Chapter Four

Peeta lies on the cold ground like a corpse, his face slowly turning a strange shade of blue, his body twitching slightly after each exhale. I start to shake him but nothing happens. I fall to my knees and press my ear against his chest. I hear a faint "lub…dub…lub…dub" but my heart begins to beat faster when I realise his is slowing.

I jump to my feet and try to stand him up, but the task is virtually impossible due to his tall frame. His mess of hair becomes warm and sticky in my hands. It is then I notice the stream of red flowing from his ear. There's no time.

He's slipping. All I can think is: He's slipping. I need to help him. What do I do? Where do I go?

Haymitch.

I lay Peeta on his side and run as fast as I can back through the town and to Haymitch's front door.

Please don't let him be drunk. Please don't let him be drunk.

I burst through his door to find Haymitch and Effie sipping cups of herbal tea at the kitchen table. I was about to start laughing before I remembered why I was here.

"Haymitch you need to come. It's Peeta." Haymitch pushes his tea cup aside, takes Effie's hand, kisses it and excuses himself. Wide-eyed, I stare at his uncharacteristic actions then lead him to where Peeta's barely living body lies.

"What happened?" Haymitch asks whilst hauling Peeta into a sitting position.

"I – I don't know. I was just – and he followed me – and then he fell… well he – I don't know." I tried to explain it to him but found it impossible.

"We need to get him to the Capitol." Even the thought makes me feel queasy.

"Haymitch, you know for a fact that the last place he would want to be is the Capitol."

"I'm sorry Katniss, but this is serious." Haymitch pulls a gun like object from his pocket and points it towards the sky.

"Haymitch what -" My words are cut short by a deafening bang and a blinding white light shoots into the night.

"It's a mayday call." Haymitch says coolly. "They should be here soon."

"They?" I ask, nervous of the fact that I might spot Gale. My heart starts to beat faster. No I couldn't see him. He would complicate things.

Then I hear the mechanical whirring of a hovercraft. The noise takes me off guard and the only thing I can think is: Run! The noise reminds me too much of the Avox girl and what became of her.

I seemed to be doing a lot of running recently but I couldn't face this all today. I get about twenty metres away then turn to see the light of the hovercraft freeze Haymitch in place. But Peeta doesn't change his body looks exactly the same as it did ten minutes ago.

Was this it? Was this how it ends? Would Peeta be like this forever?

…x…

When I get back to the house the only thing I want to do is sleep and forget. The image of Peeta's contorting body fills my head and clouds my eyes with fear. I can't remember the last time I wasn't worried or scared of Peeta or what he was capable of. But this time it was different. I was scared at the thought of losing him.

I would like to dedicate this chapter to all those people before me who wrote fanfiction's about Effie and Haymitch. They are all too cute and really good. I would also like to dedicate this chapter to someone very special who didn't get to read my fanfictions. I hope he would have liked them