"Katniss?" I hear someone yelling from my door. I can't make out who it is, all I can make out is that it is male and low. Gale or Peeta. There are more knocks and I pull my pillow over my head to block out the noise. It doesn't help. "Katniss, let me in."

I still don't answer then I hear the noise stop. "Thank goodness" I whisper to myself. I try and relax but get interrupted a few seconds later by the sound of feet running up the stairs. "Dammit." I think again. The noise reaches my closed door and it bursts open.

"Go away." I say gruffly, still not knowing who is currently in my room.

"Katniss? What happened?" the voice says. Now I know who it is, unmistakably, it's Peeta. He would be the only one who cared about me enough to pick my lock. Why does he even care so much? My 'love' for him is a lie while his is so real.

"Go away." I repeat

"No." he says sternly

"I don't want to talk."

"Please tell me what's wrong. You came here running and crying your eyes out." Really? I didn't even realize it until now. I can feel my eyes puffy and in slight pain. I didn't know what happened after I ran from Gale. It was all a big blur of running. "I just want to help."

"Well you can't help." I snap, even though talking might make me feel a little better, I don't feel like talking, especially not this subject, especially not with Peeta.

"What if I can?" he says, his voice still so calm no matter how I treat him. Again, how do I deserve him?

"I-" my voice stops, a lump in my throat "I don't want you to."

"Please let me. I want you to be happy, Katniss," he sits on my bed and I can tell he is looking at me even though my back is turned away. "I just want you happy."

I can feel tears forming in my eyes yet again and I don't know why. It can't be him, it can't be.

"I don't want to hurt you anymore."

"Katniss you won't hurt me."

"Yes I will." I say loudly, turning around, showing my face that the tears have now taken over. He puts one hand on my shoulder and looks me straight in the eyes. His other hand wipes away my tears. "Peeta-" I croak

"Shh. Katniss, I love you and… and Gale can't hurt me."

I choke up. How could he have known I was talking about Gale? Can he really read me that well? I start to cry more and he pulls me into a warm, comforting hug. I allow myself to sob but quickly pull out after a minute or so.

"I can't. I can't hurt you."

"No, I told you, Katniss, you can't hurt me. I won't be hurt by it. I know it's hard for you. I know that I need to let you handle it however you will."

"Why do you love me?" I ask, wiping tears staining my face. He pauses, looking like he's taken aback

"You mean the world to me." He finally says. I smile slightly even though I know I will never be able to have as much love for him as he does me.

"Why do you love me… when I don't love you back?"

"Because, because I know that, deep down, you do care for me and whether you know it or not, you show that a lot." His hand reaches for my cheek and caresses it, "Katniss, you've shown me that you care about me so many times that I can't count them. I love you, Katniss. More than you will ever know."
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"Katniss, run! What are you doing? Run!"

I can feel the venom seeping through my body. I don't know where I'm going or what I am doing except running. I know that what I'm seeing can't be real because what is in front of me is oozing red. It's a body, floating in the air, being squeezed by nothing.

"Peeta!" I don't know where the voice is coming from, all I can do is hear. I'm frozen to the spot and I can't move anything. "Peeta!" says the voice again. Now I realize that the voice is me and the body is him. I become more frantic as I try to get out of this spot but it only causes me pain to move. "Peeta!" there are now tears in my voice.

"Katniss" Peeta says. His voice is straggled and in pain. I want to reach up and pull him from whatever is holding him up but my arms are still trapped in place.

The red coming from his body hits my face and when I look up, the red is pouring from his mouth. Cato come from behind him with a large sword in his hands, stained with red.

"Say bye to your lover boy, Girl on fire." Cato says right before stabbing Peeta in the chest with the sword.

"Peeta! No!"

"Katniss, Katniss!" Peeta says again. But this time his voice is strong and normal "Katniss!"

My body isn't frozen anymore but now it's shaking franticly.

Everything around me fades to black.

"Katniss! Wake up." I sit up in the safety of my bed and release a breath I had been holding for who knows how long because I am gasping for air when I do.

When I look beside me I see Peeta, alive and healthy.

"Peeta!" I say as I engulf him in a large hug, tears spilling out of my eyes uncontrollably. "Peeta." I say again in between sobs.

"It's okay, Katniss. It was just a nightmare. It'll be okay." He says with his hands stroking the back of my head gently.

"It was so real."

"But it wasn't, it wasn't real."

I let out a shaky breath as I calm down and stop crying. "I thought you were gone."

"I'm right here, Katniss. I will always be here for you." He places a kiss on the top of my head "Was it the Games?" I nod my head "Do you wanna talk about it?" I shake my head 'no'. "Okay."

I burrow my head in his chest, his arms still around me and mine around him.

"I'm so sorry." I whisper

"For what?"

"That I couldn't save you."

"You did save me. I wouldn't be here if you didn't."

"No, I didn't save you, Cato got you. He-he stabbed you and, and I couldn't do anything." I say, crying again

"What do you mean? I'm here you helped me. I'm alive."

"No you died and I just froze."

"Was this your dream?" I shake my head 'yes' "What happened?"

"We were in the Games and I got stung with the tracker jackers. You were telling me to run and I did." He shakes his head, signaling that this actually happened "Then I was running and then you were in front of me, hanging in the air by nothing. You were bleeding really badly but I couldn't move. I couldn't move but I was calling your name. You didn't say anything and I got really worried. I kept screaming your name and trying to move but I couldn't and it hurt." I take a deep breath "Then you called my name. But- but your voice was terrible, like you were in horrible pain and it made me worry even more. Then… then you coughed up blood and Cato steeped out from behind you and told me to say goodbye and he stabbed you" I am sobbing now "He stabbed you and I couldn't do anything about it."

He pulled me into a deeper embrace "It was just a nightmare it didn't happen."

I can feel myself falling into sleep and I let myself give in. I can feel Peetas' hands on my back and head.

"I love you." Is the last thing I say before falling asleep.