AN: This is meant to read like you're looking at a photo album but can only see the descriptions. Each description depicts one photo, and each photo is allotted a page in the album. Obviously I can't make it complete with photos so it's up to your imagination. It's my way of having Katniss knit together the healing process in her mind.
Snapshots
It's too bad I never had a camera. The mind seems to capture moments like photos anyways, so I guess I don't need one. But it's easier to get rid of a bad photo than a bad memory. Ridding my mind of the sight of Prim burning before my eyes took months. Then I kept seeing the decaying corpses in District 12. Those had to go too. But to tell you the truth, I never succeeded with either.
The day I stumbled on the plant book gave me the idea to replace the circuit of Prim and others dying with new images. Better memories. Happier times.
I remembered. Peeta drew. Haymitch still drank. But page by page, lost lives came alive in that book. Prim hugging Lady. Peeta's family working in the bakery. Finnick using Beetee's trident. All of 12's Tributes.
Shortly after we started this new book we received a photo of Finnick's baby boy. We included it in the book, and then it took on a whole new meaning for me. I had a new idea. A new game to play.
It really is too bad I don't have a camera. No one here does. Maybe I should have ordered one from the Capitol, to record the moments where our District started healing, and when we started healing. Regardless, I'm not a historian nor a photographer, so I can only replay the moments in my head and hope for them to become part of a book some day.
The moment I'm remembering now would be the best photo in the album. Goosebumps race across my arms and down my legs. A smile even creeps on my lips. But I shouldn't start from the last page, should I?
Page 1. Photo, followed by a description :
Haymitch, Peeta, and I debugging each of our houses.
Page 2..
Debugging the rest of the houses in the Victors Village the next day.
Gathering the bugging devices together. Grand total...420 devices.
420 bugging devices smashed to bits on the ground.
Calling my mom for the first time since Prim died and sobbing with her.
The first Primrose bud opening up right after the talk with my mom.
My first day hunting back in the woods.
The first wild strawberry I ate since the rebellion.
Peeta pulling out fresh bread from his oven, not even burnt.
Peeta's first flashback in 12 making him clench the back of a chair.
The smile on his face when he realized he went for the chair instead of me.
The hug we shared in our joy of that knowledge.
Peeta's first round of cheesebuns. Given entirely to me.
Haymitch rounding up his gaggle of geese.
The lead goose pecking him in the rear.
Haymitch chasing the lead goose with threats to cook it.
Geese attack on the mailman.
Getting sloshed with Haymitch and Peeta on white liquor.
All three of us Victors laughing for the first time.
The package on each of our doorsteps holding a medal marked "Medal of Honor."
The note inside the package that read, "For everything you did for the country, the country wanted to do something for you." -Paylor
Greasy Sae's granddaughter planting flowers in the District with others who had moved back.
President Paylor's visit to see the progress in District 12.
Her speech about efforts to heal the nation.
The extra funds she gave us to heal "the District that has lost so much but given much more."
The government sign on the mines "PERMANENTLY CLOSED."
The first new home being built where the Seam was.
A family of 4 moving into the home with tears streaming down their faces.
Peeta breaking ground on the new bakery.
Mellark Bakery's opening day.
Me punching Haymitch's gut so I could be the first one inside it.
The smile on Peeta's face that I was his first customer.
Eating the "honorary first slice" of bread at the bakery.
Haymitch scowling at me when I told him how delicious it tasted.
Flowers peeking through the dirt in the meadow.
Greasy Sae's granddaughter picking a flower and giving it to me, "for Prim."
Peeta staying the night after my screams reached him in his house.
The Hawthornes moving into the home next to me in the Victor's Village.
The moment where all of the Hawthornes circled around me and we cried for Prim.
Gale's arrival to celebrate Rory's birthday, shortly followed by a knock on my door.
The moment I opened it and we stood there staring at each other in silence.
Running into him the next morning in the woods.
Gale trapping a rabbit just after I shot it.
His first words to me.
Gale leaving on the next train.
Building a Town Hall on the rubble of the Justice building.
Leevy's father suggesting we make medicine at the first town meeting.
The shipment of our first batch of medicine.
A letter from Annie with a photo of her and Finnick's boy at 6 months old.
Buttercup sitting on my lap, purring.
Gale moving back to 12 to help with construction of a new school.
Children excitedly heading to school for their first day in the new building.
The Sunday I caught him at our meeting place on the rock.
Hunting together for the first time since the war ended.
Our first kill given to a smiling Greasy Sae.
The day he and I took down our fourth deer in our hunting history.
Taking down another one the next day, and finding 5 snared rabbits.
Inviting the entire District to dinner that evening.
Peeta bringing nearly the entire bakery to the dinner.
The look on everyone's satisfied faces after dinner.
Selling the deer hides in town with Gale a couple days later.
Peeta hanging up a drawing of his family's old bakery in the new one.
A framed photo from Effie of Peeta's family, discovered in the Hunger Games archives.
A similar delivery from Effie of the locket photo of Prim and my mother.
The day that Gale and I finally broke down about Prim.
Holding each other through endless sobbing.
Ripe, plump blackberries by our rock in the woods.
Gale and I tossing blackberries to each other.
Throwing them at each other and laughing.
The day where the easy smile stayed on Peeta's face all day.
Sitting beside Gale on our rock, instead of by a nearby tree.
Our legs brushing against each other.
Coming home after that and seeing that the second Primrose bush had started blooming in my garden.
The day Hazelle brought me fresh clothes and I found one of Prim's socks.
Gale making me soup when I got the flu.
Staying the night to keep my fever down.
The time I found Rory crying about Prim, and he let me pull him into a hug.
Peeta catching me eating cookie dough in his fridge.
The bender I had with Haymitch one hard night where I told him everything I thought about him throughout the Games and war.
Then 5 seconds later where I blubbered an apology.
The moment two seconds later where he corralled me into his arms.
Posy climbing into my lap and falling asleep.
Gale searching for Posy and finding her in my arms.
His kiss goodnight on our cheeks.
Last page:
The kiss that drove me back into his arms, for good.
It's too bad I never had a camera, but I guess I didn't need one after all. I've come up with a few games since the war ended. This is just one of them. Personally, it's my favorite. Now, I just need to work on filling the next album.
AN: I hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review if you do :)