A/N: Hey y'all! What's up?
I've been doing mighty fine, just living the life of a teenager!
I just read something on the internet that tore my heart apart. I can't use headphones, because I just got my ears pierced, and my ears are super sensitive, so if I even wear a pair of headphones for 10 minutes, my ear will swell up. No headphones means no music which means, I can't listen to anything while I write! How stupid is that!
Hope y'all are enjoying this story so far, I know I am enjoying writing it, and I will be so heartbroken when it ends. But we always have the sequel to look forward to, right?
I have been getting so many new people reading this story. A few chapters ago I had a little over 7,000 reads, and now there are well over 8,000 reads. You guys are so amazing, and I love hearing from you, so keep the awesome reviews coming. :)
Guess what? This chapter is Willow's first day of school! So, yes, we are flash forwarding a year ahead, which means, Rye is a little over a year old, Willow is 4 years old, I believe, and Katniss and Peeta are, well their ages don't matter, all I know about them at this point is that they are over 30 years old.
Rye is just learning how to walk, just wanted to throw that out there. I think that is pretty useful information at this point, so yeah.
Wow, long author's note! Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games, I am just a crazy fangirl who loves writing about the Hunger Games. And I mean it when I say I'm crazy. All belongs to Suzanne Collins, well maybe not all, but most of it does belong to Suzanne Collins.
Chapter... wait, is that right? Chapter 25! How the heck did that happen?
"But, mommy, I don't want to go to school!" Willow whines.
"Honey, you have to go to school. You don't have a choice. Now please, let me put your outfit on." I tell her.
"No! I'm not going. And you can't make me."
"Now, Willow, I'm not liking this attitude of yours! You are going to school, and that is final."
"But, mommy!" She whines.
"No buts!" I warn her. "Peeta, will you please come talk to your daughter!" I yell to Peeta, who is downstairs, packing Willow's lunch.
"Coming!" He yells back. "What's the problem?" Peeta asks when he gets to Willow's room.
"Your daughter won't let me get her ready for school!" I tell him.
"Why, Willow?" Peeta turns his attention to Willow.
"I don't want to go to school!" She pouts.
"But school is fun, Willow. You'll love it." He tells her.
"Mommy didn't love it." She's right, I didn't.
"Well, school was different back then. Besides, if you don't go to school then you won't get to eat the cookies I put in your lunch." He bribes her.
"Cookies!"
"Yep, cookies."
"Okay, I'll go to school for the cookies." She smiles. I dress her in a red plaid dress, white ruffled socks, and black flats. I do her hair in two braids, like I did on my first day of school. She looks a lot like I did, except much healthier and nicer than I ever did. My red dress back then was all dirty.
Peeta goes downstairs to finish making breakfast.
"I look so pretty, mommy!"
"Yes, you do. Are you ready to eat breakfast?"
"Yes! What are we having?"
"Pancakes, bacon, and orange juice."
"YAY! Why so special?"
"Because it's your first day of school."
"Oh. Do they give us food at school?" Willow asks.
"Yes. But some kids bring their own food. And in some classes the teachers give out snacks or treats on special occasions."
"If there's food, then I'll love school!"
"Okay." I giggle.
"Katniss! Willow! Breakfast is ready!" Peeta calls from the kitchen.
"Coming!" I call back. "Come on, Willow." I lead her downstairs, and then I go to get Rye out of his crib.
"Good morning, Rye." I greet him.
"Mowing, mama!" He shouts, jumping up and down in his crib. Rye has learned to speak a few words in the past year. He can say things like mama, papa, morning, or mowing as he says it, baba, ball, toy, and many more. Although he can speak lot's of words, he can't use them in sentences yet, so he usually just says one word to tell us what he wants.
"Mama! Out!" He shouts, telling me to get him out of his crib.
"I'm coming." I say, smiling. I grab him out of his crib, and carry him downstairs. I set him down in his highchair and give him some cut up pancakes and orange juice. He eats it, gladly.
"Yummy!" Rye shouts. "Yummy!"
"Thank you, Rye." Peeta thanks him. I start eating the pancakes Peeta set in front of me. Rye was right, they do taste amazing.
"These are really good, Peeta." I say.
"Thank you." He smiles. "Willow, how did you sleep last night?"
"I had a bad dream." She says, sadly.
"Why didn't you come and tell us?" I ask her.
"I don't know."
"Willow, whenever you have a bad dream, you can come tell us." Peeta tells her.
"Okay." She says. After a moment she adds, "Does mommy get bad dreams too?"
"Yes, mommy gets bad dreams." Peeta answers her.
"Is that why you always scream at night, mommy?"
"Yes, Willow, that's why I scream." I answer her, not making eye contact.
"What are your nightmares about?" This catches me off guard. Nightmares. Nightmares. Nightmares. That's all I can think about. But not just any nightmares. Nightmares about the Hunger Games, and President Snow. Nightmares about screaming children and Prim. Nightmares about Peeta, my mother, and my children. Nightmares. Nightmares. Nightmares. That's everything I see at night. Starving children. Dying parents. Blood. These are all the things that haunt my nights, but this is something I cannot tell my daughter. It would scare her, frighten her to death to know what my past was like. She will learn someday, but not today. I will not let her know, until she is ready.
"Katniss?" I hear, but all I see is darkness. I can't focus on anything but nightmares. I hear screams, it sounds like my own, but I can't be sure. Is this my imagination or am I really screaming? Is this even my scream? I hear my name being called over and over, but it seems as if it is a thousand miles away. Maybe all this is my imagination. Is nobody screaming? Is nobody calling my name? There are so many questions that I cannot answer, yet I try so hard to do so.
My daughter is calling for me, but I can't reach her. I can't reach anybody right now, not even Peeta. I'm in a trance and can't get out. I'm stuck. But I can't think about that, because I'm in my first games right now. There's Rue, dying. And there's Peeta by the river with a sword wound. Glimmer's death. Marvel's death. Cato's death. Suddenly, all that vanishes and I am somehow in my second games. I go throught pretty much my whole life, up until Prim gets blown up, then I am in my kitchen again.
"Mommy!" Willow is crying, and so is Rye. Willow jumps up on my lap and hugs me. "Mommy! What happened? You wouldn't talk to us for a whole two hours!"
"Sorry." I realize now that I have tears all over my face. "Willow, your late for school!"
"Yeah, well daddy wasn't going to leave you here all by yourself while you were like that."
"Okay, well let's get you to school then. Go get your shoes on."
As she leaves, I go to get Rye some shoes, but Peeta pulls me aside.
"Are you feeling okay?" He asks me.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I lie. The truth is, I'm not fine. I just experienced my whole life right before my eyes. Every terror and sorrow.
"You've never 'zoned out' for that long before." He says, sadly. "I was worried you weren't going to come back."
"I would always come back." I say, trying to cheer him up, but it doesn't work.
"Maybe we should take you to see a doctor about this. It seems like it's gotten worse than it was 15 years ago."
"Peeta, I'm fine, really. Your just worrying too much."
"Katniss you have 'zoned out' like that twice this month already. It's not normal."
"Can we just not talk about it? We have to get Willow to school." I say, slightly annoyed with him.
"Fine, but I'm making you a doctor's appointment." He says.
"If it will get you to shut up, then fine." I snap.
He rolls his eyes and goes upstairs.
I go back to getting Rye's shoes, and then place them on his feet.
"Willow, do you have all your things ready to go?" I ask.
"Yes!" She walks into the kitchen and she has her backpack on her back, and she looks ready to go.
"Alright, let's go." I say. "Peeta, come on! We're leaving." I say.
"Coming." He walks downstairs, with our camera in his hand. "Let's go."
As we make our way to the schoolhouse, all of hand in hand, Willow sings the meadow song. She learned all the words, because they are painted, by Peeta, on her wall. He painted it when we were making her nursery, and it turned out perfectly.
"Willow, are you excited?" Peeta asks, when she finishes her song.
"Yep. I wasn't so excited this morning, but when you told me about the food, I got excited." She smiles.
"That's good." Peeta says.
We get to the schoolhouse and Peeta takes a quick picture of all of us in front of the schoolhouse.
"Goodbye, Willow. Have a great day." I smile.
"Bye, mommy. Bye, daddy."
"Bye, sweet pea." Peeta smiles, giving her a hug and kiss. I do the same.
"Bye, daddy. Bye, Rye. Bye, mommy."
"Bye- bye, sissy." Rye says. Willow goes into the schoolhouse, while we go the opposite way to the house. Me and Peeta hold hands, while I hold Rye with one arm. Peete keeps eyeing me, and I can see the hint of worry in his eyes. Why is he making such a big deal out of the whole 'zoning out' thing? It's not like this hasn't happened before.
When we get home, we put Rye down for a nap. I go to the living room to sit down and I hear Peeta in the office, he's on the phone talking to the doctor. I can hear the conversation, slightly.
"She's been 'zoning out' a lot lately." I hear him say. "it's already happened twice this month and I'm getting worried. This morning she zoned out for two hours." He pauses. "Yes." Pauses again. "No she hasn't" Now I have no idea where this conversation is going, so I stop listening. A couple minutes later, Peeta comes to sit on the couch with me.
"I called the doctor."
"I heard." I mumble.
"Well, he said we can take you in next week."
"Terrific." I say, sarcastically.
"It's not that bad going to the doctors." Peeta tells me.
"Yeah, but what's the point of going if there's nothing wrong with me?"
"We don't know that there's nothing wrong with you. You could be really sick, and I don't want to take the chance of losing you."
"Your not going to lose me." I say. "Can't you just think positive? For me?"
"Okay." He snuggles closer to me and kisses my forehead. "But your still going to the doctor's."
"I know."
A few hours pass, and we just sit on the couch together. After Rye wakes up, it is already about time to pick up Willow, so we head out to do that.
When we get to the schoolhouse Willow is already outside waiting for us, with two other girls beside, one girl has black hair and dark skin, while the other girl has similar dark hair, but lighter skin. When she sees us, she runs in our direction and jumps in Peeta's arms, because I am carrying Rye.
"Hey, Willow." Peeta greets. "How was your first day of school?"
"It was great." She smiles. "We played at the playground, and we colored, and the teacher brought cupcakes for everybody! At lunch I made two new friends named Nila and Alicia! They are so much fun! We played at the playground together. It was a game where we were all wolves and we would chase these other people who were being bunnies. And then, Nila and Alicia both waited with me until you guys got here."
"Sounds like you had a lot of fun." I say.
"I did!" She beams. "My teacher's name is Mrs. Hawthorne, and she's real neat." Hawthorne? Could that possibly be Gale's little sister, who is now in her early 20's.
"Oh, do you know her first name?" I ask.
"Yes! She said it was Posy." She exclaims. It is Gale's little sister. I didn't know she became a teacher. Good for her.
Later that night we put the kids to bed, and then Peeta and I get in bed ourselves.
"Goodnight, Katniss." Peeta says.
"Goodnight, Peeta."
A/N: Hope that chapter wasn't too boring. Just a little family chapter.
Anyways, hope you liked it, I had fun writing it, like I do with all my chapters, because I love writing.
Chapter 26 will be up ASAP.
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!
Bye!