Chapter 28

Peeta's POV

Knock knock.

I'm surprised. I've got visitors, for the first time in four days. They enter my room in before I can even answer their knocking: two robust men, carrying a large box. They put it at the table at the end of my hospital bed, whilst they avoid making eye contact with me. Why should they do that? Are they afraid of me? Or do they think I'm mental, like the other who do not believe my warnings about Katniss? I ask them, but they do not seem to hear me.

The men open the box and reveal what's inside of it: a television.

"You think you're doing me a favor by letting me watch a movie or something?"

They do not respond and start to install the television, plugging in wires.

"Hello, I'm talking to you !?"

Alright, ignore me, fine, I'm used to it by now. I wait for them to give me the remote control, so I can switch the television on. But they do it for me instead, perhaps because I'm still tied up.

"Thanks, but, can I choose the channel?"

Without saying a word, the men leave. Fine. I'll watch what they want me to watch. I look at the screen. It's black, but I can hear a voice-over. It's a male voice that sounds a bit familiar, but I don't remember who it belongs to.

"Peeta. You might not remember who I am, but this is Haymitch speaking." Peeta, that's my name, I know that, but Haymitch... never heard of the guy, I think. But still, he sounds so familiar... The voice keeps talking: "This video we're going to show you is made specially for you. "

Wow – I'm flattered.

"It will tell you about things you should know about yourself and about euhm … other things. I hope it will brighten things up a little bit."

Well, that makes two of us. The screen goes from black to a image of five persons standing in front of a bakery. One of them is an angry looking woman, who's standing next to a humble looking man. In front of them are standing three boys, arms around each other. I recognize one of them. Me – standing in the middle. My eyes widen. I can't be on a picture with people I do not know? Or can I?

"Hey," I shout, "turn this thing off, it ain't funny!"

The screen changes to another picture. I see a town, full of old houses. The streets look deserted and it appears to be raining. I have been there, I believe this is District 12. But I'm not sure if I visited in my dreams, or lives there in real live. The image on the screen changes again and I see a bunch of people my age, smiling at me. They look so happy I feel jealous. I wish I was one of them. Happy, untroubled, surrounded by friends. The screen changes once more. The picture of the me and the other people shows up once more.

"Your stupid movie is broken! I've already seen this!"

I'm getting sick of it. They want to mess with me? Well, I wont let them. I close my eyes and try shut out the pictures showing up at the television screen. But I can't, I can still see them in my mind. Argh! Those people... Who could they be? Those boys, they kind of hugged me. Did they like me? Did we know each other well?

Suddenly I remember something Delly said.

Where's my family?

"They're gone Peeta, District 12 is gone."

Family... Could they be? I open my eyes and wait for the picture to show up again. This time, I study it very closely. Yes … They might be. They look like me. The boys standing next to me both have blond hair. The woman has the same eye color as I have. This can't be a coincidence. I try to raise my hand in a moment of confusion, but I only feel pain. I'm still chained...

I want to get closer to the screen in order to study those people even more. But I can't. I close my eyes again and try to think.

My family. Yes, they are my family! But Delly told me they're gone. Gone, just like my memories about them disappeared.

Did my memories die with them?

Sadness hits me like a bullet. I don't know were that came from. Although I have no clear memories, I still seem to care about them, deep inside. But how? I realize it's because my family and District 12 must have been real, they really existed. But I can not remember! There are so many things I can't remember... Maybe I forgot about other people too, about other people I cared about. Just like I forgot about my family.

I wanna know more, I wanna find out more about my life. I can not forget important things like this. I have to remember!

"Do you people have some other tapes like this one?"