Prim's P.O.V
The minute after the interviews were over Haymitch and Effie assaulted Peeta with questions. He just stared at the ground with his shoulders hunched over. He looked so defeated. At one point I guess Haymitch finally got sick of Peeta ignoring him because he grasped him by the shoulders and turned Peeta to face him. Peeta stayed frozen in the sad empty world he seemed to be living in. Haymitch shook him fiercely.
"Look at me boy!" he said. Peeta looked up at him. You could see the silent grieving in his eyes. Haymitch let go of him and shook his head lightly. "Go on then," Haymitch said. His voice had a different tone in it. It was somewhere between anger, defeat and sympathy. "I guess you're giving up then." Peeta said nothing. My heart started beating in my chest. I refused to believe Peeta would give up this early in the game.
The rest of the way up to our floor was silent. The second we got there Peeta locked himself in his room. I tried to resist the urge to try in comfort him, but eventually my overly considerate personality won over. I knocked lightly on his door.
"Peeta? It's Prim," I stayed there for a few seconds and when I got no answer I decided to walk away. I heard a door open and turned to see Peeta standing in the doorway. He was wearing the collared shirt he had worn underneath his suit jacket for the interview. The first few buttons were undone making him look even more broken. I turned back and walked toward him. I followed him inside and closed the door behind us.
"What did I do?" he whispered fiercely, a single tear running down his cheek. "What did I do," he whispered his voice breaking. I took a few steps forward and hugged him. "What do you think Katniss is thinking right now? Where do you think she is?" he asked me.
"You don't want to know what I think," I told him. I didn't want to tell him where I was almost sure she was. He put his hands on his shoulders and lightly pushed me back.
"Please tell me," he pleaded.
"She's probably confused right now," I mumbled staring at my feet. I hoped Peeta wouldn't notice I didn't answer his other question.
"Where is she Prim?" he asked fiercely.
"She's probably in our living room back at home. She probably has my mother on one side of her and Gale on the other." I stared at Peeta's feet. He had taken off his shoes and was wearing plain black socks. Suddenly he fell back onto his bed. He was breathing raggedly and staring forward in disbelief.
"Peeta, I'm sorry," I said.
"It's okay, Prim. Can you please leave now?"
"Peeta…" I said, not wanting to leave. But he wasn't listening. He had turned himself so he was lying on his side looking out over the streets of the Capitol.
Peeta's P.O.V
I heard Prim leave. The door closed softly behind her. I didn't want her to see me loose calm. The second I heard another door close and the shower turn on I allowed myself to curl up and start crying.
Why did I have to open my mouth? She probably hates me now. She probably wants me to die. She's probably laughing at me with Gale.
Gale. Why was I chosen and he wasn't. The second I thought I regretted it. Gale has a family to take care of. I don't. Without Gale his family would starve. Mine would be sad but they'd get over it and they'd move on.
My family. What did they think of my little confession? I didn't even want to think about them. My mother is probably burning all of my pictures at this very moment. She's strongly opinioned on who she wants me to marry, and it's definitely not a poor, lawbreaker from the Seam.
These thoughts were just depressing of me. There was no point in thinking of home. I was never going to see any of these people again. It was better to forget them and focus all my attention on getting Prim as far as I could in the games. She needed to come home. Such a sweet, caring girl could no t die. Katniss would be absolutely destroyed if she didn't come home. I couldn't risk that.
To add insult to injury the Games started tomorrow. Like I was going to be able to get to sleep before.
Prim's P.O.V
I didn't expect Peeta to come to breakfast the next morning. To my surprise he was there before I was. To add to that initial shock he looked up at me smiling and said good morning.
"Good morning!" I said trying to hide the surprise in my voice. I sat next to him and took some eggs and bacon from a large platter in the middle of the table. Peeta turned and continued talking to Haymitch. Haymitch looked more at ease with this sudden transformation than I did.
"So, any final words of advice for the games?" Peeta asked Haymitch.
"When the gong rings, get the hell out of there. I don't care what the situation is you are to run in the opposite direction, get away from the others, and find a source of water."
"Anything else?" I asked.
"Stay alive," he said simply. Then he went back to his breakfast. A few minutes later, Cinna and Portia came to collect us to get us ready for the games. Peeta and I say goodbye to each other. Cinna leads me to my room and hands me a simple shift. I quickly pull it on. He then leads me outside where a hovercraft is waiting. Cinna instructs me to place my hands and feet on the lower rungs. I feel myself being frozen in place. Some foreign current holds me in place. When we get to the top a woman injects me with something. I panic a little.
"It's okay," Cinna said. "It's just a tracker." Suddenly it all felt more real to me. I shot Cinna a frightened look. "It's going to be okay," he said as the current released me from the bars. We sat in the closest chairs to us. I stared at my feet during the ride. After around twenty minutes we landed we were under the arena. Cinna helped me off and led me to the room where I would wait until the official start of the games. He reached out and held onto one of my hands. I squeezed it lightly. I looked up at him, my lower lip starting to quiver and my eyes starting to water.
"I'm really scared," I whispered. Cinna met my eyes with his own. I could see he was trying to be strong. The door of a large glass cylinder situated in the middle of the room slid open.
"It's time to go," Cinna said.
"I really don't want to," I said. He hugged me briefly and then I had to leave. The door of the glass cylinder closed and started to lift up. I looked down and caught what I was sure to be the last look of my stylist and friend Cinna.