It's been too long.
How can it take this long? It shouldn't take over five hours. Come on. Please, let the door open.
My eyes bore into the metal door, willing it to open and for Boggs to come out, telling me what they found.
Please.
I just need to know what's going on. The search team were frantic upon their return, they had all jumped in the car and taken off, leaving me in the dust. She's my girl, I deserve to know what is happening to Katniss. Everyone had been extremely secretive when I finally arrived at the police station, puffing and completely out of breath.
"Please" I had begged. "Just tell me what you know. Is she going to be okay?"
"I don't know, not after this" and then the officer had gone back to the room where they were currently showing Boggs and Cressida the 'news'.
That was five hours ago.
"Mr Mellark, I think you should go home now" the receptionist behind the desk tells me as she brushes her dark hair off her face.
"I'm not leaving. Not until I know what's going on" I say as I stand my place.
I hear a click and my head whips around to see the door opening. My heart starts beating fast. Finally, I think. Boggs freezes when he sees me.
"Peeta what are you still doing here?"
"I'm not leaving until I know what's going on" I repeat, standing up and facing him. "Please Boggs, I need to know."
He turns around and starts to head back to his office. "I'm sorry Peeta. You can't know everything, and this is just something I can't risk you seeing and putting this whole process back." The door is about to close when what he just says really sinks in.
"No!" I yell, lunging forward and stopping the door from closing. "You can't do this!"
"Yes Peeta I can, now please let me shut the door before I call security department" he says sternly.
"Your supposed to be on my side" I call in despair "your supposed to help me!"
"I am helping you Peeta. Trust me you don't want to see this." My stomach twists. I need to know what is going on.
"Please just tell me!" My voice cracks as I scream out. I feel hands grab me from behind, Boggs doesn't need to call the security department, they must have heard my yells. "Let me go!" I jerk their hands off my arms but the guard just grabs me again, rougher.
"Come on Peeta, please cooperate here, we are trying our best to help Katniss" Boggs says as the security guard starts to pull me down the hall.
"No! Please, that's my girl! I need to know what's happening to her, please help."
Boggs shuts the door as the guard throws me outside. Whatever they found, it has changed everything, even Boggs' outlook on this. He promised he would tell me everything, show me everything. What happened?
I go and sit down on the grass under the tree. Dusk is falling quickly as I watch the sun which is halfway set behind the tree line of the woods. I lean against the tree trunk as hot tears well behind my eyes, threatening to spill down my cheeks.
Please Katniss, just come home, to me.
I pull my phone out of my pocket as I gaze longingly at one of the photos of Katniss. My heart aches with desperate need.
It's soon nearly dark out, just a few spare rays of lights peeking through the nighttime clouds. I'm not going home tonight. I said I wasn't leaving until I knew everything and i'm standing by that. I watch as person after person leaves the police station, obviously finished work and going home.
Though the time quickly increases, one light still remains in the station, the light I know belongs to Boggs. I also know he is the one left since he hasn't walked out yet. I stand up and go over to the front doors, I tug on the handle but they don't budge. I rattle the door, trying to see if there is maybe a chance the door is just jammed. No such luck.
I try and peer down the hallway, maybe to catch Boggs' attention, but his door is shut tight. My shoulders slump as I walk slowly back to the tree and slide down to the ground again. I close my eyes, willing for all this to just be over already. I've had enough of these games.
It's light when I next open my eyes. I blink a few times, trying to get my eyes used to the brightness.
"Hey what are you still doing here?" I look up to see Castor stepping out of his car as he makes his way over to me.
"I told you guys i'm not leaving until I know everything."
Castor sighs, "you been here all night?" I nod and stand up. "Come with me" he motions. I follow him up the steps and back into the police station. castor leads me down the hall to Boggs' office.
Boggs is sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. He looks up at the sound of us entering and I hate to admit the looks absolutely exhausted. His clothes look disheveled and there are dark circles under his eyes.
"Look who I found" Castor says as he pushes me down into a chair. "He's been loitering out the front under a tree since last night, says he refuses to leave."
Boggs sighs and runs his hands over his face tiredly. He looks at me, his eyes full of sadness and grief. "Are you sure about this Peeta?"
It takes me a moment to fully recognise what he is trying to say. I nod my head, quickly at first but I stop as soon as I notice the cautionary tone in his voice.
"Peeta nothing will ever prepare you for what you are about to see. I'm extremely sorry."
"Please" my voice breaks, "what do you know?"
"Peeta..." Boggs' eyes downcast before looking back up at me sadly. "We know where Katniss is. We've found her."
It takes a moment for this to sink in, and then it fully registers. No.
"She's...is she...oh my...is she" I feel my stomach heave at what I think he's saying as I start gasping for air.
"No! Oh no Peeta she's not dead. I'm sorry if what I said sounded that way." Boggs reaches up to rub my back as I double over in my chair, trying to clear my airways from the initial shock
"But you said..." I trail off when I have finally regained my composition.
"Yes we have found her" Boggs clarifies. Though his voice isn't happy, I know there's a but.
"So is she safe? Have you rescued her?" I say sitting up in my chair straighter.
Boggs shakes his head sadly. "Peeta i'm sorry but this case is much bigger than we originally thought. At the moment it would be impossible to save Katniss, the situation she's in...its deplorable."
"What? So you know where she is, but your refusing to save her? Where is she?!" I demand as my voice raises.
"Peeta you need to calm down. You don't know everything yet. Where Katniss is, the people who have taken her; It's not going to be easy getting her out. Even if we did, those people will keep coming back for her until they get what they want."
"What's happened to her?" I croak out.
"Are you sure your ready for this?" Boggs asks, and I know he's referring to what they found yesterday. I nod my head as my heart thumps and my mind whirrs. I'd be a fool to deny that I am scared, more so than I have ever been in my life.
Boggs turns his laptop around on the desk so the screen is facing me. At first the screen is black, and then the first flash makes me suck in a gasp of air.
"No!" Katniss screams as someone grabs at her. "Leave me alone!"
My stomach curdles and my heart pounds loudly, thumping as though it's trying to get out of my chest as I watch the video footage of when Katniss was taken. There's quite obviously two people, one of them is attacking Katniss while the other holds the camera, filming and laughing evilly.
"Please let me go!" She screeches as the mans wraps his arms around her neck in a death grip. I don't even notice i'm holding my breath.
"Your too pretty to let go" the man says in her ear as she struggles to get out of his grasp.
"Help! HELP!" Katniss screams out as the man covers her mouth with his hand. I stand here in shock, watching my girl as the man jerks his arm which is around her neck. Katniss' eyes roll into her back and her head lolls to the side.
"No" I whisper, covering my mouth with my hand in shock.
The video changes screens to Katniss. I immediately recognise the scene from the photo Boggs showed me the other day. Of Katniss looking up at the camera from the floor, tears pouring down her face as she screams. At least in the photo I couldn't hear anything.
But now that i'm watching the scene play out before me, her pain filled shrieks strike me painfully in the chest. Like icicles spearing through me.
"Please don't hurt him, leave him out of this" she cries as a hand comes down hard against the side of her face. I hear laughing from behind the camera as she screams. She screams out for me, telling me she loves me and she's sorry she didn't say it sooner.
"Hey Katniss, say hi to the camera. We're going to make sure your boyfriend watches this" one of the men sneers.
"Please don't hurt him" she whimpers as she curls up on the floor. She lets out a scream again and covers her head with her arms as another blow is swung at her.
I can't think straight. It's as though i'm seeing but not actually processing what's going on here. This can't be true. This can't be happening. My breathing turns heavy and as the video progresses, the more graphic things become. Watching Katniss as she is tied up in a dark, damp, concrete room. Watching her body deteriorate as she doesn't get food and a measly amount of dirty water each day. I watch as her face sinks in and her body turns frail. Suddenly I can't hold it in any longer.
I make it just in time as I vomit violently into the pot plant in the corner of the room. My mind spins dangerously and my stomach churns and twists.
"You say you can't get her out" I say weakly as I stand up and slowly take a seat again; accepting the bottle of water Boggs hands me. He nods. "Why? Why can't you get her out of there?"
"The people who have taken her. Well, we have some background information on them. It's a dangerous task and it needs to be planned. We will get her out, but we can't just rush into this without a plan set in place" he explains. I nod slowly, trying to process all this new information.
"The men however have put security cameras in Katniss' cell room. Our tech staff have managed to infiltrate their system. So we can keep awatch of Katniss and how she is doing" Boggs tells me.
"So you know exactly what is happening to her and when?" I try to keep my voice steady.
"Yes, we are keeping an extremely close monitor on her."
"Can you...can you tell me more about the guys? My voice sounds weak and broken.
Boggs shakes his head, "i'm sorry Peeta, for confidentiality reasons along with others, I cannot disclose any information on their profiles and past crimes. Not until we get further along with our rescue mission which is about to be put into place."
I nod my head. As much as I want to know about the guys, i'm not a police officer. Boggs has already shown and told me a mass of things, which the eyes of any normal person wouldn't usually see.
The door slams open, making me jump up in my chair with a fright.
"Boggs?" The man says quickly, as though what he needs to say cannot wait any longer.
"Plutarch" Boggs says, sitting up in his chair straighter. "What is it? What have you heard?"
"It's the Everdeen case" he says out of breath "another girl was taken last night. She's only 14 years old. We need to respond immediately to the conference room. The kidnappers were out on the streets. But that's not what worries me the most."
"What is it?" Boggs says alarmed. I feel my head spin with the news, another girl was taken?
"It's Katniss, I was watching the surveillance cameras in her cell. We need to rescue her immediately. She's almost gone, she was fine until a gun shot rang outside her cell. She just dropped to the floor completely unconscious from shock and i'm afraid her body will be too weak to regain consciousness without our help."
"But Plutarch...the plan" Boggs protests.
"You didn't see how weak she was! We need to go now or we'll lose the case and she'll die."