Chapter 1
"It's Reaping day. For the 74th Hunger Games." Haymitch said. They all stood still. They had really just gone back in time.
"What are we gonna do?" Katniss whispered to herself. But it was loud enough for Peeta and Haymitch to hear. Peeta took her arms, and led her over to the couch to sit down. He kneeled down in front of her. She was in shock.
"I don't understand what is happening. So I need you to explain it to me. How did this happen Katniss? One minute you were dead in my arms." Peeta choked out. He took a deep breath and got his voice back. "Then we all wake up on the day that we get Reaped. You have to explain this. What is going on?" Peeta asked calmly.
"I was in the woods with my dad. I wanted to be with him, and Prim again. With Finnick and Cinna and Rue." Katniss started to cry, but Peeta held his face in her arms.
"Katniss you have to calm down, and you have to keep talking. I don't know how much time we have, so you have to tell us everything you know." Peeta said. They were all startled by the phone ringing. It rang twice and then stopped. "I thought you yanked that thing out?" Peeta said.
"Effie always sends someone to come fix it right before the Games." Haymitch said quietly, staring at where the phone is. Peeta turned his attention back to Katniss.
"Keep going." Peeta told her.
"My dad was there. And he told me that I was getting a second chance. That I could fix some things that went wrong. He said that Prim and everyone wasn't there, but I would see them soon." Katniss cried.
"Ok you get a second chance to change things? So what we go back in time to the day we were reaped and do what?" Peeta asked. The phone rang twice again and then stopped. Peeta ignored it.
"I don't know how he did this. But he said I would have the life I deserved, that everything would be ok." Katniss cried. The phone rang two more times and then stopped.
"Haymitch what the hell is wrong with your phone?" Peeta demanded. Haymitch was still staring at it.
"I never answer my phone for the Capitol. They usually wake me up every year. They ring twice and hang up...they take turns till I'm awake. I know it's them because they only ring twice." Haymitch said. Peeta and Katniss looked over to the phone as it rang twice again and stopped. Peeta knew that when Haymitch said "they", he wasn't talking about the Capitol. He was talking about his friends.
"Answer it Haymitch." Peeta told him. He nudged Haymitch forward towards the phone, only moving to get up and sit next to Katniss. She was shaking, so he wrapped his arms around her, and he clung to her. Only an hour before he was trying to shake away shiny images of Katniss trying to kill him, just so he could watch her die in his arms. He tried blinking tears away. Was he dreaming all this? Did he go so far into his mind, that he was imagining this? If he was, he wanted to stay here. Katniss was alive, and in his arms. He was brought out of his thoughts, as the phone rang again. "Pick it up." Peeta told him. Haymitch picked it up, but slowly brought it to his ear.
"Hello?" Haymitch said. His voice was shaky, and he could tell whoever was talking to Haymitch, it had shaken him. "Yeah I'm awake." he said quietly. "I don't know...but I have some visitors here." he told the person on the phone. He could feel Katniss trembling, and pulled her closer to him. Any closer, she would be in his lap. "I kinda have an idea, but you'll have to wait till I see you tomorrow to explain...it's good to hear your voice again." Haymitch said, and hung up the phone. He stared at it.
"Who was it?" Peeta asked. Haymitch looked up at him.
"Finnick." Haymitch said. Katniss sprung up and ran to him.
"Is he alive? Does he remember? Please Haymitch call him back let me talk to him." Katniss cried, pounding on Haymitch's chest. Peeta ran to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back.
"It's ok now Katniss." Peeta soothed in her ear.
"We need to get out of this house. It isn't safe to talk in here. Let's go." Haymitch said, coming out of his stupor, and walking purposefully to the door. Peeta directed Katniss to the door, and followed Haymitch. It was still dark outside.
"Where are we going?" Peeta asked. Where was safe?
"Were going to Katniss' house in the Seam. There are always microphones in the Victor's house, but they never listen in unless there suspicious or bored." Haymitch said, leading Peeta and Katniss to her house. "They have no reason to listen in on our phone calls either. The Capitol knows Finnick and Chaff and all them call my house to wake me up. But we have to be careful. In a few hours all eyes will be on me once the cameras get here. Then they'll be on you. They'll get suspicious if they see me with you both, and then your reaped. Me and Peeta have to be back at our houses before the sun comes back up, which should be in about three hours. So we have three hours to figure out what the hell were gonna do. And three hours to wake up you up girl." Haymitch said, looking back at Katniss. If it wasn't for Peeta pulling her along, Katniss would sit down right here in the street and sob.
"Your going to see Prim again Katniss. She'll be alright." Peeta told her, kissing her head.
"You don't know that." Katniss cried. He squeezed her tighter to his chest, walking awkwardly in this position.
"Yes I do. Because me and my brother Rye share a room. And he was in there asleep when I woke up. Prim will be there to." Peeta said. How had this happened? What had happened? None of this felt real. No actually it did feel real. He hadn't had a grip on reality in so long, ever since he was hijacked. He saw a shiny image of Katniss trying to kill him, and almost wanted to laugh. It wasn't real, and he knew it. But he would focus on that later. He had to focus on Katniss. He felt like he hadn't seen Katniss, since they separated in the arena. He was hijacked after that, and never felt like he could get a grip on reality. He felt like he was here, like he was alive, and he hadn't felt that since they hijacked him. He was scared to admit that this was real, but he could feel it. But Katniss was losing it. He knew she had lost so much when she came home. She wouldn't talk, eat, drink or move. She had lost all hope and killed herself, and then seen her father. He had seen Katniss at her weak moments before. But she had always gotten back up. She wasn't getting up so easily this time, and was afraid that if Katniss really did see her father, a damn was broken inside of her, that she had built up so high, that now it was crashing down around her, and was so afraid that three hours wasn't long enough to get her head back in the game. Which made him shudder, because this was a game. A Hunger Game. As they got closer to Katniss' house, they could see some candles burning, letting them know that her mother was awake. They must have been watching from the window, because the door swung open. Katniss could see Prim, and her whole body shook. She couldn't walk, but Peeta held her tight. "Come on were almost there. Don't lose it out here." Peeta told her. Prim and her mother stepped out the door, but Haymitch caught them.
"Not out here. Come on." he told them, and ushered them inside. Peeta practically dragged Katniss into the house, and no sooner had Haymitch shut the door, that the sobbing began again. It wasn't just from Katniss though. Prim and their mother added to the sobs. Prim ran and threw her arms around Katniss, and she fell to the ground. Sobbing into Prim's hair, apologizing. Peeta and Haymitch didn't dare to move her just yet. Didn't make her get up and focus. Katniss died the day her sister was murdered. This really was her second chance. She needed to cry for Prim. She needed to feel it.
"Katniss it's ok. It's ok. I'm here Katniss. I'm really here." Prim tried to soothe her.
"It was all my fault. I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry Prim. I tried to save you. But you still died." Katniss cried. Katniss' mother, Emily, kneeled down, and wrapped them both in her arms. Peeta watched Katniss cling to her mother. Peeta and Haymitch eyed each other. Her mother was shocked to. "I'm so sorry." she said to her mother. This was a change. Peeta looked at the time. 3:15 in the morning. The sun would be up in three hours. He didn't have the heart to break them up. After a few minutes, the sobbing lessoned, and Haymitch was the one to clear his throat.
"We don't have much time. We gotta focus here." Haymitch said. Emily stood up, and Peeta jumped to help the girls up. Katniss wouldn't let go of Prim.
"She's really here Katniss. She's ok." Peeta said, kissing the back of her head.
"I'm ok now Katniss." Prim said. She pulled back, and they looked at Katniss face. Her eyes rolled around, and she would have fallen had Peeta now been there. Katniss fainted in his arms.
"KATNISS!" Peeta yelled, and sat on the floor, cradling Katniss. Her mother ran to the tub of water and got a cloth to wet. She put the dampened cloth on her daughters head. "Katniss it's ok. Your safe now. I'm here." Peeta whispered. Katniss opened her eyes, and he could see the fear in her eyes. He was sure now, that this was real. That she really did see her father, and that all her walls were broken down. He was seeing the real Katniss, of how scared and lonely she was.
"He told me I was safe with you." she whispered. Peeta's heart melted, if that was even possible. Her father? He told her that? He would have thought her father would have chosen Gale. But Peeta? The bakers son? He felt tears well up in his eyes, and he touched her face.
"You are safe with me Katniss. You just have to trust me. You have to trust that you'll be safe with me." he whispered to her. He wasn't sure if the others could hear him, but he didn't care. He stared into her eyes. And he watched for the first time, as she let something go. That she learned to trust someone. And it was him. She was trusting him.
"I trust you." she whispered back to him. He leaned down and hugged her. He hadn't hugged her in so long.
"Alright love birds. I don't want to break this up, trust me. But we don't have much time." Haymitch said. Peeta could tell me meant it, that he didn't want to break it up. But he knew it had to be done. He looked over at Haymitch, and could see tears in his eyes. He realized it to about Katniss. That this was a different Katniss that we were seeing.
"I want to stay on the floor. My head is spinning." Katniss whispered. Peeta nodded, and situated themselves, so that he was sitting up against the wall, and she was cradled in his arms, laying in between his legs, with her face laying against his neck and chest. Prim sat right next to him, so Katniss could face her. She grabbed onto Katniss's hands, and then locked eyes with Peeta. He didn't realize that Prim had tears in her eyes, and Prim laughed and touched his cheek.
"I can see your eyes again Peeta. It is so good to see your ok." Prim cried. Peeta reached around, and hugged her, still holding on to Katniss with the other arm. He adored Prim. She would always talk to him when they were neighbors, even when Katniss wouldn't. And she would visit him in the hospital, even though he yelled and screamed at her. She stayed, and held onto his hand. She pulled back and wiped her tears. "Your really ok?" she asked. He nodded his head.
"Yeah I am. Thank you." he told her. She smiled and nodded, and curled up into his other side, holding Katniss' hands again. Haymitch and Emily had joined them with chairs.
"I don't understand what is going on. How did this happen? I woke up here...this house was bombed...and Prim is so young...you all are." Emily said, referring to Katniss and Peeta.
"It's Reaping day. The day these two got picked." Haymitch said, jerking his head to Peeta and Prim. Emily gasped.
"How did this happen? How did we go back?" Prim asked, looking at Haymitch.
"Don't look at me for that one. That would be your sister." Haymitch said. Prim looked back to Katniss.
"I saw daddy." she whispered. Prim's eye widened, and her mother gasped, covering her mouth.
"How?" Prim asked. He rubbed Katniss' shoulders, and looked the other way. By killing herself that's how.
"In a dream we guess." Peeta said, facing the window. No one questioned it, so he went on. "She was at her lowest point after the war. None of us were there. And he appeared to her in a dream or something." Peeta told them. He didn't think Katniss would want her sister or mother to know that she killed herself.
"What did he say?" her mother ask quietly. He felt Katniss turn her head to her mother, and he took a deep breath, and wiped the tears fast before the could see, and turned his head back to them. Emily had tears soaking her face, as she waited for an answer.
"He said we were getting a second chance." Katniss said. Everyone was quiet for a minute.
"A second chance to really take down the Capitol." Prim said. Everyone looked at her, and she looked like a kid on Christmas day as she saw all her presents from Santa. She looked at everyone and smiled. "A second chance to take down the Capitol, and they'll never see it coming, because they don't know how tomorrow will end, but we know how a years worth of tomorrow's will end." Prim said. It was the first time that that much clarity had come out since they came back. She looked at all of them. "Don't you get it? We remember. But Snow doesn't. Neither does anyone on his side. We can win. We can get everyone out of District 12 before he bombs the District. You can save so many people now. And we can end this war quicker." Prim said. They all fell silent a moment, before Katniss sat up.
"How do you know all this?" Katniss asked. Prim smiled.
"Because I was there Katniss. I was there in the woods when you saw daddy. And he said goodbye to me to, before you appeared." Prim said. All eyes were trained on her as she smiled. "I thought it was a dream...but it was real. He was right. Everything will be ok. We'll all be ok. We have a second chance. And we can win." she said. And she held onto Katniss' hands. "And I won't get hurt this time. We can make this right." Prim said. Peeta was stunned. They had both seen their father. Katniss turned to Haymitch.
"What do we do first Haymitch?" Katniss asked. Haymitch let out a strangled laugh.
"What your trusting me to make the plans?" Haymitch asked. Katniss let more tears fall.
"I'm trusting you blindly Haymitch. I'll do whatever you say." Katniss said. Haymitch stared at Katniss, then at Peeta.
"Well then. First things first." he stood up and walked over to the three of them sitting on the floor. "Take a deep breath and stand up." Haymitch told her. Prim and Peeta helped her stand up. She faced Haymitch, and he wrapped his arms around her. Peeta knew he wanted to say something about her slitting her wrists, but wouldn't in front of Prim or her mother, but he knew that Haymitch just needed to hug her. After a moment, he pulled away and stared at her. "Get ready. Pull yourself together, and get some of that strength back. You can do this...we have some plans to make."