I know a couple of you have kind of figured out that this chapter was going to happen sooner or later. If this comes as a shock to you then I hope you like it :) Thanks for reading.
Chapter 10 - Birthday week.
KATNISS POV
Since I was attacked, Peeta or Rye wont leave my side. Its rather annoying. Peeta says that it was some guy dressed in black but I dont remember much about it personally. He said he found me in a ball on the floor shaking and crying but I dont remember it at all. All I remember is waking up with a dead arm and My Mother and Rye standing over me. I do remember being really confused though and really terrified. Peeta has also appointed Finnick to stand with me whilst I work which is also very good for business. When people find out that you have Finnick Odair at the register, they come in alot more. Masan put a sign up on the door saying that you cant come in unless you are buying something so its even better for business. We are already out of the share of stock for the day by midday, so the rest of the day we just spend talking.
Sometimes when we dont have customers, me and Finnick just sit there and play thumb wars or something. It sounds really childish but when you have a dead arm and a still sore back, there isnt much you can actually do, plus I have to stay here. Its quite hectic in the back. Some people have been ringing in orders and asking if Finnick can deliver them. I bet it annoys him but it cant be different than the publicity that he gets in the Capitol but atleast he has some friends here.
He seems to be having fun here. That much fun that it wouldnt surprise me if he ends up staying later than he was meant to. He has only been here for 3 days and we are all already used to his presence. He is so funny and charming at the same time that he automatically fit in. Especially with the Mellarks. They dont know him very well but you wouldnt believe that if you saw the way they are around him.
Rye is a different story, he seems intimidated by Finnick. The fact that he seems to be spending a lot of time around me but that is only because Masan asked him to stand behind the register and Peeta has asked him to watch over me. Its quite funny how jealous he gets. Then he tries to make me jealous by asking Finnick for tips on how to get a better girlfriend but it just makes me laugh.
"Katniss? you coming through?" Peeta asks from behind me and I focus back on reality. Finn seems to have already shut up the shop and now I'm just sitting here in an empty room. I lock the register and hand the key to Peeta to put on the key hook. Masan has a safe that he puts all the money in at the end of the day.
I follow Peeta through to the back and then into the kitchen. As soon as I walk through the kitchen door, I feel the heat hit me. "God its hot in here." I say, pulling my jumper over my head and placing it on the side. Rye turns around towards me and focuses on something that isnt my face. Its a little bit south of my face, turning my ears red. His eyes grow wide and I feel the need to pull my jumper back on. "Rye! could you not look at my boobs please?" I ask him. He lets out a slight laugh but just motions towards them as if thats going to make me feel any better.
"Did they... grow?" He asks me and I raise my eyebrow at him. He just laughs at me more.
"Yeh they did..." I hear Peeta say from my side and I follow Rye's gaze as he looks at his brother in surprise. "What? so I notice things, so what?" Peeta says to us both and I start laughing at the look and Rye's face. I think he's going to end up having some sort of jealous overload.
I find myself looking down to see if they are right and see that my boobs have actually grown bigger. "I guess they did. is that bad?" I ask them as if they would know.
"I dont know. Maybe you should ask your mother about it? You've been throwing up alot too, ask her about that." Rye says. I knew that someone was going to get me to go and see my mother about that eventually.
"I'll do it tonight." I nod and walk back out of the room, pulling my jumper back over my head, I dont want anyone else noticing things about my body that I am not comfortable with. If Finnick saw my boobs, I just know that he would make some sort of snarky remark.
When the time comes to leave, I'm actually quite worried about what my mum is going to tell me about it. What if she tells me that there is something wrong with me? I guess I'll just have to face the music, as my dad used to say. "Dont forget to talk to your mum." Peeta says as him, Finnick and Holly leave me at the road to the Victors Village. He offered to walk me home but I told him I'd be fine. I'm actually glad to be left alone for a while. Besides, I'll be home soon anyway. Then I'll have to deal with my mother.
"Hey, sweeties, how was your day?" She asks as I walk into my house. Her voice sounds calm.
"Good. Wheres Prim?" I ask, noticing that my younger sister doesnt seem to be in the house at all. It feels strange when she's not here, almost empty.
"She went to the Hawthornes." My Mother replies. "Rory invited her over for Dinner and then he is going to walk her back with Vick." I nod.
"Good, because I need to talk to you about something?" I ask her and she sits down on the sofa, noticing my urgent tone.
"What wrong?" She asks, patting the seat next to her, which I take.
"It might be nothing but Rye told me to ask you." I say and she nods. "Well, I've been feeling sick."
"Did you catch a bug of anyone?" She asks.
"No, I dont think so. Its not that type of sick. I'm not actually sick, I just get sick and its been happening for a couple of months I think." I say and her brows crease in concentration.
"Any other symptons?" She asks and I think about it.
"Well, Rye told me that My boobs are looking bigger. Thats all I cant think of." I say and she looks up at me, slightly terrified, I'm about to ask her whats wrong but she speaks again.
"You had any cravings for food that you dont normally eat?" She asks.
Come to think of it, I actually have. "Strawberries." She nods and then pulls me up and walks me over to the table, asking me to climb up onto it which I do and she pulls my shirt up, assessing my stomach. What is she doing? Is this meant to be important? "What wrong?" I ask her as her face turns from terror to worry.
"I need to talk to you about something." She says and helps me sit up so that we can go back to the sofa. "Now, you should know that I'm going to be here to help you every step of the way, whatever you choose." She pushes me down to sit on the sofa.
"Mum, whats going on? Whats wrong with me?" I ask her and she takes both of my hands in hers.
"Katniss...You're pregnant." She says and my mouth almost drops to the floor. She tries to keep me steady as I start to shake but it doesnt seem to be making any difference. "I need to know when the last time you had sex with Rye was?" She asks.
"A-About 2 weeks ago..." I mumble.
"And when was the first time?" She asks.
"A month ago I think... Why?" I ask. She looks confused about something.
"That cant be right." She says and my eyes grow wide. Where is she going with this? "From my assessment, I got that the baby would have been conceived about 11 weeks ago. Not 4." Thats when everything inside of me seems to collapse. "Around the beginning of february." She finishes, looking at me. "Katniss?" I'm about to answer with some sort of noise when the room starts to go dark and my eyes cloud over. I lean forward to put my head between my knees and thats when everything goes black and I fall, head first onto the floor.
When I wake up next, the first face I see is my Mother. "Hey." She says, stroking a stray piece of hair away from my face.
"What happened?" I ask.
"You passed out. You have a bruise on your forehead." She says with a sympathetic smile. I can feel bed sheets beneath me.
"How did I get here?" I ask her. I know that she wouldnt be able to carry me up here by myself.
"Your Uncle brought you up when he visited. You've only been out for about 2 hours... Katniss? Do you remember what I told you earlier?" She asks, now watching me.
I think back to earlier, trying to get the memory of what she is on about. "What about?" I ask. Everything is kind of fuzzy. I remember sitting with her and being really scared.
"About the Pregnancy?" Thats when everything comes rushng back. Everything she told me and horror shoots through me.
"This cant be happening, this has to be a dream." I say, trying to rub my eyes but my mum wont let go of my hands so I just let the tears fall. "Mum, you have to promise me that you wont tell anyone?" I ask and she nods. I remember her telling me about the 11 weeks thing and I remember why I originally passed out. Its Peeta's baby.
"Katniss, what?" My Mother asks. I need to tell her the truth.
"About 11 weeks ago, I ended up sleeping with Peeta, the night of his 17th." I say to her and her eyes widen.
"11 weeks? but that means?" I nod and she pulls me to her. "Oh Katniss... does Rye know." I shake my head. "You need to tell him, Peeta too."
"I know." I say and she lets go of me.
"Right come on, I need to tell you a story." She says and she pulls herself into my bed, wrapping her arms up around me, shuffling slightly to get comfortable, like dad would when I was a kid and he would tell me a bedtime story. "I'm gonna tell you something that I know you have always wanted to know and it should help you. You have always wondered about my past so here you go." I smile and look at her. She has never told me anything about her past because she never thought it was relevant. She never even told me how her parents, my grandparents died. Uncle Haymitch would never tell me either, all he would say is that it was all his fault. Which I never understood.
It was horrible when my parents broke up. I was sitting in my bedroom at 11pm at night. Haymitch was here as he always was. Well we shared the same room why would he not be here. I was attempting to sleep in his bed with a pillow wrapped around my head and me wrapped up in his arms. I couldnt stop crying though. The sound of Mother and Father arguing in the other room was absolutely horrible. I know that Haymitch was trying his hardest to block out the noise and keep me calm but it wasnt working, I could feel myself aching from the inside at the thought of my mother and father fighting.
"You cant just sleep with someone and think that everything is going to be okay!" Father shouts.
"I didnt sleep with him!" Mother shouts back. "You're just being an idiot!" I might only be 8 years old but I can tell that she is lying. You see, my mother was never really nice. She was nice to me and Haymitch but not to dad. He always seemed to do little things wrong and mum would get really angry with him. I felt sorry with him, I really did because my dad was probably one of the most amazing men in the district. He just married the wrong woman.
"I'm not being an idiot! I saw you with him and in our bed! Did you really think that you would get away with it! I WAS IN THE HOUSE WITH OUR KIDS! Who, by the way, are going through a hard enough time as it is. Haymitch is facing another reaping in a week and you are not helping the whole situation!" Father shouts. Haymitch holds me tighter as the tears come by the bucket load.
I know that Haymitch has been scared about the reaping, who wouldnt be. But being 16, he wont admit it. "When will it stop?" I ask Haymitch through the tears.
"Soon hopefully, They can't go at eachother forever." Haymitch replies. "Just try and get some sleep." He probably knows that I wont be able to get to sleep. We both have to go to school tomorrow and I wont be able to concentrate if I dont get any sleep.
"How did you do it! Seriously, how could you think for one minute that its the right thing to do!" I hear Father shout.
"Well maybe I did it because you never want to have sex anymore. I wanted to feel loved." My Mother replies.
"I do love you but we have more people to think about now! Like our children. One of them is terrified and the other is only young!" My Father shouts.
"I understand that! I love them with all my heart! I JUST DONT LOVE YOU!" My mother shouts. The house falls silent for a second before I hear the sound of a hand hitting skin at a remarkeable speed. "NO! YOU CANT JUST KISS ME AND EXPECT IT TO BE ALL BETTER BECAUSE ITS NOT!" She shouts again.
"I dont expect everything to be better! I expect you to stop shouting! You're gonna wake up the kids!" My Father shouts back.
"I dont care if the kids wake up. I dont care if the whole of the goddamn square wakes up! You shouldnt be screaming at me!" Mother shouts.
"Can we leave?" I ask Haymitch. "I cant stand this any longer!"
"Yeh, where do you want to go?" He asks me.
"The Bakery? I'm sure they will let us stay over." I reply to him.
"Okay, put your shoes on and grab the blankets. I'll write dad a note so he's not worried." Haymitch says and climbs out of bed. I grab my shoes from under my bed and the blankets from both of our beds, handing some of them to Haymitch once he's finished with the note.
We walk outside the room, luckily Mum and Dad are in the their bedroom so we dont have to deal with sneaking past them, we just have to make sure that we dont make too much noise whilst passing through the ustairs hallway. We walk down the stairs and out the back door quietly and the quickly run through the square. Luckily there arent any peackeepers around. Its not illegal to be out at night but if they see you outside then they ask a million questions. I can sense that they are nearby though so we have to run fast. Haymitch grabs my hand and drags me along.
We make it to the bakery silently and run around the back. I know which window leads to the kids bedroom because I've been in there quite a lot of times because I'm friends with the daughter of the family. Haymitch picks up a small stone and throws it against the window. Nothing happens. He tries it again and a tired looking Masan shows up at the window. "Haymitch? Evie? What are you doing here?" He asks, rubbing his eyes. His 11 year old frame looks alot smaller at night for some reason.
"Will you please come to the door? We need to talk to you." I say to him.
"Its late?" He replies.
"It will only take a second, just come downstairs. If you get into trouble, I'll talk to your parents." Haymitch shouts up and after a while, Masan nods.
We stand there and wait for him to show up at the back door and when he does, I notice that he is wearing full pyjamas. I dont know why I notice what he's wearing, its just something you notice sometimes. "Hi, sorry for bothering you Masan but we where wondering if we could stay here for the night?" I ask him.
"Why? whats wrong with your house?" He asks, in a tired croaky voice.
"Our parent are arguing. Can I talk to your parents please?" Haymitch asks him.
"They're asleep." Masan answers.
"Look, I know they are asleep could you please get them up, tell them its important and could you please be quick about it, there are peackeepers around and we arent meant to be out right now?" Masan nods slightly and runs off back up the stairs that he came down.
I've been in the Bakery loads of times but never at night. Its strange. The ovens arent on and you cant hear a sound. Normally there is always the sound of someone talking here but there isnt anything in fact I'm pretty sure that I can hear the sound of people breathing as they sleep upstairs.
A few minutes later Eli Mellark, The Baker, comes downstairs, securing his robe around his waist. He's followed shortly by his wife, Daisy. "Haymitch Abernathy? What can I do for you. Do you know how late it is?" Mr Mellark asks.
"Yes, I understand how late it is but I need to ask you a favour." Haymitch asks. I take hold of his hand and grasp my blankets close to me as the cold wind picks up, blowing cold air up my nightgown.
"Whats wrong Haymitch?"
"I was wondering if me and Evie would be able to sleep here tonight. You where the only people we could think of that are actually kind. It was either this or we went into the seam to stay at the Hawthornes and the place is crawling with Peackeepers and they live at the back of the seam. It would have taken us atleast an hour to get there." Haymitch says.
"Whats up with your house?" Mrs Mellark asks politely.
"Mummy and Daddy are shouting at eachother." I reply to her, with tears forming in my eyes once again.
"Yeh and Evie is really upset about it so we needed to get out of there." Haymitch says and Mr Mellark moves aside for us to come in. "Thank you so much."
We walk over the threshold and Mr Mellark lead us upstairs to the sitting room. Masan is sitting there when we get up the stairs and Mrs Mellark tells him to go to bed.
"What has this got to do with my problem?" I ask her, interrupting her story.
"Just wait for it." She smiles at me and carries on.
The next day, we have to go to school but I cant really tell whats going on because all I can think about is Mummy and Daddy. They have to get through this, they are parents, they are meant to stay together forever and ever. Thats what everybody says. If not then I'm gonna be the only person in my whole year that has 2 seperate parents.
When we get home, we find mummy in tears. I know straight away that they have broken up and I walk up and crawl into her lap. Haymitch, however dissapears out of the house, probably to find Daddy. "Everything is going to be okay mama." I say to her as we watch Haymitch go.
"I know baby." She replies and holds me tight, crying into my hair.
6 days later, Daddy moves out. He talks to the Mayor about getting a house in the seam and then he's gone, just like that. He also takes Haymitch with him. Which I get worked up about. I have lived with Haymicth all my life and I've shared a bed with him since I was old enough to sleep in a bed. I had my own bed but I always preferred to sleep in Haymitch's bed because I felt a lot safer. How can they expect me to get used to the fact that he wont even live in this house anymore? "Evie, I'll come and see you every day. I'll walk you to school, everything will be okay, I promise." He says as he is about to leave with Daddy.
"I love you, Haymitch." I say to him and throw my arms around his shoulders.
"I love you too Evie." He says and then he's gone too. It tore my heart in 2 watching them both walking out that door.
He told me that he would come back and see me and would walk me to school but he doesnt. The simple reason is because the morning after he is picked to go into The Hunger Games. I'm not going to lie, it is really hard to watch him in the games. To watch him killing people and people trying to kill him. During his interview for the Games, he gets asked if he has a special girl back home and he mentions me, which made me smile through the tears that had permantely found a home on my face. Everyone was trying to help me through the hard time but it never seemed to work, the only person that I wanted was Haymitch. The only person that I ever wanted was Haymitch.
When Maysilee, one of the girls from this district and the girl that my brother was in love with, dies, it shakes us all up. But not as much as it shakes him up. He looks as if he cant go on for a couple of hours before he is attacked again and even then he looks like he plans on giving up, so I sent him a little prayer, like I had done ever morning and night that he was in that arena. I dont know what happened after that but he started fighting against the girl and eventually he won.
After he arrives back home, he's different. He drinks a lot of the time and he hardly ever leaves his house. A couple of weeks after, I come home from school to see the Apothecary up in flames. It turns out it had both of my parents in. They both died that day so I ended up living with Haymitch. After a lot of asking, It turns out that it was Snow that had the Apothecary burnt down. Apparently,it had something to do with how he won the games.
4 years later, at the age of 15, Masan Mellark gets his girlfriend, Aymee, pregnant. Everyone is shocked by it because its not normal for a guy to get a girl pregnant at that age. None the less, the baby is born and 'Leaven' lives at the bakery with his parents, grandparents and aunt Lily.
3 years after that they have another baby. 'Rye' Thats when Eli, Daisy and Lily move into the housing part of town, to let the new family take over the bakery. Thats the year I start dating Asher Everdeen, a boy from the seam. He might have been 18 and I was 15 but I knew straight away that he was the one I would marry one day. Not long after I started dating him, he started working in the mines. Being from the seam, he had to.
2 years later, Aymee had another child. 'Peeta' Everyone knew that she wanted a daughter and we all know how annoyed she was that he was a boy. The bad thing was that I was also pregnant that year. With Ash's baby. I couldnt have been happier but Haymitch was more annoyed than I have ever seen him. He got used to it eventually though and soon enough, I gave birth to the most beautiful girl ever, Katniss Everdeen. I couldnt even put a marker on how much I loved her. As soon as we could, we introduced her to the Mellarks, her and Peeta hit it off straight away and I couldnt be more happy, she had a friend.
The next year, Me and Ash got married and moved into a house in the seam. Down the road from Cole and Hazelle Hawthorne and their 3 year old son Gale Hawthorne who later became friends with our Katniss.
3 years later, we where blessed with another daughter, Primrose Everdeen. the Hawthornes also had another child, Rory Hawthorne. I knew that these two would get along even if they didnt. Everything was great and we couldnt be more happy.
"Anyway, the moral of the story is that no matter how bad life seems, it will get better and trust me when I say this. This could turn out bad and Rye and Peeta could leave you but me and Prim will always be here for you no matter what." She says to me and I smile wider than I already was.
"Thank you." I wrap my arms around her and allow myself to cry into her shirt. "I love you mummy." I havent called her that since I was about 7. Prim will still call her mummy from time to time but only if something is wrong with her but with all the anger that I have felt for her over the years, I could never bring myself to do it before now.
"I love you too Baby." She replies, stroking my hair. "I need to explain some stuff to you and then you can get some sleep." I pull away from her and look at her. "Ok, now for most women, sickness is natural. But when you live in district 12, you dont have much food going into your mouth so you shouldnt have anything to throw up so depending on how much you throw up, you are going to be very hungry and it will be struggle but we will cope with it. I can make something to stop the sickness which will help but you will still throw up from time to time. It is also quite common for the mother to not get that big of a bump until later in pregnancy, so we should be able to hide it for a while, just borrow some of your dads shirts to hide the bump when it starts growing. The baby will still grow properly as long as you get food in you, the movements will come soon too but most importantly, you need to tell Peeta. Maybe not Rye yet. You need to tell Peeta first though and take it from there." I nod at her and she gets up out of my bed. "Now you get some rests. I'll wake you up in a couple of hours for some food." She leaves me and lay my head down on my pillow. The tears come without my allowing them too. Before I know it, I've fallen asleep.
I know it was short but I didnt have anything that I needed to right in this chapter but I promise you will like the next chapter. I'm surrently writing it now but I'm going on holiday in a couple of days. I'll be able to write it whilst I'm there but I wont be able to update. Anyway, Please leave a review, tell me what you thought.