Crash
Rated: T
"Are you happy?"
I glance at Peeta, looking up from the Memory Book I had been studying. He doesn't look at me, though; his eyes stare out the window above the sink as he grips the kitchen counter tightly.
He's been distant for days, sad, morose, and this is the only indication of the inner turmoil he's facing. The easiest words rise to my lips. Of course I'm happy. Aren't you?
At the last question I freeze, shoving the words back down.
If he's asking this, then he can't be happy, can he? And if he isn't happy— if I'm not happy— then what reason will he have to stay? Can't he just leave me, then?
Am I happy?
When I don't answer he looks over at me, his tired blue eyes boring into my gray irises. I don't see the man I love, the man who loves me, my husband— I don't see that person at all. Instead a stranger stands in front of me, a stranger that desperately seeks happiness.
But Peeta isn't a stranger—he's my best friend, my love… And despite this distance between us, I know I can't let him go. I can't, not after I've lost so many people already because of the rebellion.
So I say the only words I know will make him stay.
"I'm happy," I echo, offering a false smile, and his gaze drops from mine.
Peeta finishes cleaning the few dishes I've let build up over the past week, and without a word he quietly slips out the room, out the door, out of our house.
The silence I'm left in is too loud; the implications of his departure scream at me.
Are you happy?
I wonder if he's unhappy because he's lost so much—his family, his home, his bakery, a chance at untainted love—and instead is stuck with me.
A/N: ...And there's some agnst for ya. Oh! If anyone has any prompts they'd like to share, requests, that kind of stuff... Leave it in a review or PM me! (I love getting them!) :D