Peeta's POV
I knock on the door waiting for an answer while my left hand travels to one flower, putting it in the right place. When the door opens I'm greeted by a pair of sea green eyes looking at me with a baby on his arms. I take off my peaked cap and put it under my arm.
"Hey Finn. These are for Annie" I say, pointing to the flowers. He nods "Hello Peet" he smiles warmly at me "We have to be careful, Anne just fell asleep" he says, nodding towards the baby in his arms. I take a better look at her. She's really beautiful with tanned skin and her mother's dark hair "She's beautiful, congratulations"
"Thank you Peeta" he nods for me to come in. I clean my boots in the carpet and enter their house.
"Where's Finnick Junior?" I ask, looking around for the little boy.
"He's asleep too, today was really tough for him. He was really tired" Finnick whispers and I nod "And what about Annie? Is she asleep too?" I joke and he laughs "No, she's up there in our room, come on" he starts walking upstairs and I follow him. He guides me to their room and knocks on the door "Honey, are you awake?" he whispers.
"Yes, come in" she replies. He opens the door slowly and walks in. I follow him and Annie smiles really big once she sees me "Hello Peeta" she greets me.
"Hi Annie, you look gorgeous" I say and she chuckles a little "Why, thank you" she answers.
"You're welcome" I say back "I'm so sorry I didn't come earlier, I had some things to do" I say.
"There's no need to apologize Peeta, I understand" she says, smiling at me. I smile back thankfully.
"Besides, if you had come earlier you wouldn't be able to see her. She slept during the whole morning" he says and starts laughing. I laugh too and look at Annie, who's glaring at Finnick "You should talk" she replies and crosses her arms "You're right" Finnick agrees and sits beside her in bed, putting an arm around her. She leans her head in his shoulder and closes her eyes. I smile at them and look down, spotting the bunch of flowers in my hand "Oh! I almost forgot!" Annie opens her eyes and looks at me "These are for you Annie" I say, walking to her and giving her the flowers.
"Thank you Peeta, they are lovely" she inhales deeply and sighs lovingly "You should come have dinner with us one of these days"
"Thank you Annie, I would love to" I look down at my feet "But I can't. I'm not going to be here. I'm being transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau" I hear her gasp. I know they were never happy with the decision I took. I finally manage to look up. She looks me in the eyes and a soft smile appears on her lips "It's alright Peeta, I understand"
"Thank you Annie" I say back. We fall in silence for a long while. I tuck my sleeve a little and see that's already time for me to go. I sigh "I'm sorry but I have to go" I say. Annie nods "Okay, thank you for coming Peeta. Don't forget to come visit us whenever you can" she says.
"I will" I reply. Finnick gets up "I'll take you to the door" he says, giving the baby to Annie and following me outside the room, downstairs. I open the door and turn around to face him "You're a really lucky man Finnick" I say. He shakes his head "Peeta, I'm sure you'll find a woman that will love you for who you are" he puts a hand on my shoulder "And you two will have tons of kids because, who deserves better than you to be happy?" he pulls me in a hug "Thanks" I whisper. He pulls back "You don't have to thank me, it's the truth" I smiles at him and wave.
"Goodbye Peet" he says and then walks inside, closing the door behind him.
I sigh…
I put on my peaked cap and shove my hands in my pockets. I start to walk down the street, kicking a rock here and there. What if Finnick's wrong? What if no one will ever love me for who I am? Besides, how could someone love a monster like me? Who kills innocent people because of hate?
I didn't even want to do this. I only did it to see if my mother would be proud of me at least one time in my lifetime. She always said I was the disgrace to the family. Everything I did wasn't right or good enough for her. She always hated Jews and was so happy once she knew they were going to be exterminated. And then I did the craziness of entering the Nazi army just to let her proud of me. How fool I was. It's true, she did treat me better in the beginning but then everything just started to be the 'normal' again.
I wish I could go back and stop all of this! Go back to the time where everyone was equal and had equal rights, where everyone frequented the same establishments. I just miss that time…
I even remember having a crush on a Jew girl. Okay, maybe it wasn't just a crush, I liked her till fourth grade, when she had to move out of town because of her father's job I think. I chuckle at the thought. I was five years old when I first met her. We were in a class and our teacher asked who knew a song, which I quite don't remember the name…. well, as I was saying; her hand shot straight up. She went to the front of the class and I think my heart stopped when I heard her singing… she had such a magnificent voice. I think even the birds stopped to listen to her. She was so beautiful with her grey eyes and dark hair in two braids. I just hope she's fine with everything that's happening right now.
I look up and see I've already arrived my destination: the train station. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even see it. I look around searching for my father and once I see him, I start walking and waving at him.
"Hello son" he greets me when I approach him.
"Hello father" I say back, picking up the three suitcases he brought me from home. We walk inside of the station in silence and stay like that till the train arrives. I start walking but he calls me "Peeta!" I turn around.
"You know we're really proud of you" he says. I shake my head "Don't you mean mother is happy not proud with me? I mean, if happy even is a term we can use with her, nothing that I do is enough for her" I whisper the last part "Anyway, as I was saying, I know that you are not proud of what I'm doing and I know for sure you don't like it either" I say, putting my suitcases down and crossing my arms.
He gets closer "I never said I was proud for what you're doing. When I said proud, I meant that I'm proud that you still try to make your mother proud and happy for you" I feel my eyes widen and I close and open my mouth several times. I always heard that actions speak louder than words and I decide to hug him tightly. He hugs me back "I'll miss you so much father" I whisper.
"I'll miss you too son" he says. I break up and smile "Thank you"
"You're welcome. I guess this is goodbye then. I hope you have a nice trip" he says and I nod, picking up the suitcases and entering the train. When I sit, I wave at my father through the window and mouth 'goodbye' to him several times, until the train starts moving.
I sit back in my chair and close my eyes. Might as well rest a little during this trip, taking me to my new nightmare. The last thing I remember hearing is the sound of the train moving in the railways.
-xxx-
"Sir? Sir" I hear someone call in the distance. I shift a little but keep my eyes closed "Sir?" I hear again. I force myself to wake up and as I'm brought back to reality, the sound of the voice gets clearer and closer. I open my eyes and blink several times to adapt them to the light. I look at the person who was calling me and am greeted with terrified brown eyes "Yes?" I ask.
"Can I take your suitcases Sir?" she asks. I take a better look at her. She looks like she is around fourteen years old and she's really skinny. She's wearing a striped blouse and pants. The thing about her that stuns me the most is that she is bald… well, not exactly bald, it's more like a buzz cut.
"Why would you do that? I can do it myself" I say. She looks at me with disbelief "Because it's my job Sir" she says slowly and calmly as if for me to understand. My mouth gets in a 'o' shape "Well, what's your name?"
"Rue, Sir" I nod and extend my hand for her to shake it, but instead she shrinks and sits on the ground, her hands above her head "Please don't hurt me Sir. I apologize for whatever I've done wrong" she says in a begging tone. I frown in confusion "I was not going to hurt you, even if you had done anything wrong"
Slowly, she lets her arms fall to her sides and confusion crosses her face "You are not?" she asks and I shake my head vigorously to make her get my point "Please do not mess with me Sir. If you're going to hurt me, please do it now"
I put my hands in her shoulders and shake my head again "Rue, I'm not going to hurt you, I swear" she looks relieved.
"Well, let's start again. I'm Soldier Peeta Mellark" I extend my hand for her again and this time she shakes it "Rue Bacharach" she says back "It's really nice to meet you Mr. Mellark"
"Please call me Peeta and the pleasure it's all mine. Now let's get these suitcases out of here" I walk to where my suitcases are but she grabs my arm "You can't sir. It's my job and I have to do it. If someone sees you helping me both of us would be in major troubles" she says.
"I-you-we…" I stutter. I shake my head and sigh "Okay, I'll let you do it but I do not agree with it" she chuckles and picks up the suitcases. I follow her outside the train.
"Hello, you must be Soldier Mellark" a voice behind me says. I look at Rue and see she lowered her head and keeps walking away. I turn on my heels "Yes, I am"
"Great! I'm Seneca Crane and I'll be accompanying you around camp for the first couple of days" he says and I nod. He leads me through the camp and talks about lots of things that I'm not actually paying attention to. I just can take in the misery that these people live in…
"Mellark" he calls me and I snap out of it "Yes?" I ask.
"A new train just arrived. Come with me so that you can see how the things work here" he starts walking and I follow him. I still didn't pay attention at all until I saw a bunch of people walking through the gates. I sigh and look down, ashamed of what I might have to do with them. Seneca walks up to them and starts shouting and telling them how it will be from now on. I still look at the ground until I hear a shot and screams. I look up immediately and see a person on the ground, blood starting to spread in the ground. Then a woman starts to cry and sob uncontrollably and launches herself to the ground, hugging desperately the body to her body "KILL ME TOO!" she shouts "I DON'T HAVE NOTHING TO LIVE FOR!"
One of the soldiers smirks and shakes his head "I won't" he says cruelly "I want you for myself, how about that. I have to say you do have a nice body. Besides, it would be real fun seeing you suffer like that. You'll be my new toy" the woman sobs hysterically and my eyes widen. What a bastard!
I look through the crowd and I can see their terrified eyes and worried expressions. And then I see her… a beautiful brunette with dark hair that's braided to the side. I look up and our eyes meet. Those grey eyes… I would never forget those grey eyes…
She looks away from me and I look at the woman hugging the corpse. At this time only two words cross my mind: Katniss Everdeen.
A/N: I'm so, so, so sorry for the late update. I haven't had time to write at all.
I repeat that I do not wish to offend anyone with this story, so let me apologize if that happened in this chapter.
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Thank you for reading and have a good week :)
