3.
After breakfast, I tell Ember that he can go home because I am was going to get some hunting done before I go to get Willow but truthfully, I need to talk to Masan. I planned on giving him some of my money because Leaven deserved it more than I did, I shouldnt even be alive right now. I also want to talk to Peeta about what his goodbye was all about. Something inside of me is telling me that no matter how sad the goodbye sounded, he is angry at me for what I did in the interview. Nobody needed to know that the sad, lonely, 15 year old Seam Slut with a daughter has a crush on the youngest baker. It probably ruined his reputation at school. I bet nobody wants to talk to him anymore because of me and I know that I just need to say something to him.
I'm currently on the way to the Bakery to talk to them all and I'm not quite sure how they are all going to take it. I'm not sure what I'm gonna say to be honest but I guess that might come when I get there. I know what I have to say to who but I dont know how to start the conversation or anything. I have a pocket full of money ready to give to Masan I'm just kind of worried that he wont accept it, maybe I can buy something off him. I'm gonna have to buy quite a lot though.
I make sure that I walk through the Seam, the long way so that I dont come onto the Square near the Blacksmiths, Ember would question why I'm here when I told him that I was hunting. I make it to the Bakery quicker than I thought I would and I walk around the back, a wave of nolstagia hitting me as I see the tree I almost died under. I've almost died loads of times, especially in the Hunger Games, but under that tree was the first time that I almost died and the first time that anyone other than my family has ever helped me, the crazy thing is I never thanked Peeta Mellark and at the moment, I cant remember why.
"Hi?" I hear someone say behind me. "Katniss?" Its Rye. The way he says my name makes it sound like he has known me for years and not like I recently just watched his older brother die. "You okay?"
I quickly turn around to him, trying not to look surprised. "Yeh, I'm fine. Is your dad in?" I ask him as casually as he said my name. It comes out kind of strained though as if I would be talking to someone I only just met.
"Yeh, you can come in you know, I'll just go and get him." I laugh at him, knowing full well that I can just walk in, I've told enough times and my little sister lives here anyway. "Dont worry, my mother is asleep. Out cold actually, dad slipped her some sleeping pills, she wont wake up until tonight." He knows I dont like his mother, but then again, who does. I nod and he leads inside the house through the back door. As he leaves to go and get his father, I find Prim sitting on the sofa and I join her. We dont have time to talk though as Masan walks through the door seconds later.
"Katniss, Hi." Mr Mellark says from somewhere near me and I pull myself out of my trance to look at him. "What can I help you with today?"
I pull myself off the sofa and take a step towards him. "Actually I came here to talk to you and then Peeta." I say to him and something in his face changes. When I mention Peeta, he seems to recoil from his normal, happy self. The reaction you would expect if I'd mentioned Leaven's name.
"Well, I'm here to talk to but Peeta is out with a friend and wont be back till tonight." He says and I nod in understanding.
He begins leading me further into the house so that I can talk to him when I hear a floor board squeek right above me. It cant have been Mrs Mellark, she wouldnt have woken up now if she is on sleeping pills, no way and whilst I was sat on the sofa, I could see the stairs and Rye didnt walk up them which means I'm being lied too. It must be Peeta, who else would it be. I decide to not say anything though. Peeta has his own mind, he is old enough to make his own decisions, so if they are lying to me then they must have a good enough reason, the only question is: why? I'm really surprised that I didnt get to speak to him, them couple of days that I lived here. I tried to wait up for him each night but I always ended up falling asleep before he got back from wherever he went.
Mr Mellark leads me into the upstairs sitting room and motions for me to sit down. "What would you like to talk about?" He asks.
"I would like to give you something." I say, reaching into my pocket for the envelope. He looks really nervous for some reason. It probably has something to with Peeta being here when he is supposed to be out with his friend all day. "Here." I pass him the envelope and he looks down at it, then back at me. "Open it." I say and he nods before slipping his finger under the flap and ripping it off. When it falls open in his hands, he almost falls out of his chair. It wouldnt surprise me if that is the most money he has ever held in his hands.
"Katniss, what is this?" He asks.
"I know you dont want to take it from me but I dont need it and I promised Lev that I would give it to you." I say even though I didnt promise Lev anything of the sort. He knows that his family can look after themselves.
"I cant take this." He says, handing it back to me.
"Please Mr Mellark. If not for you then for Rye and Peeta. Help them move out, buy them anything they want. And especially for Prim, she lives with you now, atleast let me put something in to help her. Please. I dont want it and Leaven deserved it more than I did." I say to him, I hold it out but he doesnt take it.
He shakes his head. "No you need it for your daughter." He says.
"Me and Willow already have more than enough. If you dont take it then it will just stay in my basement for years." I say but he still carries on shaking his head.
"Katniss, I cant. We will be fine. We dont need that. Thank you though." He stands up to show me the way out and I think about saying something back but I'm not going to change his mind and I know that so I give up, planning on going to talk to Rye. He will take it. Hopefully.
Mr Mellark shows me to the back door and I say a goodbye before setting off running round the front and through the door. Rye is sitting there, twirling a pen in his hands when I walk through the door. "Rye. I know we dont know eachother very well but I need you to do something for me. Well actually for Lev." We might not know eachother very well but he was the only one that I actually connected with whilst I was staying here. Prim seems to adore him which Im glad about.
He pulls himself to his feet and I walk over. "Anything." He says and I smile.
"I need you to give something to your dad. He wouldnt take it off me. Its a lot of money but I dont need it. I have all that I need and I promised Lev." I say to him and he just nods. I hand over the envelope and he looks inside. His eyes grow wild but he doesnt say anything to try and hand it back which I'm glad about it.
"I'll make sure he gets it Katniss dont worry." He says and I smile in return. Somehow, I knew that he would take it off me, I knew I could trust him with this.
I turn around and walk away from him, out the front door of the bakery. I better go and pick Willow up anyway. No time to stop and chat. I turn back to see Rye and he smiles at me and I wave back. Thats when I bump straight into someone, knocking me off my feet. I half expect it to be Ember but as soon as I open my eyes, my heart starts to beat and I feel myself scrambling away. Someone I havent seen in about a year and hope to never see again. Eric. He looks angry, its so familiar, The look on his face as he attacked me. Thats the only thing I can remember from that night, the look on his face. No humanity at all. He didnt care.
"You want to watch where you're going?" He asks but I cant feel my tongue at all. My brain is spinning and my eyes cant seem to focus. "Ah, Miss Everdeen. How are you today?" He asks and I can hear the sarcasm in his voice.
My feet carry on pushing me away, sudden memories flashing through my head. The pain he caused, the smell of his body. Things I dont want to remember and never have until this moment. His blonde hair shining from the light of the moon as he laughed at me for crying. Just little visions one by one.
Suddenly the door of the bakery flies open behind me and a boy appears. "You want to leave the lady alone?" I hear Peeta Mellark ask Eric. Why is he helping me?
"She bumped into me, I didnt do anything." He says in defence. I did bump into him this time but last time, it wasnt like that at all. Something starts screaming in my head and I feel pain like I've never felt before. A cry escapes my mouth but the pain goes as quickly as it came, leaving me with a massive headache.
"Maybe you should just go." Peeta says to Eric, earning him a death stare from the taller boy.
"And what you gonna do about it?" Eric asks in reply. Now its Peeta's turn to give him a death stare. Someone else materialises out of nowhere, standing behind Peeta. Rye.
"He wont, but I will. I've done it before Eric, I'll gladly do it again." Rye says.
"Fine I'll go." Then Eric turns on his heal and strides back the way that he came. Thats when Rye turns to Peeta.
"When did they let that asshole out?" He asks Peeta who shurgs his shoulder.
I pull myself up off the floor and wipe off the coal dust from my pants, my hands are shaking violently and my head is pounding like mad. "Thanks." I say to them both and they turn to me as if they didnt know I was here. Peeta nods before dissapearing back off into the Bakery. "Whats up with him?" I ask, my voice faltering.
"Just ignore him, he's not very social." Rye laughs and I nod. "Are you okay?"
I assess myself. "Yeh, just a little shaken up. Just seeing him brought back memories of the night he attacked me. I dont know why now but I've never been able to remember them before." I say to him, expecting him to say something in reply but when I look at him, fear spreads across his face. "Whats up?" I ask.
"You dont remember anything else?" He asks me.
"No, Just him. Why?" I ask, now very confused. I was only aware that he knew about me and Eric, I didnt reaise he cared, or is there something he isnt telling me?
"It doesnt matter. You better go home. I'll see you soon." Then he's gone without an explanation at all. I feel the tears begin to fall from my eyes, from everything. Eric, Rye, Peeta, Lev, The Games. My feet take me wherever and somehow I find myself at the Blacksmiths, looking into the eyes of Ember, the tears still streaming down my face.
He's the only one out front. I have no idea where his dad would be, probably in back somewhere doing his job. Just like Ember is. I believe that its just the two of them here as his mother died a while back. "Katniss?" He asks as I look at him, tears streaming down my face. "You okay?" He asks. Obviously I'm not. Why would I be crying otherwise?
"They released Eric." I mumble, surprised that he catched it but he did. "I just bumped into him." Luckily he knows what happened between me and Eric so it doesnt take long before his arms are wrapped around me. "It was horrible." His hand finds my hair and I sigh into his chest, the tears soaking his shirt.
"Ember can you..." I hear behind us and pull my head away from his chest to see Mr Oakley standing there, such a good way to meet his parents for the first time. "Katniss Everdeen? What are you doing here?" Apparently Ember hasnt told him that we we're now friends.
"I'm s-sorry." I mumble.
"Dad, I didnt think it was that important but I've been spending a lot of time with Katniss recently." Ember says to his dad and I grab his hand pulling it behind his back just for that extra little bit of comfort. I've never felt this close to someone and never this suddenly before. Its a very new experience but I like it.
"Oh, thats good. Hello dear, are you okay?" Mr Oakley asks me and the tears that I thought had gone, start coming back. I squeeze Embers hand tighter and he squeezes back. "Oh, I'm sorry, how about you come into the back and we can get you a glass of water or something?" I nod slightly and Mr Oakley leads me into the back of the Blacksmiths. Ember follows behind still keeping hold of my hand, only because I wont let him go. "What happened?" He asks his son.
"She's a bit shaken up. Eric Stratser got released from the cells today." Ember whispers to his father.
"I thought they would have kept him in longer for what he did." Sometimes its a good thing that everyone knows what happened to me, this way, I dont have to explain to anybody about it because firstly I dont remember most of it and it would be too hard to say, I think it would probably take me a while just to get my words out.
Mr Oakley walks off into the kitchen to get me a glass of water and Ember kneels down infront of the chair that I'm sitting on. "Its gonna be alright Katniss, if he comes anywhere near you or Willow, I'll sort him out." I smile at him and he smiles back. I can still feel his hand in mine and its still as comforting as it was earlier. "You'll be alright." I nod.
20 minutes later, I leave the Black-smiths, after offcially meeting his father and finishing atleast 3 glasses of water. All I know now is that I need to see Willow. Paranoia over Eric being out is overtaking me and I cant think of anything other than to get her home and lock the door. Now that I live in the Victors Village, it wont take him long to figure out where I live. He probably already has.
"You gonna be alright out there?" Ember asks me when we get to the front of the shop and his father has dissapeared into the back. "Give me a call when you get home, let me know you're alright." He smiles at me, pulling me in for a hug and I nod. It feels good to have someone care for once.
"I will. Goodbye." I say, pulling away and turning to walk out the back of the shop. Ember refused to let me go out the front, thinking that Eric might still be out there. I told him it was fine but he wouldnt listen.
"See you tonight." He smiles and I nod.
Its 3 hours before I see him again and for some reason I cant seem to get him out of my head. The way his hand felt in mine, the way it felt to be against his chest and his hand to be in my hair. Everything about him today was perfect. When Eric actually attacked me, no-one made me feel better but Ember just made me feel so happy that I have been itching for him all day. I hear the knock on the door and I just know that its him. A smile spreads across my face and I pretty much skip to the door. "Hey." He says as he stands there at the door. I automatically move to let him in and he steps over the threshold. I can see this being a very good night.
PEETA POV
"Peeta are you okay?" Katniss asks in my ear. For the past hour we have been lying on the floor in the Meadow just gazing up at the sky. Its felt good so far but then the conversation came up that I had been dreading. "I didnt want to upset you but its for the best, you know it is."
"I know but I'm gonna lose you and I dont know if I'm ready for that." I say to her. Her fingers cup around my chin and she turns my face towards her, I obey and he lips are on mine in seconds. It feels amazing like it always does but my eyes disobey me and the tears fall,making her lips taste like salt.
"Stop that." She says pulling away from me, wiping my tears away. "We dont know how much longer we have left, there will be no crying." I try to will myself to stop crying but I cant and before I know it we are both crying and clutching onto eachother for dear life. As Katniss said, we dont know how much longer we have left.
I shoot up in bed, a cold sweat taking over my body. Just like I do every single morning. There are tears streaming down my face and I have to quickly wipe them away when I see Rye standing at the door with a frown playing on his lips. "Dreaming about her again?" He asks.
"I'm always dreaming about her Rye." He nods in understanding and walks away, leaving me to deal with my problems.
