It's been one month. Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is a week and a half away. Both sides of the family are here. With everyone here, dressed up in warm clothes, all happy, it just feels wrong.
It feels so wrong that they're happy.
They're happy when Finn's not here.
It's late, and I'm sitting in the kitchen again.
And I get to thinking.
"What do you think he wants?" I whisper.
"I think he's after you." Prim whispers. "And whatever he wants, he'll do whatever it takes to break you to get it."
He'll do whatever it takes to break you…
I remember, way back when we were dating, before Cato raped me…
"So what's up with you and Finnick Odair?" he asks, slinging his arm around my shoulder.
"We're just friends Cato."
"More like siblings."
I laugh. "Yeah. He's my rock. I would do anything for him."
"What would you do without him?" he stops walking.
I turn to him and think about it for a while.
"I would break."
The glass in my hand falls to the floor.
"Oh my god…" I whisper.
I was too busy drowning in my own self-pity to see the facts. I was too busy to see that Cato has Finnick.
I grab my black hoodie off of the back of the dining room chair and pull it on over my tank top. I tie but my boots as people start waking up, and I run downstairs, past the kids bedrooms to the laundry room. I get my bow and arrow, and I run through the house. I can hear tired voices upstairs and someone, Peeta, starts coming downstairs. I snatch my wallet up off the table.
I bolt. I run out the front door, down the street, shoving people out of the way. I probably scare them, because I'm armed.
"Excuse me!" I push someone. "Sorry, coming through!" I swerve around children and elders and some people that scream my name. I put my wallet in the pocket of my hoodie, put my bow across my chest and my arrows over my shoulder and keep running. I run into Time Square and duck into an old abandoned shop and lean against the wall, gasping.
Where to go…
Where would I take someone to break them?
I would take them somewhere that they know the person they are trying to break will be found…
Where would I go…
I would say Kentucky, but something tells me no.
I'm not doing myself any favors by not having any sleep.
I go to the back of the shop, lay down on the old unfished floor and drift off to sleep.
…a…
The first word that comes to my mind when I wake up is Subway.
I peek out the window to see a screen on a building with my face on it next to Finnicks with a huge red title saying MISSING!
If I leave this shop and get spotted by anyone, they're going to call the cops because I'm now a missing person.
But…why should I care? I don't have anything to lose. My brother could be dead because of the person I hate the most.
I think real hard.
What about Subway? The food or the actual Subway?
I'm not hungry. As a matter of fct, I think I'm going to be sick.
There must be an old abandoned Subway…
No.
I shake the thought from my head. He isn't going to stay in New York City. There's not a chance.
He might stay in New York though…
I start getting another memory.
"When you get older, where do you want to go?" Cato asks.
"Um…" I smile a little. "I've always wanted to go to Clinton."
Clinton, New York.
I can't get a Taxi because I'll get taken to the police station. I can't go home, not now. If I do, I'll be spotted and then my family is going to skin me alive.
I guess the time on the Track Team in high school is about to pay off.
I rip open the door and immediately, I'm spotted. Someone screams "There she is, there's Katniss!" and then everyone in hearing range follows her finger.
People all start whipping out their phones. I bolt down the street, and they follow me.
It's going to take a day for me to get there.
So I run. I run as fast as I possibly can. I hear sirens and I see buildings with me on them running.
God dammit, I'm really going to get it when I get home.
…a…
I stop and get food, store up on energy and go again. It's snowing. I've been going for a while and I dip into an old shop for the night again.
…..a…..
The next morning, I start again, and I enter Clinton around noon.
If he isn't here, I'll call Peeta and risk an argument.
I walk around the city for a while, and I see an old motel and something tells me to go check. I walk in. there's nobody behind the counter so I go and search the files. I'm going to get in so much legal trouble if I'm caught.
Harris. C Anthony
I bet that C stands for Cato.
Floor two, room 28.
I clear the history and close the page, and then I take the elevator upstairs and get ready to shoot.
I walk to floor 28.
I press my ear to the door and listen.
"Tell me where I can find her and you can go home to your wife and kid!" Cato says.
"Never!" Finn says. He sounds so weak.
"You asked for it."
"No! Please!" Finn says. He cries out in agony, and I shoot the handle, rip the arrow out of the doorknob and walk into the room.
"Get down on the fucking ground!" I say.
Cato whips around and grins.
"Katniss, darling, how wonderful of you to join us." He smiles.
"Kitty, no, you need to leave." Finn starts crying.
I ignore him. He's hurt very badly and has multiple broken bones.
I pick up the hotel phone and dial the police.
"You're a motherfucking asshole, you know that?" I ask Cato as I rip the sheets off of the bed and shoot him in the arm. He screams, and then I tie him to the bed.
"911, what is your emergency?"
"Yeah, this is Katniss Mellark. I found Finnick and I've got Cato, too." I hang up and toss the phone on the floor. When I'm sure Cato isn't going anywhere, I help Finn up.
"We need to go." I say. "If they come and they get us I'm going to be in a shitload of trouble because I can't prove I have a weapon permit."
"I don't know if I can walk." He says. I hand him my bow and arrows.
"Get on my back. I'll be fine."
He does, and he's lost so much weigh that it's like I'm carrying Elizabeth, bot Finn.
I run out the door and down the street, ducking behind a building when the cops whiz past.
When I'm sure they're gone, I start out again.
…..a…
"Are you seriously going to carry me, all broken, through New York City?" he mumbles.
"Yes."
"Kitty this is a terrible idea."
"Well I only have a credit card so I can't call Peeta. I know you don't have any change on you."
"You amaze me." he says.
"If it makes you feel better, I'll walk along the Hudson and we can just walk in through the backdoor."
"Please." He says, burying his face in my shoulder.
I take a back road and walk until we hit the river.
The people we do pass shriek. I say hi to them, and before I know it, Finn is cracking up and groaning in pain at the same time.
We walk along the river, and I stop outside my back gate and put him down. "Finn." I whisper.
"Yeah?" he asks.
"I um…I didn't tell you but…I really love you. We need to hang out more. I've been so busy I didn't even realize how much I miss you." I hug him. He hugs me back.
"I love you, Kitty."
"I love you too, Finn."
"Are you ready to face our spouses?"
"Hell yeah." I put him back on my back and carry him in the house. I put my bow back where it belongs and I walk in from the laundry room.
Slowly, I creep upstairs and walk into the living room. I set Finn down on the couch. Everyone just stares at us.
It's clear Finn's in a shitload of pain.
Annie reacts first, but bursting into tears, hugging me and thanking me over and over again and then kissing Finn and asking him multiple questions so fast that he can't understand.
Then Peeta. "God dammit Katniss Joy." He says.
"What?" I ask.
He just shakes his head and pulls me into a hug tight enough to kill me. "You had me sick with worry."
"Literally," Rye adds, and then he shoves Peeta and hugs me. Mom gets up and starts tending to Finn. She gives him painkillers and washes his legs and everything and then puts him in a cast. How she had the stuff to do it is beyond me.
I go upstairs and get in the shower.
"Mom." Rose walks right in.
"Yeah?" I ask.
"I thought Cato killed you."
I rip the curtain back. "You what?"
"I thought Cato killed you. We all did. I mean…I know you were spotted armed in Times Square but that was four days ago. I thought he killed you."
"Honey…" I bite my lip and go back into the curtain. "You don't need to worry about that."
"Yes I do." She says. I start washing my hair with my coconut shampoo. Addi comes in.
"We thought you were dead." She says.
Jo comes in, and then Elizabeth, Jillian, Juliette, and Jen, who must have flown in when I went missing. They all say the same thing, that they thought Cato killed me. I wash my body and Prim comes in, and then every single girl in the house is standing in the bathroom while I'm taking a shower, even Annie.
"I would've died for Finn if it came down to it." I say.
"Which is why we thought you were dead! Peeta did too! He was seriously sick with worry. He threw up every ten minutes or so." Mrs. Mellark. I shut the water off and Aunt Portia hands me a towel. I wrap myself up and step out.
"Yeah, well, I shot Cato." I walk into Peeta and I's room and he's in there, getting clothes for Finn, I presume.
"You shot him?" Mom asks.
"Yeah."
"Is he…dead?" Addi asks.
"No, I shot him in the arm and tied him to the bed by some sheets and called the cops and left."
"You know you aren't going to get in any legal trouble, right?" Peeta asks.
"I know. I just ran because I didn't have any proof I could own my bow." I say.
He nods. I get out a white sports bra and a pair of sweatpants, and white panties.
Not caring, I drop my towel in front of everyone and get dressed.
I towel dry my hair and go into the bathroom to hang my towel up.
"You know we thought you were dead." Peeta whispers.
"I know, but I'm not." I say.
He looks like he's going to be sick, and then he goes into the bathroom and shuts the door.
"I still think he has the stomach flu." Mom says.
I follow him into the bathroom, and I hear everyone leave our room. I rub his back as the throws up, and then I stand off to the side as he washes his mouth out and brushes his teeth. His wet hands hold onto the edge of the counter when he's done, and he stares at the drain.
He starts shaking his head, and he looks so frustrated and upset. "You just don't understand." He says.
"Understand what?"
"What it's like to hear something shatter and come downstairs to find your wife is gone. It just…it's not okay. That is not okay. I get that you were going after your brother and all that, but…but you just left and I didn't know where you went. I thought you were dead! Think about not knowing where I am and thinking I was dead!"
"I'm sorry." I whisper.
"You don't understand."
"I know. I'm sorry."
"And your Mom thinks I have the stomach flu, but I don't I just…fuck Katniss." He hits the counter and then his grip tightens. "I'm literally sick with worry."
"Peeta…" I whisper.
He hits the counter again, and whips around, hooks his right arm tightly around my waist and smashes his lips against mine, locking both doors to get into the bathroom with his left hand and then he starts to palm my breast. His breath is minty and delicious. He moves forwards and I move back until I'm pushed against the door. "I fucking love you, okay?" he whispers between frantic kisses.
"I love you too." I moan softly. His hands on me disappear and I hear his jeans hit the floor.
"Can I fuck you?" he whispers, beginning to suck on my shoulder.
"Please." I moan softly again. He pulls away and strips naked, and then he strips me.
"I love you." He whispers. His left hand goes back to my breast.
"I love you too." His touch becomes gentler.
…..a…..
"So…" Finn says. "I think we all deserve to know how you found me."
I shrug. "Prim said Cato wanted me and he was going to do whatever it takes to break me."
"So…?" he trails off.
"Back before we…broke up…he was all suspicious about me and you and he was asking me stuff and I told him that I couldn't live without you. I knew right then and there that he had you. That's when I left. I slept in some old abandoned shop for the night and then I remembered telling Cato I wanted to go to Clinton." I shrug.
Peeta won't let go of me. He's had me in his lap and his head is hidden in my shoulder. I think he's asleep, but I can't tell.
"What about you?" I ask.
He cringes. "He kept trying to get me to tell him where you are. I refused and well…he was breaking every bone in my body. He broke everything from the wrist down."
"Even your…genital areas?"
"There's not a bone in my penis, Katniss."
"What do you mean there's not a bone."
"It's just cartage, honey." Peeta whispers.
"What? Is it really?"
"Yes." He laughs. "Although it can still be broken."
"That's weird."
His grip on me tightens. "I know." He sighs.
I stretch and yawn. "I'm going to bed."
"Why?" Ryan demands.
"Honey, I haven't slept in two days." I say.
"I'm going to bed too." Peeta says. It's nine at night and I am exhausted.
I pause. "So are you five." I point to the little ones. The triplets are already out cold, but Elizabeth and Jillian are wide awake. I pick up Juliette off the floor and Peeta gets Caden and Cody and we go upstairs and put them in bed, and then I go downstairs and bring Jillian and Elizabeth to bed.
I say goodnight to everyone, and then I go upstairs and strip down to my underwear as I walk, and I toss my clothes in the hamper and crawl into bed. Peeta shuts the door, takes off everything but his boxers, hands me his shirt and crawls into bed next to me. I sit up and pull his shirt over my head, and then I lay down and let him pull me close.
"I love you." He whispers.
"I love you too."
Don't expect another chapter tonight, because it's 1:10 am here and I'm going to bed.