I do not own The Hunger Games
A/N: Hey! Second chapter today! I had a lot of free time :) I hope you enjoy it! What do y'all think of the fact that it's all in Katniss POV? I am going to warn you right off the bat though, this is one of the heavier chapters. It goes a bit more into Katniss' "Dark place" in her mind, and there's character death. Nothing too crazy, it stays in line with the T rating, but I just wanted to give you a warning so you didn't get a nasty surprise.
Katniss' POV
Every breath I take is sharp and painful, reminding me of what I just did. It's for his own good. I remind myself. Sure, it might be hard, but the right thing is always the most difficult one. I feel as though the walls might close in at any moment now. I have to get out of here. I can't have an episode. Not now.
My breathing is tense and ridged and I know I'm moments away from going back to my dark place. I run, elbowing people in the process, to my family's compartment and throw open the closet door, slamming it behind me. I bite down of my fist, fighting off a scream. Tears pour down my face and I'm back in the Capitol, watching Peeta getting tortured and him not caring, not caring because since I dumped him he doesn't want to live anymore. I unlodge my fist from my mouth, needing both my hands to cover my ears, to water the screams down. It's all too real to be a nightmare.
I bite down on my lip now to keep my scream in check, biting down so hard blood pools in my mouth. They lock him in the tank now, him screaming my name. Begging me to kill him physically, since I've already killed him mentally. I whimper, biting my lip harder . I can't contain the scream any longer. I have just enough sanity left to muffle it, so I scream into my knees, screaming his name, screaming for mercy, screaming for air to calm my angry lungs, but most of all screaming for relief from the never ending pain, all in one gut wrenching sound. The sound alerts my parents, and someone must throw open the door and pick me up, while I remain curled in my ball. I fight the hands, wanting the quiet, the security of my closet, but finding the exposed danger of my bed. Then a needle plunges into my neck and everything goes dark.
When the darkness clears, my mother looks as if she is about to faint, my father is just out of my field of vision, and Gale looks worried.
"Hey, Catnip." He says slowly, pushing the hair from my eyes.
I roll my eyes, pushing myself up despite my splitting headache. "I'm not retarded, Gale. Insane, yes, but not retarded." He grins, shaking his head. "How long was I out?" I ask.
"About half an hour." Prim's voice surprises me. She walks and sits down on the foot of my bed. I push myself all the way up and sit closer to her.
"I got you something in the market today, little duck." I say, fishing around in my pocket for the now slightly cracked piece of hard caramel.
A smile lights her face as she delicately unwraps it before popping it in her mouth. "Yum!" She says. "Oh, and could you help me with my history homework?"
"Of course!" I say. Prim grabs her textbook and a piece of paper, and I grab a pencil.
"What are you confused about?" I ask, looking at the map of what used to be part of Panem.
"I need help figuring out where District Eleven was. It says it was centered around Atlanta, Georgia, but I can't find Georgia."
Gale looks over my shoulder, trying to find it, too. "Well," I say, "It's about a little over two hours to District Eleven from District Twelve, and it's pretty much directly south, so that would make," I pause searching for the elusive Georgia for a moment, before finding it. "This Georgia."
"Thank you!" Prim chirps happily.
A voice calls out over the intercom. "Mockingjay crew to Command, I repeat, Mockingjay crew to Command."
Gale sighs. "That's us, Catnip."
I stand, and Gale follows. "I'll be back as soon as I can." I promise my family.
Gale and I walk to Command, me trialing behind, the sedative still working its way out of my system.
"You alright?'' Gale asks, stopping and looking over his shoulder. I catch up to him before responding.
"Of course." I say, his comment brushing me the wrong way for some reason. "I'm not weak, you know."
Gale pushes the button on the elevator. "I know, just wondering, with you breaking up with Mellark and all."
I step into the elevator angrily. "Who told you about that?" I demand.
"I heard it straight from the horse's mouth." He says. "Your mother sent me to go get him when you started screaming, and he told me that you broke up with him." The elevator door opens and I grumble curses under my breath while stalking into Command before plopping myself unceremoniously in one of the grey chairs that isn't taken. Boggs sits at the head of the table.
"The capitol was advertising that they were slaughtering a rebel tonight. We don't know who it is."
"Why are you leading us and not Coin?" Finnick asks.
"She was attacked." He replies. "I'll go into the details later, but for now we have to see who they're executing."
We all turn our attention to the projection screen. The Capitol seal appears, before fading to a live shot of the stocks. In the stocks stands a familiar woman, though I can barely recognize her. This woman has chin length curly red hair, eyes like emeralds and skin so light I'd be surprised if it had ever seen the light of day.
Haymitch's voice is pained. "Effie." He whispers.
President Snow's voice speaks. "This is Effie Trinket. She turned her back on her loving country and wishes for war to rock it, for violence to take over. In protection of the country, Miss. Trinket must be taken care of. But first, I will allow her to speak her final words.
Effie's voice is trembling when she speaks, though her Capitol accent is no less. "Haymitch." She squeaks. "Haymitch help! Save our daughter! She's with the best drinks in the Capit-"
A peacekeeper appears on screen and shoves his gun in the back of her neck. "Enough already! We don't have all day, traitor." He looks to Snow. "May I?"
Even Effie , dumb as she is, realizes what he's talking about. This is it. "Haymitch I love you!" She screams in a frantic rush. Than the gun fires and Effie Trinket's short life ends. Haymitch buries his head in his hands briefly before excusing himself silently by exiting the room.
There's a moment of silence. For her, out of respect. As annoying she was, she risked it all for the rebellion. She was on our side, because of Peeta, because of me. Because of Haymitch. And ultimately, she paid the final price. She paid the rebellion not with intelligence, not with secrets, not with weapons, but with her life. She will never see the sun, or breath fresh air again. Now I have to make sure Snow meets the same fate.
A/N: Not sure how I feel about the ending. Thoughts? Oh, and sorry for the overly dramatic Hayffie xD Please R&R!
