Yay I finally translated one of my stories! I know that it's probably in DESPERATE need of some betaing! so I'd love for anyone to offer (please do, seriously!) Writing in a language that wasn't my first one was challenging, but I think I did a pretty okay job :) Please read on and review! All constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated.
I'm standing, surrounded by tall trees. The air is warm and moist. Everything around me looks familiar, like I've been here before. However, I can't remember how I know this place.
I turn on the spot slowly, carefully watching every detail of what's around me: the bark of trees, the soft feathers of the birds sitting on the branches, the color of the ground beneath my feet. The foliage in all its different shades of green that covers everything that I can see...
I get more and more bewildered. I know I've been here before but, where am I?
I force my mind to remember, but a feeling distracts me. I can't let go of the sense that something isn't right and that, any second now, something terrible will happen.
I strain my ears, and I get the faint sound of water hitting against a soft surface.
Everything on this place radiates peace and tranquility. However, it's clear that something dangerous lurks beneath the calm façade. My hunter's instinct keeps me alert. And over the years I've learned to trust my instincts, after all, they're the reason I survived my games.
I spin slowly again, uselessly looking for clues as to where I am. So I decide to start walking, maybe that way I'll find something that'll finally help me figure out my location.
After walking a few steps, I get stuck trying to pass between two trees that are close together, and I realize that I have my bow slung over my shoulder. But when I sling it off to inspect it I realize that it isn't my bow, it isn't the bow that I always used when I went hunting in District 12. The arrows in the quiver aren't my arrows either. A bird caws somewhere over my head. Everything becomes increasingly strange and familiar at the same time.
Something tells me I must hurry up and get out of here, so I start moving again. I've barely taken three steps when a piercing shriek rips through the apparent calm. I don't think, I just start running. The only thing I know is that I have to get to her, I have to help her. The cries increase in volume, so full of fear and pain. My desperation grows. What are they doing to her?!
"Prim!" I shout. "Leave her alone! She's just a little girl! Stop hurting her!"
I can't breathe, it seems like the air is empty of oxygen. Tears run freely down my cheeks. But I know I'm close, so close. A couple more feet and whoever is hurting her will regret this. I'll personally make sure of it.
And then the screaming stops abruptly. Where is she!? I must find her!
"Prim!" I cry out desperately. "Where are y-?!"
Another scream cuts off my question. My blood freezes and my heart stops beating. The new horrible sound of extremely intense, unbearable pain isn't my sisters, no. It's male.
Without waiting for my brain to process what's happening, my feet start moving. I must get to him! I will not let them hurt him! Not again! Never again. My heart squeezes and cracks with every desperate cry of pain. I have to get to him! I think frantically over and over again.
"I'm coming" I gasp brokenly.
I reach a small clearing. I could've sworn this was where the sound came from. But I don't see him anywhere. I turn once, twice, scanning the vegetation. Another agonized scream cuts through the air. But it comes from above my head. I look up and that's when I see the pink sky and jabberjay, looking at me as if mocking me. The arena of my second games. That's where I am.
My heart crumples when the bird opens it's mouth again, the horrible sounds spilling out. With trembling hands I put an arrow through its head. But it isn't enough. All the branches around and above me are laden with jabberjays. Each and every one of them staring at me.
The thud the dead bird makes when it reaches the ground triggers the screams of all the other birds. A perfectly orchestrated chorus of unimaginable suffering. I start shooting them, emptying my quiver, in a futile attempt to silence the horrible creatures.
"Stop it! Shut up!" I yell enraged to the jabberjays.
I start running again. I need to get away from the screaming, I can't stand it anymore. But I can't outrun it either. My arms and legs get tangled in vines and creepers, and my face cut with low hanging branches in my attempt to escape.
And then suddenly, I crash into an invisible wall. I'm trapped with the jabberjays.
I slide down the wall sobbing, and curl up on the ground. I cover my ears and squeeze my eyes shut trying to block out the hideous sounds.
"Peeta" I whisper. "Why are they hurting him?"
I should've never agreed to leave him behind. It was my job to prevent anything bad from happening to him. How could I let the Capitol capture him?
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry" I repeat again and again, trying to silence the chorus of his desperate screams.
"Katniss!"
My eyes fly open in surprise, and I no longer have before me a forest full of jabberjays, but a pair of deep blue eyes looking at me anxious and distressed. I cling to him with all my strength and his arms close around me protectively. He holds me while murmuring quiet words of affection in my ear, until the sobbing and shaking stop.
"Shhh ... it was just a dream. Everything's okay, you're safe" Peeta says softly as he moves back a little to wipe the last remaining tears. Suddenly I have an idea.
"We were in the Hunger Games. Real or not real?" I ask.
At first he watches me slightly puzzled, probably wondering why I'm using this method of inquiry. But apparently he decides to play along, because then he responds "Real. Twice". His eyes fix on mine, "Katniss, what did you dream about?"
I ignore his question, nodding slightly while pondering his answer.
"The second time the arena was like a clock".
"Real" Peeta replies again. "You figured it out with help from Wiress. Tick, tock" he says sadly.
I just stare at him intently, and understanding my silence he continues "we also discovered that each hour something awful happened. And that there was a force field around the arena, that prevented us from escaping."
His words trigger a memory and my eyes fill with tears.
"You almost died because of that field," I whisper, my voice breaking on the word 'died'.
I can tell from his expression that he doesn't like the direction our conversation is taking.
"Real" he says after sighing heavily. He knows that I need this. "From what you told me I'm here thanks to Finnick. Katniss, please tell me what happened in your dream" he asks almost pleading.
I inhale deeply, I don't want to relive the dream. But I know that I need to get it off my chest and this is the only way. "In our last games we went back to the beach after the Cornucopia shifted. You wanted to go get water, but Johanna stopped you saying that we needed a new map of the arena, because the water had washed away the other one". I pause and look at him, he's still not sure where I'm going with all of this . "So Finnick and I went".
I see understanding flash though his eyes when he realizes what I'm trying to tell him.
"You dreamed about the jabberjay hour. About Prim" he says. "That explains why you were screaming, crying and tossing in your sleep. You were trying to reach her, save her" he says with sad eyes.
I don't correct him. Instead, I avert my eyes, because I just know that my next question will be painful for both of us.
"After the force field exploded, the rebels rescued me from the arena" my voice cracks at the end of the sentence, tears threatening to fall again. A wave of sorrow floods Peeta's eyes, and I don't want to talk anymore. But his gaze prompts me to do so, "you weren't so lucky, real or not real?".
I notice that he doesn't want to go through with this either, but still Peeta goes on. "Real" he says shuddering, and I hug him tightly. "The Capitol took me prisoner, tortured me, and altered my memories" he says in a cold, detached and monotonous voice. Then his eyes meet my distressed gaze, and the blue depths turn warm. "But thanks to you I was able to recover. You managed to bring me back." A soft smile grazes his features, before a bit of confusion resurfaces "What does any of that have to do with Prim and the jabberjays?"
At the mere mention of the ugly birds, my whole body tenses and slight tremors begin to go up and down my spine. I hide my face at the base of his neck, cling to him and inhale his unique scent of freshly baked cookies and sunshine, to make sure he's real, and that all of this isn't a nightmare disguised as a dream.
"Katniss" Peeta whispers, trying to get me to lift my face so that he can see my eyes.
Finally I give up and leave my hiding place, but my eyes still refuse to meet his gaze. He realizes that there is another critical piece the dream that he doesn't know yet. He's well aware that I've never reacted like this after reliving the memory about Prim and the jabberjays before. All because Peeta's the one who's heard me screaming in my sleep, who has woken me up and comforted me saying it was just a nightmare. I can almost hear the wheels turning in his head in his effort to understand.
"There was someone else" he murmurs. "Katniss, someone else was screaming, real or not real?"
"Real" I say quietly, still shying away from his inquisitive blue eyes.
"Was it your mother?" he tries to guess.
I shake my head.
"Gale?" His tone betrays a tiny tinge of jealousy.
Surprised and a little offended I lift up my eyes and answer "not real". I can't believe he would think that. After everything we've been through together. Peeta should know better than to think I'd get this upset over Gale; it would affect me greatly, yes, but not to the point of tears. I can see that he's ran out of ideas, which I think is silly. I stare at him, almost reproaching him for not knowing who I'd get this upset over.
His puzzled blue eyes meet my eager gaze, and I end up losing my patience.
"It was you who was screaming Peeta!" I sob."They were your agonizing screams of pain from the torture the Capitol subjected you to because of me! Because I couldn't get you out of the arena in time!"
I realize I'm crying again when his delicate and expert fingers begin touching my face and catching the tears in his effort to soothe me. Why can't I stop crying!?
"It was my fault that you had to endure all those atrocities, real or not real?" I say, my voice barely making a sound.
"Katniss" he says, and the tone of his voice makes me want to see the look in his eyes. "Stop blaming yourself. My goal was, is and always will be to ensure your protection. I can not live in a world where you don't exist. If that means having to endure the torture of the Capitol, I don't care. As long as I know you're safe". There's so much conviction and fire in his face as he says this.
I'm still not entirely convinced, and I guess that he can see it reflected on my face, because Peeta slowly gets closer and lightly presses his lips on my cheek, kissing lower and lower until his lips reach mine. The kiss is short, but sweet and full of emotion. When he pulls back I try to follow, making him laugh quietly.
"We'll have plenty of time for more of that later" he says, his eyes twinkling. Then he gets serious. "I don't blame you for anything that happened to me. You must promise me that you'll stop blaming yourself and that you'll try to forgive yourself, even though none of it was your fault so you shouldn't feel guilty".
Silence.
"Katniss. Please?"
"I don't know if I'm gonna be able to keep that promise. I came really close to losing you too many times. I need you here with me. Safe, alive". Then I pick up the gold disk with the engraved mockinjay that hangs from my neck. Peeta's locket. I lift it until it's between us, right at our eyes level.
Peeta looks at me puzzled and intrigued. With my free hand I take his and place it on the locket. I close his fingers around it.
"Open it" I whisper looking into his eyes.
"Why?" he asks. "I know what's inside, I placed the photos myself", his voice has a slight hint of sullenness. "Prim, your mother and... Gale".
"Open it" I insist without diverting my gaze for even the smallest amount of time.
He looks down at the gold disk, and then at me with a frown. Unsure, his thumb slides along the catch. He opens the locket slowly, carefully. And then, gasps in surprise.
"I need my family with me" I mutter, repeating what he said to me when he gave the locket during the Games. "I need you".
His eyes scan my face, seeking confirmation of my words in my eyes. After a few moments, his deep blue eyes fix on mine, serene but sparkling with joy.
"You love me" he says, incredulous.
I smile slightly and get closer to him. My body takes control of my actions, and suddenly we're kissing. And not one of the thousands of pretend-kisses for the pleasure of the cameras and shallow Capitol citizens. No. It's one of those kisses that instead of being satisfying it only leaves wanting more, that make the need greater. The kind that awaken that entirely different kind of hunger.
We don't need words to communicate, Peeta knows the answer. He knows that he doesn't have a piece of my heart, but all of it. That I love him and need him. And his face, smiling next to my mother's and Prim's inside the locket, only serves as confirmation.