My heartbeat stops.
It's like I'm underwater. My vision is a blur, all the colours and shades intermingling with one another. My hearing is barely perceptible, all the sounds faint and distant. My breathing is none.
I can't make sense of anything.
"This is some prank," Cato says, pulling it from my hands. "I bet that dick-wad Roman Atwood is gonna appear at any second." He crosses his arm smugly, sneering at the rest of us.
Gulping the bulge forming at my throat, I try to compose myself. "Do you want to check outside?" I ask, turning to Finnick. "I mean, to see if Gale or someone left it there as a joke?" I consider telling them how I sensed someone was watching me, but I decide against it. I don't have any tangible, or even logical, proof that this invisible stalker exists. I can't base my case on a sixth sense. It's just stupid. Besides, the letter is most likely a prank by someone, although I can't help from thinking what kind of sick-minded individual would do such thing.
Johanna guffaws. "I say most likely he did. The fucker always wants to mess around with us."
Conveniently, we hear a loud buzzing. We all exchange glances and knowing smirks. Finnick runs upstairs, and a few of us trail along. He presses a button on a voice-call mechanism, which I assume opens the gates and allows entry into the premises. Madge, Peeta, Finnick and I walk to the atrium, awaiting his entrance. Soon enough, Gale and Thresh burst through. The impact sends the door flying open, causing bucketfuls of snow to enter. The wind disorientates a few of the paintings, which Peeta politely straightens. I notice their wet boots are leaving a pool of melting snow on the floor.
Gale and Thresh's faces are red, their hair looking like a bird-nest covered in snow. Their attire is completely soaked. Gale, breathing heavily, grunts, "Why the hell are we doing this during a snowstorm?" He removes his gloves and thrusts them inside his grey parka jacket's pocket.
Madge squints at Gale. She takes one step towards him and slaps him across his face. Gale immediately presses his hand against his redenning cheek, his eyes open and mouth agape. "Why did you write that note, Gale?" Madge snaps. Her blue eyes light up in fury. We can all agree that it's incredibly strange to see the mild-mannered, polite girl become angry. "It wasn't funny."
Thresh steps between them, attempting to ease the tension. "What's going on? What are you guys talking about?" His dark eyes dart between us.
Finnick shakes his head. He pulls out a paper from his pocket, and hands it over to Thresh. Gale, now irritated, leans over to read it. "I didn't write this shit," Gale says, snapping his head to look at us. "Neither did Thresh. We just came!"
"Ten minutes ago, I was walking down the stairs. As I passed this area, I saw the paper on the ground. It was sticking out of the main door, so I picked it up," Peeta explains. "It was most likely slipped under the door from outside. I haven't seen it before."
"No one can enter the cottage unless I give them access through the gate," Finnick adds. "So whoever wrote it was one of us."
All the while, Gale and Thresh are listening attentively. Personally, I don't think either Gale or Thresh did such thing as a prank. Gale does like to fool around, but not to this degree. I've known him for years. On the other hand, I just met Thresh, but he seems like the serious type of person. He doesn't look like someone who finds humour in other people's fear. I have a creeping suspicion it could be Peeta, because he is the one who found it. But then again, he seems too kind and gentle to do that. And Annie was also with him, and she wouldn't lie. "The rest of us were in the basement the entire time," Madge adds quietly. She looks apologetically at Gale, gently squeezing his forearm.
"Who was the last one to come downstairs before Peeta?" Gale asks gruffly.
All eyes train on me. I am feeling instantly uncomfortable being under suspicion over something I didn't do. "It wasn't me, guys," I mutter, shifting feet awkwardly.
Madge nods. I internally sigh in relief, feeling grateful at least she trusts me. "Katniss wouldn't do it. We know her; she's isn't the person to go around pranking people with death threats."
Finnick decides to take Gale and Thresh upstairs, intending to show them their rooms so they can get settled. Madge, Peeta and I go to the basement to hang out with the rest of the company. Once we enter, everyone begins hounding us with questions. We answer them, insisting it was neither Gale or Thresh. "Whoever it was, don't take it seriously," Clove says. "It's a stupid prank." She then picks up a dart from the glass coffee table, and sends it flying into the target plastered on the wall. It hits straight on bulls-eye.
Cato fumes in what I believe is envy. He tries to mimic her moves, but he lands three inches away from the centre. Muttering obscenities underneath his breath, he leaves to get a drink from the cooler. "Male pride," Annie murmurs beside me.
"We were supposed to have another guest, right?"Madge suddenly asks.
Clove comes over, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, it's some blonde skank named Sparkle."
"I think her name is Glimmer," Annie corrects.
The dark-haired girl glares at her as she downs her drink. "Whatever. It's just as stupid as Sparkle. She sounds like one of the ponies in My Little Pony, except in XXX edition."
Later, the boys finally join us in the basement. We play a few rounds of table tennis and pool, chatting about nonsensical things and listening to the Weeknd. We intentionally avoid discussing the note. Anyway, Finnick suggests that we should wait for Glimmer to arrive before we have dinner, but everyone is adamant about eating without her. I'd have to agree with them - it's nearly 10 o'clock and my stomach is grumbling. So, Finn takes us up to the dining hall. It is quite extravagant, like the rest of the cottage, with a fine glass table surrounded by twelve fancy chairs. There is a chandelier hanging above us, and a china cabinet against the wall. We all take a seat as we await for our dinner. Unlike the cottage itself, the food isn't lavish. But as college students, we aren't above eating ramen noodles or microwave dinners. While the frozen pizza bakes, Finn serves us bowls of chips and popcorn. Peeta also presents us with yeasty buns, which are sprinkled with cheddar cheese and herbs. The orange-haired boy finally returns to the dining room with two x-large sized pizza juggling in his hands. Hands instantly swarm the pizza, grabbing onto the slices like hungry coyotes.
"I say we go skiing in the morning," Blight suggests as he takes a bite out of his cheese pizza.
Gale furrows his eyebrows. "Have you seen the weather? It's a blizzard out there." Thresh grunts in agreement.
"Terrible weather conditions, it's not safe enough to go skiing," Annie says.
Blight nods understandingly. "Do you know how long it's supposed to last?"
"Until Sunday night, I think. We're supposed to get the worst of it tomorrow night," I say quietly.
Johanna groans. "How are the roads, Gale?"
"Bad. They're not even clearing the roads, my car got stuck in the snow twice. And since Katniss is saying that the blizzard will continue, I say we're stuck until Monday morning," says Gale.
The dining table erupts in unhappy chatter. Finnick gets on his feet, scanning the room in concern. He raises his glass, clinking it with his fork. "Guys!" he calls for attention. "I know we'll be stuck indoors for the entire trip, but that's okay. This party will be lit as hell, trust me." And Finnick, of course, does keep his word. Once we are done eating, we return to the basement. Sure enough, the party does get "lit as hell". Finnick turns on the stereo system, and soon, I can hear the bass rattling in my bones. Gale takes out a few beers from the cooler and passes them along. At first everyone was just chatting and taking sips from their Solo cups, but then they're moving on the hardwood floor to the beat of Justin Timberlake's SexyBack. I, on the other hand, am taking a seat on the recliner and watching everyone dance. I'm not much of a dancer, in all honesty. Parties aren't really my thing either. I'm usually the one sitting down and drinking a coke.
I notice how Peeta is not enjoying the party like everyone else is. Instead, he's leaning against the wall and drinking a beer. When he notices me watching him, he offers me a small wave. I raise my hand a little and give him a smile, which I'm pretty sure appears like a grimace. Moments later, Peeta approaches me. He sets himself beside me on the couch, and leans to my ear. "You don't dance?" he says loudly. I shake my head. "Wanna get out of here? It's too loud to talk," he suggests. I don't really know why he'd like to converse with me, because I'm not much of a talkative person. However, I'd like to get out of this claustrophobic place. I'd leave to my room, but embarrassingly I'm slightly frightened to be upstairs by myself. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but it does.
Nodding my head, I stand up. We leave the basement and enter the first floor. The music still vibrates beneath us, but at least I can hear the person right next to me. "Wanna check out the library? I heard it's quite nice," Peeta suggests. I nod my head. He takes me to the east wing of the floor. He opens a door, which reveals a large room. There are multiple bookshelves lining the walls, extending to the ceiling, all of which are filled with books. There's a ladder to help assist library-goers retrieve books from the top shelf. Multiple leather couches and chairs surround the room, offering a perfect seat to relax and enjoy a novel. This could be considered a book-lover's paradise.
However, like the rest of the holiday home, there's old fashioned decor and musky smell in the room. Not to mention a strange presence, creating a certain tension neither of us can place. "What's with the weird statures in this place?" Peeta mutters, pointing to a clay sculpture that seems to be related to Greek mythology.
Shrugging my shoulders, I say, "I have no idea." We both take a seat on one of the couches, observing the room around us.
"In all honesty, I'm creeped out," Peeta blurts. I look at him, who is now covering his mouth with his hands as if he said something scandalous. The antique lamp emits a warm, orange glow, causing Peeta's blue eyes to glow as if they were on fire. A few moments pass before he sighs, and continues, "I know it could be a prank, but it does seem really threatening." I quietly listen to him ramble about the odd occurrence. He tells me that he can't believe some one would do that, even if it were a joke. It is quite evident that he, like me, is taking this seriously. Unlike the others, we're not going to pretend everything is okay. Well, at least until we find out who wrote that letter.
I wait until he's finished babbling. "I think someone was watching me," I admit. Quietly, I turn to watch his expression. He's looking at me in concentration, waiting for me to elaborate. So I hesitantly continue, "I was in the washroom. The door was closed, but I felt like someone was there."
"Did you see anything?" he asks carefully.
I shake my head.
He then takes my hand, and squeezes it. "You feel it too, don't you?"
Peeta doesn't need to explain to make me understand what he's talking about. "Yes," I say.
Then, something strikes me. I get up from the couch and I practically yell, "The security camera." Peeta looks at me quizzically. "The one outside. If someone slipped it from outside, we would be able to see it."
"You're right," he agrees. "Let's talk to Finn." We rush down to the basement. Everyone is huddled together, still dancing to the loud music blaring from the large speakers. Their plastic cups drip of the dark liquid, creating a pool of the beverage beneath their feet, but I bet 90% of them are too drunk to notice. I foresee someone falling, hitting their head and receiving a concussion. That's not any of my business though.
Soon, Peeta pulls out of a very wasted Finnick out of the swarm of sweaty bodies. Annie tugs onto his shirt, insisting for Finnick to stay. I notice her auburn hair is sticking in all directions, her eyes unfocused, and the slight sway as she stands. It's a rare occurrence to see Annie drunk because she usually takes on the "good girl" image. Perhaps she wanted to let loose tonight. Peeta says something into her ear, which causes her look at him crossly. Nonetheless, she lets Finnick go and continues dancing with Jo and Madge. Peeta drags him upstairs, gesturing me to follow him. Soon we reach the kitchen, where Peeta sets Finnick on the chair. "You're drunk, Finnick," Peeta says, shaking his head disapprovingly. He places a glass of water in front of him, which Finnick gulps down rather quickly.
He sways on the chair. "So tell me, Peet. Why'd you need you talk me?" he says, slightly slurring in his words. Then, he looks lazily between us. Even in a drunk state, his eyes light up mischievously and I sense something vulgar coming out his mouth. "Ah, you needed condoms, didn't ya?"
I slap him across the face. Hard."What the hell, Finnick?" I yell, kicking his chair in anger. "What's wrong with you?"
"Sorry, sorry," he mutters.
"The reason why Katniss and I brought you here is because we want to see the recordings of the security camera," he says sternly.
Finnick nods his head. All remnants of his drunken stupor is no longer evident. "To see if someone put the letter?" Peeta confirms. "'ight, come follow me." He takes us to the office, which contains multiple computers and a large desk. There are two small screens on the wall, which display a view from the front porch and the backyard. "To be honest, I have no idea how to work this thing. Let me just experiment with this for a bit, kids." It takes nearly 10 minutes for Finnick to figure out how to rewind the footage. We sit on the office chairs as Finn attempts to reverse back to one hour. Then, we continue watching for any suspicious activity.
Except there's none.
We see no one, nothing until Jo, Madge, Annie and I arrive. Peeta looks at me with knitted eyebrows. Finnick is staring into the screen, probably attempting to comprehend it all. I decide to break the silence. "Someone in this house wrote it," I say.
"Yeah," says Finnick, nodding into the screen. "I don't know who, though."
Peeta looks between us. "Then it has to be some sort of prank, right? If someone in the house wrote it."
"Yes, but who wrote it?" Finnick asks irately. "We won't know for sure until we find out who."
"My best bet is either Cato or Clove. Well, that's in my personal opinion because I know none of my friends would do it," I tell him.
Finn bites his lower lip. "I don't want to point fingers, Katniss." Turning to Peeta, he asks, "Are you sure you never saw this letter before?"
"No," he says. I nod in agreement - it wasn't there when I first arrived nor when I left the bathroom to go to the basement. It was probably just appeared when Peeta picked it up. "What should we do now?"
"Nothing, I guess," Finnick says. "I don't think we should make a big hub-bub about some letter. Let's just move on."
I glance over to Peeta, who seems very sceptical. However, he shrugs his shoulders and quietly agrees.
We decide to hang out in our bedroom instead of returning to the basement. We're lying on our respective beds, fiddling with our phones. I recently called Mother to let her know I've safely arrived to the cottage, just so she can have a peace of mind. She then began scolding me for driving in this weather, and being so far away from town. I abruptly ended the call.
"I don't know why she's taking so long," Peeta suddenly mutters.
I wrap my hands around my knees. "Who?" He responds with Glimmer's name, the girl Finnick mentioned to wait for. "Maybe call and ask?" I suggest.
Nodding, he gets up from the bed and dials her number. "Glimmer, where are you?" Peeta speaks to the phone. I stand in attention, slightly concerned myself of where she is. I don't really know her, but she's four hours late and the weather is relentless."How far away are you?" says Peeta. "That's like another half an hour before you arrive." I try to imagine how difficult it must be driving in these conditions. I thought our car-ride was terrible, but hers is exponentially worse. "If there's a motel nearby, you should just check in there. It's far to dangerous to drive." Peeta scowls into the phone. "I don't care what you were doing before you left your apartment. It's not any of my business," he says lowly, turning his back to me. "Stop, Glimmer. Not now. I was just checking on you because you were supposed to be here at 7, but now it's almost midnight." He mutters something into the phone, and I cannot decipher his words. "All right, Glimmer. Be safe," he says stonily. He tucks his cellphone into his pocket quite roughly, clearly bothered by his phone call. Peeta squeezes the bridge of his nose with his fingers, exhaling heavily.
"You okay?" I ask timidly. I have a feeling it's not my place to pry, but my curiosity gets the best of me.
He looks at me warily, offering a sad smile. "She's actually my ex," he says. "Whenever we speak it always turns into an argument."
"Oh, uh- I don't...I'm sorry," I splutter, quite unsure how to respond.
"It's not your fault," he says simply.
Unexpectedly, the lights flicker once. And twice. Thrice. Then there's darkness. "Peeta?" I call. Obviously, Peeta is in the room, but I have the sudden need to hear his voice so I don't feel so alone. I stretch out my arms, trying to sense if there's any objects in front of me. Feeling the bed, I steady myself.
The dark room is suddenly lit with Peeta's phone. "You okay?" he asks.
"Yeah," I reply. I search for my phone on the bed, skimming my fingers over the silk sheets. Once my skin meets the rubber cover of my LG, I immediately feel relieved. I quickly turn it on and access the flashlight app. Then, the room brightens up even more. "We probably lost electricity."
"Most likely," Peeta says. "Let's meet with the others."
I trip twice on my way down the steps. Luckily, Peeta's firm grip is always there to steady me. And each contact leaves a burning sensation where our skin touched. "Careful," he whispers, his breath hot against my ear. I bite my lip as he slowly moves away from me with a boyish smile. I have to admit that I find myself being comforted by his presence. It's been only a few hours since I met him, but somehow he has a way of crawling into my heart. I can safely say that he's a well-liked accomplice. And strangely, I wouldn't mind sharing a room with him. A few moments later, he almost trips. I grasp his shoulder to steady him, but then I immediately let go when I feel hard muscle underneath his shirt. My cheeks are burning when Peeta laughs and decides to lace his fingers with mine.
The music stopped playing. Jo, Blight, Cato, and Clove are passed out on the floor. Everyone else is huddled together and brightening up the basement with their phones.
Madge walks up to me, who seems to be one of the few people who aren't drunk. Her eyes trail to our interlocked hands, and I quickly let go. "Power outage, huh?" she says with a cocked eyebrow. Her phone glows a bright beam towards my face, so I have to block the light with my hands.
"Where's Finn?" Peeta asks. Madge points to a dark corner.
"Here!" Finnick calls, emerging from the darkness. "I'm gonna check out the power source. Thresh? I could use your help." The brute comes forward, nodding his head. The pair walk to the other end of the basement, opening a door before disappearing into it. They spend ten minutes in there, and it has been dark since. Peeta, Madge and I tend to the passed out individuals, taking them to their respective rooms. It is quite a struggle because we have half-lead, half-carry them up the stairs. Eventually, we've tucked them into their beds and made our way downstairs. "I tried resetting the breakers, but it's still not working," Finnick tells us when we meet again.
"Then the entire town must have lost power," I say. "Because of the storm."
Peeta nods his head. "Yeah, there must have been an accident with the transmission towers or power lines. The winds are very strong."
Finnick looks between us wearily. "Guys, I don't think we'll get power back any soon. The weather conditions are terrible, they can't fix anything right now. We'll have to wait until the blizzard is over."
"Which is in two days," Thresh adds quietly.
"Yeah," Finn says. "The point being, we need to conserve our phone batteries. We should turn them off and use flashlights and candles instead."
Finnick decides to split us up to find flashlight and candles throughout the house. While Thresh and Madge search the utility closet, Peeta and I go to the washroom. We hoard the candles into one bag. I notice how the strange presence in the room is no longer there, but every now and then Peeta would give me a worried glance. Once the washroom is clear, we return to Finnick who is now lighting a few candles on the table. There are two flashlights to his side. "Finn, Glimmer was on her way the last time I spoke to her. She was thirty minutes away," Peeta says.
His green eyes reflect the candle-light when he looks up at Peeta. "And when did you speak to her?" he asks carefully.
"An hour ago," Peeta answers solemnly.
"You should try to call her. Maybe you'll get a signal?" I suggest. Peeta complies. He lets the phone ring for a few moments, but then he shuts it with a tired expression.
"We're stuck here."
It's difficult to sleep in complete darkness. I find myself turning on my phone on more than one occasion so I can see the beam of light brightening the room. The third time I press the power button, a deep voice calls. "Can't sleep, huh?"
I flash my light towards Peeta's face, who is squinting at me while he lies on his bed. "No," I grunt. I turn my phone off, and it's dark again. I can't see anything, and I hate it.
"Neither can I," he says. I hear him shift in his covers and sigh heavily. I turn to face his bed, bringing up the thick covers to my chin. Since the power went out, we've had no heating in our cottage. I'm wearing thick sweatpants and a hoodie, along with fuzzy socks. However, I am still chattering my teeth. "It's so cold."
I nod my head although he cannot see me.
A few moments pass. "Tell me about yourself, Katniss," he says.
"What would you like to know about me?" I asK.
He laughs softly. "Well, what your interests are. Your friends and family. Your dreams." I don't have many interests, and Peeta already knows who my friends are. I don't like to talk about my family either. The only dream I have is to graduate college and get a job, but I don't think it's adequate for me to say. So I remain silent. "All right, I'll go first." He tells me he was born and raised in Chicago. His family owns a little bakery where he learned to knead dough before he could walk. He has two older brothers named Rye and Bannock who he constantly wrestles with. He has a knack for painting and sketching. Peeta is majoring in architecture. His favourite colour is sunset orange. "What's your favourite colour?"
"Green," I immediately say. "Like forest green."
"That's a nice colour," he says, his voice slightly muffled due to him being under the covers. "Do you have any plans for Christmas?"
"I'm going to meet my mother and little sister back home. My sister's name is Primrose, but we all call her Prim," I say softly. "She's the most kind and gentle person you would ever meet."
"You seem to miss her a lot," he observes.
I nod my head, gulping the bulge forming in my throat. "Yes."
"I've always wanted a little sister," Peeta mentions. "My parents also. They would much prefer it over a houseful of boys." He's quiet for a while. "That's why my mother wanted me to date Glimmer. But then she cheated on me." Peeta chuckles ruefully. "I walked into her apartment one day because I was worried about her. She wasn't picking up my phone for the past two days and I didn't see her around much. Anyway, I found her in bed with one my friends."
I get up from the bed and cross my legs. Cocooning myself in my blankets, I say, "I'm sorry." It's the second time I've shown sympathy for Peeta's previous relationship in the past few hours. I'll have to admit though, I find it strange how Peeta is still concerned about Glimmer's well-being after all she has done to him. He seems too kind for his own good. Like Prim.
I hear him sit up on his bed too. "The guy ended up leaving her any way for another girl. So I guess it all worked out."
"Karma's a bitch," I say with a smirk. "She deserved it."
I feel him smile in the darkness. "You're a good friend, Katniss." It's the quickest I've ever made a friend. Most of the friends I've made took years of them worming into my heart. I have to admit it's difficult for some people to earn my trust. But Peeta, in a mere six hours, has been able to acquire my friendship. I know I have just met him, but it feels like I've known him forever. I think I can place my trust in him.
Peeta shuffles towards me. His warm hand clasps with mine, and he squeezes it. "Friends," I confirm.
And somehow, the room isn't too dark any more.
A/C: Please be sure to favourite, follow and review! It encourages me to update more C:
