anyone has ever looked at her the way he is now, and it makes an unfamiliar warmth travel up from her navel to her cheeks.

She's caught in his gaze as he ascends the steps to stand in front of her. She'd normally shrink away or glare at whomever caught her off guard but there was something about this boy that drew her in, a familiarity.

He grins at her and it seems so genuine that she catches herself looking at his lips. "You look so much better than you did." Katniss' gaze moves from his lips to his blue eyes, as she looks at him curiously. He doesn't have time to explain before Haymitch is calling for her to join him and the brunette. She breaks eye contact with the boy to see Haymitch gesture for her to come and she feels suddenly cold without the warmth of his gaze. Katniss glances back at the boy and gives him a small smile. She doesn't speak or tell him goodbye, fearful of what she may say to someone that has already caused a reaction from her. She walks down the steps and when she reaches the bottom she can still feel his eyes on her and she likes the way it feels, to have him watch her.

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She easily falls into a routine after a few days of being distant. It had been so long since Katniss had been around people for an extended amount of time and even though she didn't have to worry about absorbing their emotions, with the barrier still up, she felt anxious around others. Most of the other students kept their distance and the ones that didn't were inviting and cordial. There were times when she missed the solace of the facility, but those moments quickly faded when she remembered how much pain she had been in. When she finally begins to respond to people when they talk to her, she can feel herself start to heal. It's slow at first and most of her responses are one word answers but it's nice to actually be noticed. She feels solace in being surrounded by others who know the pain of being misunderstood, there's a connection there and for the first time since losing her family she feels content.

She watches silently as some of the other students show off to another with their gifts and she laughs when the fire starter, Gale, is hit with a flurry of snow from the equally dark complected, Thom. It's a new sound to hear coming from her lips but she likes it. She attends classes that range from general education she would receive anywhere else such as , History, Algebra, and Chemistry, but she also is taught to control her gift by Haymitch, who is evidently the Professor here but she prefers to call him by his first name and he refers to her as sweetheart.

Haymitch lowers the barrier in her mind each time and she concentrates on controlling her gift and when she feels frustration coming from Gale one day as he works on an essay and it doesn't cause her mind to buckle, she cries.

Katniss is walking through the courtyard during study hall one day when she sees her sitting at one of the tables beneath a tree. She sits down on the opposite side of the blonde who has her head down, reading a book and an apple slice between her lips. The girl looks up at Katniss and they stare at each other silently until Katniss pulls her own book from under her arm and begins to read. They sit there for a while until the blonde pushes the napkin with the fruit on it toward Katniss. She looks up from her book and smiles before taking a piece. They both go back to what they were doing until a while later when the blonde introduces herself.

"I'm Madge," she says.

Katniss looks up from her book and smiles softly. "Katniss." She notices the gloves on Madge's hands for the first time and when Madge sees her staring she pulls at the ends roughly.

"Sometimes when I touch people bad things happen to them, and afterwards it's like I still a part of them in my head."

Katniss nods. "When I'm around people bad things happen to me, and I know what it's like to not have control over what's going on in your own mind."

Madge smiles solemnly. "I know." Katniss furrows her brow. "Everyone likes to talk about the new kids, your story will eventually get around."

Katniss cringes. "I'm not sure that's really a good thing."

Madge places a gloved hand on Katniss's. "Don't worry. We're all outcasts in the outside world. You don't have to be ashamed of what happened to you before you came here."

Katniss squeezes her hand and they soon resume their comfortable silence of reading and snacking on apples. Every few minutes Katniss smiles to herself, because for once she feels like she has a friend.

She's laughing with Madge when she feels him watching her again. They're standing outside the classroom to Chemistry with Professor Beetee when the back of her neck suddenly flushes and she feels the familiar warmth that is connected only to him. She's seen him around school, but since their first meeting neither has approached the other. The manor is big enough that there's days that she doesn't see him, and even then she finds herself thinking of him. She found out from Madge that his name is Peeta, but other than that she knows nothing about him.

When he walks up to them, Madge shyly excuses herself and smiles at Katniss who stares daggers at her best friends back. Even if she fantasizes about him it doesn't mean she wants to be left alone with him. He leans up against the wall as her eyes follow Madge down the hall before looking back at him. He's watching her the way he always does, as though he's known her for a lifetime and smiles. His hair is still shaggy and the curls have fallen over his forehead threatening to cover his eyes, and she can't deny how handsome he is. He catches her watching and she clutches her books to her chest tightly.

He shifts against the wall before holding out his hand. "Peeta Mellark. Telepath but with a little telekinesis thrown in there." He grins so broadly that she thinks she could swoon by just the size of his dimples.

Katniss swallows hard as she attempts to hold her books with one arm and reaches out to take his hand. "Katniss Everdeen. Empath."

He shakes her hand firmly and when he begins to rub the pad of his thumb over the back of her hand she shivers. "That's a very unique gift."

She nods and takes her hand back. "So I'm told."

It doesn't take long for her and Peeta to become inseparable. He walks her to all her classes and eats his meals with her and Madge and eventually the rest of the school assumes they're together. It's true that they spend a lot of time together but Peeta's never gone beyond holding her hand even though sometimes she wishes he would. As her training progresses with Haymitch her gift matures and on the days that she gets curious, she'll try to read him, but she always comes up empty. Peeta explains one day that their powers don't seem to work on each other since he can't read her mind either. It's then that he tells her that he's the one that found her for Haymitch. He heard her screams as though they were his own and she hugs him until her arms become numb.

She learns from him that he's from a town in Pennsylvania where his parents and two brothers still live. They think he's at a boarding school for gifted artists and even though Peeta is a talented painter, they don't know about his real gift. He's positive they wouldn't understand and he tells her he fears the day they find out and call him a freak. She tells him that he's beautiful and so are his powers and he hugs her until his arms go numb.

They're in the library one day taking over one of the couches as Katniss's legs are draped over Peeta's. He has his attention on a sketch he's drawing and she's reading when he looks up at her. She's still engrossed in her novel so he wiggles his legs to get her attention and she looks up at him, annoyed.

However when she sees how glassy his eyes are and the solemn expression on his face her own expression softens. He sighs before speaking. "I saw you in the asylum before you came here. You were restrained to this bed and I remembered feeling so empty that I couldn't help you." She leans forward to wipe the tears from his cheeks. Peeta leans into her touch. "I heard you, Katniss. When you didn't have a voice, I heard you in my head." He reaches out to her to place his hand at her lips. "I knew I had to find you."

Katniss kisses his hand and places her book down to take his hand as it rests against her lips. "If I get lost again. Will you always come for me?"

He nods as he squeezes her hand. "Always."

THE END