Chapter 2
R&R! Really hope you like it! Wrote this in a frenzy at 11:00 at night!
Where am I, who am I, are the first thoughts that race through my mind. All I can remember is a group of cackling girls and an oven door connecting with my face.
I begin to shift onto my side- the braid behind my head is uncomfortable- when I realize that someone is holding my hand. I open my eyes; it's a blond boy, who is staring at me with a frightening intensity.
"Why are you watching me?" I ask suspiciously.
The boy smiles gently. "You don't scowl in your sleep."
An image of this boy in a cave pops into my head. He seems to be badly injured, but putting on a brave face. Then the picture vanishes.
"And you are?" I question.
"Peeta. Katniss are you okay?" the boy says, a frown replacing the smile.
"Katniss?" I scowl. "What a stupid name."
Peeta appears worried. "Can you remember anything?"
"Nope, so can you please tell me why you're here?" I demand.
"I'm your husband." he tells me.
Now someone else walks in. It's a man who is clearly drunk.
"Hey, sweetheart." the man says in slurred speech.
"Excuse me!" I say. "I'm not your 'sweetheart', mister."
"She can't remember anything, Haymitch." Peeta speaks up.
Haymitch nods. "Best we lay it on her nice and easy."
I put my hands in my head. "Will someone PLEASE tell me what's going on!"
"Katniss, you've lost your memory. You can't remember me, or Haymitch, or…" Peeta pauses, and decides to stop.
"All I can remember is some stupid girls laughing and my head slamming into an oven door." I grumble.
Peeta's eyes fill with rage, but he suppresses it. A tall, buff man with olive skin comes rushing into the room.
"Catnip," he says, huffing and puffing, "Are you all right?"
I open my mouth to speak, but Haymitch talks first. "She's gone, Gale. Katniss lost her memory, so I doubt she's 'Catnip' anymore."
"Catnip," I interrupt. "What kind of a nickname is Catnip?"
Everyone ignores me.
"So this is kind of like a fresh start?" Gale asks.
Peeta nods grimly. "Yep, she could be yours this time."
"Maybe I'll go find friends who don't talk about me like I'm invisible." I mutter.
Suddenly, something clicks inside my brain. A little girl, blond, about 12-years-old. My sister, who I love more than anything. My little Prim.
"I have a sister!" I blurt.
Everyone looks at me with a mixture of surprise and sorrow; Gale had what almost looked like guilt on his face.
"Umm, Katniss? Well…" Peeta stammers.
Haymitch cuts him off. "It's too much for her to handle right now."
A nurse pops in. "Mr. Mellark, do you want to take her home now?
Peeta nods and they leave me to get dressed in something more substantial for me than a paper-thin hospital gown. Waiting for me is a dark pair of pants, a white shirt, and a leather jacket. I like the jacket best; it feels like a part of me. As I slip it on, a deep man's voice rings out through my head.
"Are you, are you coming to the tree
where they strung up a man they say murdered three.
Strange things did happen here
no stranger would it be
if we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."