What Happened Next- Chapter 2

A/N- yep so here s my second chapterrrr, I was planning on hoping to get to about 4/5 reviews on the first chapter but I only got two; then I got impatient with the waiting so here s the next chapter. Taken quite a while trying to figure out how to make this chapter interesting, so feedback is absolutely, 200% wanted! (thankyou to the people who reviewed the first chapter btw, ily) right, so here it is! Oh yeah, a side note, the italics in this chapter is a dream ;)

I've woken up from a deep sleep. Taking in my surroundings, I'm scared by where I am at first. I'm in a dark forest, in which I appear to be in the heart of. It's eerily quiet here. No birds sing, no deer furrow about in the undergrowth. The trees are so tall, they seem to be staring down at me, questioning why I am there. Well, if they did ask me, I wouldn't be able to give them a reasonable answer seeing as I don t know myself. Suddenly, there's a disturbance behind a tree a couple of metres from my feet. I sit up, fearing what it could be. Her face is pale and lifeless, and the bags lurking under her reddened eyes frighten me. This is not the Prim I remember.

'Katniss' she whispers. I know she wants me to follow her, even though she didn't give me any indication she did. I guess I just know Prim; I know the way she speaks. I jump to my feet as she disappears again, leaving just as she had arrived. I sprint in the general direction which I thought she had gone. The forest darkens around me, the floor plastered with every root, weed and plant possible almost begging me to fall. But I don't. In fact, I run faster and harder, screaming her name as I go. My heartbeat is thumping in my ears and my breathing is ragged. I scream for her but she doesn't appear. I'm stopped in my tracks by the smell of smoke. I turn sharply to my left, seeing the flames lick over the trees without any effort. I scream even more, feeling the tears pour down my face. Prim runs out from behind a tree and turns to face the flames. I scream at her to step away but she doesn t listen to me. All she does is turn to face her sister, smiles gently and lets the flames engulf her body again.

I wake up screaming an inaudible scream and am practically drowning in my own tears. My throat feels like I ve swallowed about 10 sharp knives. My skin still itches from the forest I just visited in my state and I can't seem to manage to get the image of Prim being swallowed up by the flames from my head. I know that this dream will haunt me for a long time.

For around half an hour, I sit in my bed, crying out the tears that I hadn't yet cried. I rock back and forth, desperate to get this new horror out of my head; but the more I try to erase it, the further it buries into my brain. I practically jump out of my skin when Buttercup jumps through my window that had been left open. The visitor could have been a whole lot worse, so I take Buttercup's visit comforting. I notice that he's carrying a beautiful orange flower in his mouth- he most likely dug it out from the memorial Peeta made. As angry as it makes me that he could have potentially destroyed such a wonderful gift, I can t help but smile at the colour of flower Buttercup has picked from the selection. Orange. Muted orange. Like a sunset. I can't help but think of Peeta.

Buttercup springs up onto my bed and notices that I'm in distress. He mews softly and curls up on my chest just like he did with Prim when she was upset. I'm not sure how long I lie there, but I'm calmed down soon after Buttercup arrives.

I m sat between my own home and Peeta's, staring at the memorial. I'm desperately looking for the evidence of where Buttercup attacked it, but I can't find it. I give up after a minute or so. Shortly after this, I notice a small mockingjay perch on a tall flower in the garden. I smile, and whistle Rue's 4 note tune. The mockingjay looks at me intently. Then, just as they always have, it copys my tune beautifully. It bounces around to all the other mockingjays nearby and I smile, remembering Rue. Behind me, I hear a door creak open and footsteps thump nearer and nearer towards me. In no time at all, I feel him sit next to me. I glance up to him and he looks back at me.

'Did you get my flower?' he asks me quietly

'It was from you?' I ask him curiously, 'I thought Buttercup had dug it up from your garden. I was upset with him.'

Peeta chuckles before he answers me, 'yes, it was from me. I heard you this morning. I was watering her garden and I heard you screaming. I knew that I shouldn t go and startle you, so I sent you up a flower to let you know that... Well... I'm here for you.'

I smile thoughtfully, wishing that he had in fact come into my room and been there to comfort me when I woke. 'You picked orange on purpose, didn t you?'

'Haha, yeah, I did. I wondered if you would recognise it.'

'Of course I did.' I look into his eyes just as he looks into mine. I run my fingers through his blonde hair. 'Peeta, how do you deal with the pain?' I ask, feeling curious all of a sudden.

He shifts his weight underneath him before he sighs deeply. 'My pain isn't as deep as yours is, or ever will be,' he admits, 'you see, I was never loved by my family, really. I was beaten, I was underfed, and even when I was fed, the food was stale. I was the least favourite of the family, for sure. So that's why it doesn't hurt me as much.'

I remove my eyes from his gaze for a few moments to absorb what Peeta has just said to me. I can t even begin to imagine what life was like for him. 'wow, and I thought that I had it bad.'

'But Katniss, we both did. We just had different kinds of bad. But it's okay, we have each other now. I catch myself thanking God everyday for blessing me with you in my life. And I-' I see his eyes begin to water so I hold both my hands around his face.

I can't bear to watch him cry.

'Don't cry.' I whisper as I lean into him. My heart thuds and all of my senses come alive as my body realises what I am about to do. I feel his breath on my lips, with his just a few centimetres from mine. We almost touch, when we both spring backwards at an enormous crash and a rumbling belch to follow it. Haymitch.

Peeta and I jump to our feet and reach Haymitch. He's still awake, he's just lost control of his body. 'Hey, Sweetheart. How s the love life?' he slurs out. I roll my eyes and catch Peeta smiling discreetly at this remark. We place Haymitch on his sofa while I go and fetch him a flannel and dunk it in some cold water. I must say, It s not too easy to find in this house. I take it back to Haymitch where I find Peeta coaxing water into him. I smile and place the flannel onto his forehead. Haymitch sighs lightly. 'Oh, I was meant to tell you,' Haymitch pauses as he belches again, 'your mother called me earlier. Apparently your cousin s coming to see you. Says he s got something he needs to tell you.'

At first, I'm confused. Then I'm horrified. Gale. In district twelve. But then I'm confused again. 'Haymitch, why didn t my mother call me? After all, it was me who she meant to message to be left with.'

'She just said that you weren't picking up your phone, so she left a message with me. It's supposed to be urgent or something.'

These are the last words he makes out before he vomits all over the floor.

A/N- please review or message with views and opinions! Quite happy with this chapter. Note that I probably won t post the next chapter until I get at least 3/4 reviews. I ll leave you all with the cliffhanger! Thankyou for reading!