14.
When we finally go back to the Bakery, Rye is there. I'm not sure where he went before and I didnt see him come back in but he did. "So Rye how did it go with Sarah?" Peeta asks as soon as we walk through the front door. Rye is working the till so its only him out here. He looks up at us with suspiscion written on his face but he is still smiling the same smile I saw when he was talking to Sarah.
"It was good but how did you know?" He asks. His eyes find me and his smile turns cocky. He knows.
"We where near you, we saw." Peeta says and I can hear the small laugh playing on his lips.
"Katniss, I told you that in confidence." He says to me, pulling himself up to his feet and facing me and I have to hold in the laugh, threatening to come out of my mouth.
"Sorry, but you werent going to do anything about it, so I did." I reply and he laughs at me. Still he walks round the counter and pulls me into a small hug.
He lifts me up off the floor slightly. "I guess I can only say thank you." Then he pulls away and smiles at me. "You too brother." Then he hugs Peeta and I adjust my crutches so that I can lean on them properly. Rye knocked them slightly out of place when he picked me up.
We both smile at him and walk into the back, making sure that his mother isnt back yet. "Well that went well I think." He says. He places his hand on my back, leading me around and I cringe at his touch. Its a bad cringe and I feel the tears threaten to come from my eyes. My mind is spinning with the thought of Eric and I know that I have to get away from this place. The Town Square and the Bakery. It brings back too many memories already.
"Yes it did. So what else shall we do today?" Peeta asks me.
"Actually I think I might go home and spend some time with my family. I havent seen them enough." I say to him and hurt spread through his face. "I just need to get away from all this for a day or two and go back to my old life." He nods looking down at the floor.
"Are you sure?" He asks.
"Yeh, I think I've got too comfortable here and I cant let myself do that. I'm sorry Peeta but I need to get home. Eric has messed my head up and everything just scares me now, everything but my home. He doesnt know where I live. I'll be okay there." He nods again and I smile sadly. "I'll see you round Peeta." He probably knew it was gonna come anyway, I've been telling him for days that he needs to get his old life back. He cant do that when I'm here.
"You alright walking back by yourself?" He asks.
"Yeh, I'll be fine. Eric isnt allowed to leave his house and I have these crutches so I'll be home in no time." He smiles at me, hiding the pain.
"Well, I'll get your clothes washed from yesterday and get Rye to send them over." He says but I dont want to ever see them clothes again.
"No, dont. Just throw them away. I cant look at them again, not after the other night." He nods in understanding. "I guess I'll see you round then."
"I guess, Bye Katniss." He turns to walk up the stairs, leaving me to find my own way out. I decide to walk out the front.
Rye is there when I walk through the door. "You going?" He asks.
"Yeh, I'll see you round." I say to him, leaving as quickly as I can. I cant say goodbye to him aswell. As I get out the door, tears fall from my eyes. I cant believe I just did that to Peeta of all people. I needed him and I still do in this time of my life with everything that is going on but I know that he had a life before I started hanging around with him and he needs that back.
It feels kind of weird walking through district 12 by myself after what happened but I also feel kind of Victorious because he might be getting arrested. I doubt his mother will do that to her own son but I can still hope that she realises what he did was wrong. I'm also used to walking this journey with Peeta, even before I came face to face with Eric, he walked me home, just for the company. I feel like I was getting way too attached to him though and with the Reaping not that far away, I cant afford to be doing that now.
It tears me apart inside but I dont think I will be coming back to the Bakery until I finally am able to hunt again. At the end of the day, Masan always gave me a good amount of food for squirrels and I cant afford to lose it, despite everything that is going on. I need to spend some time with my little sister and Peeta is getting in the way of that, I like to spend time with him because he makes me feel safe but I cant fall in love with him because I wouldnt be able to deal with the loss if he went into the Games. But I guess thats what love is. Thats why I have to let him go now before ir gets worse.
I make it to my house in an hour and a half, wiping my eyes before I walk through the door. Mum and Prim are in the kitchen so I try to dodge them and make it up to my room but Prim sees me and runs up. "Katniss, whats wrong?" She asks.
"Nothing Little duck. I'm gonna go to bed." I say to her.
"But its only 3pm." She replies and I check the rusty old clock on the fireplace. She's right.
"I'm tired. I'll see you later." Then I pull myself up the stairs and crawl under my sheets, curling up into a ball and cry.
PEETA POV
Watching her leave through the bathroom window was heartbreaking. Seeing her hobble away and even from here I could see the tears flowing down her face. This is all Eric's fault. He needs to pay for it and he needs to pay tonight. I dont care what anyone says, if it doesnt happen tonight then it might never happen. He doesnt just hurt Katniss physically, he destroyed her, inside and out. I need to tell Rye though, I can do it myself and Rye wants to help so he can. I've been sat here for about 2 hours thinking about it and I've never felt so certain of anything in my life.
I walk out the bathroom and pretty much fly down the stairs. I try the shop but he isnt in there which means its break time so he is sitting with Dad and Leaven in the sitting room. I run back through, steam pretty much coming from my ears. "Rye!" I shout before I even get into the room.
"Whatever it is you think I did, I didnt do it." He says defensively.
"Its time, I'm gonna make the bastard hurt." I can myself shaking with anger and if I dint get to him soon I'm probably going to punch someone that I didnt mean too.
"Oh fantastic, Lets go brother." He jumps up ready but Dad stands up blocking the way.
"Time for what?" He asks.
"Eric. I'm gonna make sure that son of a bitch hurts. He deserved nothing less." I say to him.
"You're doing this for Katniss?" He asks. I nod. Then he moves aside. "Do what you need to." I smile at him and me and Rye leave the Bakery walking down the back street to the Clothes shop.
"Right, he should be coming out to take the bin out soon. Then I say we grab him pull him out of earshot of the clothes shop and jump him." Rye says making it sound like we are some kind of cereal killers or something. I nod though. Its Sunday which means everyone puts there bins out tonight so the bin men can come round and empty them tomorrow morning. "We just have to wait for him."
And so we do. We wait for atleast an hour and its already started going dark when he comes out, pulling the bin behind him. "Yeh okay mum I got it!" He shouts back into the Clothes shop sounding annoyed. "Stupid bitch." He whispers.
"You know, its not nice to disrespect your mother like that." Rye says, walking out of the shadows that we are stood in.
"What do you want Mellark?" I hear Eric ask.
"I wanted to talk to you about something." Rye says. I hear Eric shut the back gate to his yard. Good, this is my time to come out.
"What about?" Eric asks.
"We wanted to talk about what a horrible excuse for a human being you are." I say stepping out of the shadows.
"I knew this would be about Katniss, listen I didnt mean to, Joe forced me too." As is he thinks he can use that on me, I know Joe and he wouldnt do anything like that especially when he knows Katniss and knows who she is and what she's like from what I heard, Joe actually liked Katniss. He was Gale's friend after all.
"I dont believe you. Joe was an alright guy until he started hanging around with you." I say to him and me and Rye both step forward to him but he doesnt move at all. Does he really think he can take me and Rye on? We are the reigning champions of the wrestling team. Well Rye is but thats only because I let him win. I still came second though. Very close second.
"Ok fine, I did do it and you know what? I enjoyed every single minute of it. She deserved it after getting pregnant off scum like you. I dont even know what my stupid little sister see's in you." He says, his voic making my blood boil. I'm squeezing my fists so tight that my fingers feel like they are going to snap.
Rye steps forward and slams him back into the fence. "Dont cann my brother Scum ever again!" He spits at him. I dont think I've ever seen him so angry before. "And never disrespect Katniss again or I will be burying you myself."
"I can do whatever I want to either of them. Your whole family are just like the Seam Scum you see rolling around these days." Rye fists collides with his face and his head slams against the fence, blood starts pouring out of his mouth almost instantly.
Eric falls to the ground once Rye lets go of him. "Anybody from the Seam is 10 times better than you. If you ever say anything about my family I'll bury you alive." Then his foot flies out and knocks Eric backwards.
I'm honestly frozen, I dont have any idea what to do. "Peet, your turn. Think what he did to Katniss." I think back to the other night and how she almost died and I walk over, grabbing his shirt, pulling his face up to mine.
"Its people like you that make me sick." I say to him and he tries to say something back but I throw his head back against the dirt floor and pull myself up, kicking him straight in the ribs, feeling something crack under my foot. Rye comes over and gives him another punch in the face.
Its not enough though and I know it is. From the pain that he caused Katniss, he deserves more. Letting my anger take over, I step sightly to the side and kick him as hard as I can in the balls. Even better, I'm wearing steel toe capped boots because they are better for working at the Bakery when he drop something on your foot so that must have bloody hurt. "Its the least you deserve." I say to him. Thats when I hear the door open behind the gate.
"Eric what are you doing! Get in here now!" His mother shouts.
I lean down quickly as Rye starts moving away. "If you ever tell anyone about this, I will kill you." Then I slam his head onto the ground again, knocking him out and I set off running after my brother, a smile playing on my face.
We fly back through the door of the Bakery and Dad is standing there with Leaven and Mum who I didnt know was back. "You do it?" My dad asks.
"Yeh its dealt with." Rye says.
"What did you do this time?" My mother asks.
"They just took the bin out Aymee its fine, you go to bed." She nods and leaves. "Well done boys." My dad says once mums gone.
I turn to Rye and give him a quick high five and a hug. "I think its about time we get tidied up around here and went to bed." Lev says and we nod.
I think about going to tell Katniss but then I realise that she wants her space but I cant even feel sad about that at the moment after that. I made Eric pay and thats all I have wanted for the past few days.