Chapter 4
Peeta's outside with Clarissa showing her things about how to use the right soil for plants. Cooper is in the living room playing with his toy cars. I'm reading in the living room on the couch. I stop and ask Cooper if he want's to go somewhere with me. "Is it the store?" He says. "Haha, no." "Then ok" I can't help but smile, the things Cooper says sometimes is very amusing. I tell Peeta that Cooper and I are going out. But of course Peeta has to know where we are going. I whisper in Peeta's ear "the forest." His mouth drops in shock. I haven't been in the forest for almost 9 years now, and I miss it. "Do you still know your way around it?" He asks. "Of course you can't forget something like that." I reply. "Then be safe" "We will" Cooper & I walk off. It takes about 15 minutes to walk from the Victor's Village to the fence. The fence is never turned on anymore so it's safe to cross. I help Cooper go underneath it, then I go. We are past the fence now. I could see it, the leaves green & orange, the grass so yellow & green, it's beautiful. I hold Cooper's hand and we walk into the forest. "What is this place?" Cooper says in astonishment. "This is where I used to go when I was little." I reply "What are we going to do here?" "You can play by the lake, but first let's check something." I wonder if my bow is still here. I know there's a very small chance of it still being here but, it doesn't hurt to look. We arrive at the hollow tree where I kept my bow at. I look under it and it's still there! I can't believe it, it's still here over 9 years! The arrows are gone, but that's not a big problem I can just make new ones. I grab the bow and we start walking towards the lake. We reach the lake, it's still very beautiful. "Wow! can I play in the water?" Cooper says. "Yes but don't go in the deep end, I am going to be sitting right here okay?" I say. "Ok!" I show him the only part of the water that he can play by. I find a couple of good sticks and start making some arrows.
I have 6 sticks now. I am very happy, maybe I can start hunting again. I probably do not have a good aim anymore. I look up and Cooper's not there. I feel like something has just dropped in my stomach. I swallow hard, "Cooper?" I yell out. "Cooper!?" I jump up and look inside of the water. Why wasn't I careful enough? I should have kept a better eye on him. I scream his name over and over. I put my arrows down & jump in the water. I open my eyes to see if he's in the water, he's not. I get out and look around. Behind trees, behind bushes, & by the fence, he's not there. I start sobbing hard. Suddenly I hear my name being called. "Cooper!" I shout out. The voices are getting closer, they sound like a girl voice. Then I see them, it's Annie & Cooper. I run towards them, then once I get close I hug Cooper as hard as I can. "Are you okay? Where'd you go? Why did you leave?" I ask him. "I got thirsty so I went to the store. I'm sorry I left you just seemed busy." He say's "I found him at the store and I bought him a drink & then I asked him why he's alone, he told me where you were so we went to find you." Annie says. "Oh thank you so much Annie! I went crazy looking for him." "You're welcome. I better get going, bye Katniss, bye Cooper" We both wave back. "Cooper don't ever leave without my permission, understand?" I say. he nods and we walk back home.
Once we enter inside I see Peeta's making dinner & I hear Clarissa in the living room. Cooper enters the living room, and Peeta looks at me and says "had a nice swim?" "For your information I jumped in the lake to look for our "lost" son" I reply "Lost son? What happened?" "I was making arrows and he left because he was thirsty then Annie found him at the store & brought him to me." "Is he okay? And are you okay?" "I guess so." I walk upstairs and take a hot long bath. After I'm done Peeta calls everyone to come eat. He made chicken with seasoned potatoes. Cooper & Peeta talk about what happened earlier, while Clarissa plays with her food. I forgot to put my bow and arrows back under the tree. Oh well I'll go back tomorrow morning. We leave for my mom's in 2 days, great. - - - - - - - - - - -
I wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. What if Annie had never found Cooper? He doesn't know his way back home, the store is 2 blocks away. I get up and get a glass of water, I sit down in the living room. Clarissa forgot to put her doll away, again. I pick it up, I know I've seen this doll somewhere before. It's uh - um - Prim's doll!