Chapter 17: The last interviews
Caesar taps at my shoulder. But I just push him away with my arm. I haven't seen Katniss for a week and I've missed her. The audience will wait here anyway. Finally, when Haymitch thinks that it's enough of kissing, he interrupts us to the victor's chair, that is more like a love seat. We sit down and Katniss sits almost on my lap. She kicks the shoes of and leans her head against my shoulder. I wrap my arm around her. Caesar jokes with the audience. We are going to watch a movie, a movie about this annual hunger games. This is the first time they tell a love story in the hunger games. The capital wants us to be proud of ourselves, for killing people. I can't be proud of myself killing other peoples. We watch the other tributes die, some once again. It's horrible; Katniss and I have seen some of them die once before, so why watch everyone die again? Katniss and I are on screen more than the others, maybe because we won or because we were favorites this year. Scenes with me and Katniss are better than the ones with kills. But, it doesn't feel right watching me and Katniss on a screen.
It's another big day. It's the last interview today. After that, we'll step on the train and go home. I just want to go home. I miss my family more than ever, and Katniss to. Haymitch said that I couldn't see her alone last night after the interview and the victory banquet and I haven't seen her this morning. I just want to share some time alone with her. Haymitch just said "You spend the whole evening with the girl, first the interview and then the banquet." Yeah, we spent time together. BUT NOT ALONE. We were in front of people the whole banquet, wanting to take pictures and talk to us.
The last interview.
Katniss is there. I can't talk to her when we're alone, so I am able to talk to her now. It's people around us. So I pull her aside. "I hardly get to see you. Haymitch seems bent on keeping us apart" I say. She smiles at me and says "Yes, he's got very responsible lately" she replays. Someone tells us to sit down. Katniss and I sit down, more formally than the last interview when Katniss literally sat on my lap. Today we sit near each other, but Katniss doesn't sit on my lap. She holds my hand, like she never wants to let go. "Oh, go ahead and curl up next to him if you want. It looked very sweet" Caesar says to Katniss. And she does. The interview begins. Katniss don't talk as much as I do. Caesar asks me, or wants me to confirm something. "Well, Peeta, we now, from our days in the cave, that it was love at first sight from you, from what, age five?" Yes, I fell in love the first day at school. "From the moment I laid eyes on her." Caesar looks at Katniss and says "But Katniss. What a ride for you. I think the real excitement for the audience was watching you fall for him. When did you realize you were in love, with him?" Katniss looks at me. "Oh that was a hard one…" she replays. Sometimes you don't know you are in love. "Well, I know when it hit me. The night when you shouted out his name from that tree" Caesar says. "Yes, I guess it was it. I mean, until that point, I just tried to not think about what my feelings might be, honestly, because it was so confusing and it only made things worse if I actually cared about him. But then, in the tree everything changed" she says. Caesar is stubborn; he wants to know every single detail. "Why do you think that was?" He asks her. She looks at me and she says "Maybe ….because for the first time…there was a chance I could keep him." I love her so much. I press my forehead into her temple and ask her "So now that you've got me, what are you going to do with me?" She laughs a little, turning to me so I can see her face and answers. "Put you somewhere you can't get hurt" And then we kiss. I hear the cameramen's sighs. Caesar starts to talk about the wounds. He asks me about my new leg. Haven't told Katniss yet and she looks terrified and asks "New leg?" She reaching out, pulling up the bottom of my trousers and whispers "Oh no". "No one told you?" Caesar asks. She shakes her head. "I haven't had the chance" I say and look at Katniss. She looks like she will start to cry in any second. She blames herself for it. "It's my fault" she says. "Because I used that tourniquet". Yes, it's her fault I am sitting here today. "Yes, it's your fault I am alive" I say. Caesar tells her that I am right. She buries her face in my shirt. I try to convince her to show her face again. But she's in shock. She shows her face again after a while, and Caesar interviews me instead.
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