I run off the porch. Planks of wood tumble down off the ledge hundreds of feet.
Dad comes rushing outside and his hand covers his mouth. My family scrambles hot behind him and Rye and Graham look like they're going to drop dead. He's lying face down in the snow. Blood is changing the color of the snow.
"Katniss NO!" Prim reaches for me but I start scrambling down the rocks. About five feet from the ledge my hand slips on some ice and I fall the rest of the way. I land with a thud next to Peeta. The pain in my arm as a rock cuts very deep in is ignored. "Peeta?" I ask, tears pouring down my cheeks. I pull him away from the edge. In the summer this ledge is grass. The only place there is rocks is on the side. That's here he must've hit his head. I roll him into his back. He looks dead. I check his pulse.
"Is he alive?" Mom shouts.
"Yes!"
"Breathing?"
"Yes but he's having trouble. I think he had the wind knocked out of him!"
"Why's he bleeding?" She asks. She doesn't wait for an answer because my Grandmother got a first aid kit from the neighbor's house because hers is...well, there's obviously a reason that the porch fell, and the house is slanting off the cliff because the support beams fell when the porch did. She tosses the first aid kit down to me and let's Dad lower her by rope. She grabs snow and holds it above Peeta's forehead where the blood seems to be coming from. There's a very deep gash, but that's it.
"Mom? Is he going to die?" I ask crying as she cleans away as much blood as she can and gets a pad to keep him from losing anymore. It's wide and deep.
"No." She laughs. "My guess is he hit his head pretty hard and gave himself a concussion which knocked him out cold. He probably cut his head on a rock...which could increase the chances of his brain swelling. There's a fifty fifty chance he'll live. I'm going to shoot for the good fifty."
"What are you going to do him?"
"He needs stitches honey."
"Is this a safe place?" I ask.
"No but it's very risky bringing him up there like that without any preparations. He will have more of a chance bleeding to death if we lift him up."
She gets the needle and the thread.
"When is he going to wake up?"
"Let's hope he sleeps through this." She cleans the cut with rubbing alcohol and douses him in peroxide. I keep my hand on his chest to feel the rise and fall which has gone back to normal and the soothing thump of his heart. She sighs sharply and mutters a swear and then gets tweezers and picks out pieces of rock. She uses rubbing alcohol and peroxide again, and then she picks out some more rock and repeats the process until she's satisfied before quickly stitching him up and placing a clean gauze pad on his forehead. She gets the gauze.
"Hold there there sweetie for me?" She asks.
"Okay." I do as she says. She lifts his head up and wraps the wound.
"Let me see your arm." She says.
She does everything to me that she just did to Peeta and I have to shove my hand in my mouth to keep from screaming from the pain. I'm glad he was unconscious for this.
"There." She smooths on the bandaid. Then she looks up at our family. "Please tell me you have a plan to get us up?"
Dad disappears and comes back with something. He's talking to all the men that are strong and gestures wildly with his hands before they all start nodding in understandment. It takes a couple of minutes but they toss down a rope attached to a tarp. It's tied strongly and I have no fear of this rope. "I want you two to find a way to get Peeta safely ok that tarp. we'll lift you one by one."
"And you are sure the rope won't break against the rock?" I ask.
"Positive."
Mom and I somehow manage to roll Peeta onto the tarp. Although we're sitting in snow and it's in the negatives, we are sweating from the extortion. Not because he's fat, because he's so fucking skinny it isn't even funny. It's because he's in great shape and, although he's skinny, he has a six pack and he is very buff. Every pound on my man is muscle.
Rye, Graham, Haymitch and Ethan all work together to lift Peeta up. They wait. "Katniss your next." Dad says. They toss it back down.
"Hold still." Ethan warns.
"Katniss just lay down and don't fucking move." Graham says. I do as I'm told, and after being lifted way too high for comfort, my feet hit solid earth and sit down next to Peeta who is still just laying there. They bring Mom up, and then we just stand there.
"Termites." Grandma says. "They took the house. It ain't safe."
"Where will we go?" Haymidch asks.
Everyone looks around at us. "We can go to our house." Mom says. "There's no snow there though..."
"Well for now it will have to do."
...8...
I don't know how he did it but Dad somehow managed to get a private plane. I sit on the ground with Peeta's head in my lap. He is still out cold and the thought that his brain could be swelling inside that gorgeous head of his makes me start to cry. Mom comforts me and tells me he's going to wake.
I have my head down with my hair hiding my face. I've linked my hands with Peeta and I don't plan on letting go.
We still got everything with meaning and our suitcases because Dad braved the house. Grandma is moving in with Prim and Mom for a while. I haven't been in California since her house isn't exactly livable.
"Katniss you look like you are going to die." Prim whispers.
I ignore her and continue watching Peeta. Every minute, I release his hand and move to feel his heartbeat. When I do this, I am relieved to feel it's going strong.
Didn't he tell me he wasn't going anywhere?
Is this going to be my nightmare? The one where he fell off a cliff.
Dad is the only one aside from Peeta who knows about the nightmares and what they're about because I woke up screaming one night and he woke me up. He asked me if I wanted to talk about it and I told him everything.
I release Peeta's right hand and use my arm to hide my face.
"Why don't you sing?" Dad blurts. I look at him. "Singing always makes you feel better."
"Sing honey. You sing as loud as you want to."
"We can all sing." Prim says. "If you know the words."
"You start us off." I mumble. "Try something we all know." She frowns and thinks for a minute or two. I already know what I'm gonna do when it's my turn.
"I don't know. You start off."
Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave
How can I love when I'm afraid
To fall
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt
Suddenly goes away somehow
One step closer
I have died every day
waiting for you
Darlin' don't be afraid
I have loved you for a
Thousand years
I'll love you for a
Thousand more
Time stands still
beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything
Take away
What's standing in front of me
Every breath,
Every hour has come to this
One step closer
I have died every day
Waiting for you
Darlin' don't be afraid
I have loved you for a
Thousand years
I'll love you for a
Thousand more
And all along I believed
I would find you
Time has brought
Your heart to me
I have loved you for a
Thousand years
I'll love you for a
Thousand more
One step closer
One step closer
I memory hits me from my eighteenth birthday party.
Hearts beat fast
Colors
And promises
People are all freaking out. Mom insisted on inviting everyone from school. Peeta comes out of nowhere and pins me to the wall.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"You sang this song to be the first day we officially met." He leans close to me. I snort.
"I didn't sing that to you. I sang that because Cinna made me."
"Ah yes," he grins. "But you were looking at me." He pushes me closer to the wall and kisses me. "Therefore, you were singing to me.
We didn't make out but that would have been our first time if Johanna hadn't stopped us. I know it because I wanted to keep kissing him.
I have one thought.
He better wake up. He better wake up because living without him is inevitable.
If he dies I'll kill myself.
If my baby doesn't wake up, I'll lose my mind. Tears start to fall again.
"Let's do another song." Mom says.
...2...
When we got to my mothers house, I claimed my old room.
I must have fallen asleep, because it was right in the morning when we got her and the clock on my bedside able says it's three in the afternoon.
I didn't wake up on my own though, because Mom is standing at my bedside.
"Sorry to wake you honey but Peeta's up and we told him what happened and he doesn't remember it. We explained that you got stitched and he asked 'who's Katniss?'"
"He doesn't remember me?" I whisper, laced in pain.
"Then we said," she continues, ignoring my question. "You fiancé?' And he said 'oh shit! Katniss!' She pauses. "He's fine. He just has a moment because he hit his head really hard. He is really confused. He doesn't know why we're with him and he's flipping out because you got hurt. He keeps trying to get up and his family is here and everyone is holding him down. You need to go calm him down. He has a concussion and he isn't doing himself any good by trying to get up. He doesn't even know what happened."
I rush upstairs because in my life Peeta is my priority.
I slow down as I walk into the living room.
"Peeta, she's fine! Sit your ass down!" Rye snaps.
"I need to see her in the flesh so I can make sure she's okay! I promise I'll sit down after I see her!"
"Well you need to sit your ass down. She's right downstairs and I am not going to let her see you until you sit down!"
Rye's shouting now.
"Your not in charge!" Peeta shoves Rye and Graham steps in.
"Sit your fucking ass down." Graham hisses.
"Let. Me. See. Her." I can hear in his voice that he's about to punch everyone. Everyone being my whole family and his whole family.
Even though he has a a concussion, he still punches Rye.
"Oh!" Mom panics.
Rye's fist nearly collides with Peeta before I jump on him and knock him to the floor. "Katniss! What the fuck! Did you seriously just tackle me?"
I'm about to start going all bipolar on his ass.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, huh? You realize that he has a concussion and he just fell off a fucking cliff! Why would you even THINK that it's OKAY to punch him? Are you fucking stupid?"
"Katniss!" Peeta says. I look at him and I'm sure my eyes are black.
"Sit your ass down!" I snap.
I see his eyes widen and he sits down right away.
I snap my eyes back to Rye who looks terrified. "Now," I hiss. "I don't know WHAT your problem is, but you better fucking not lay a single finger on him again."
"Your like three years younger than me. He's my brother. I'm not going to let my brothers fiancé tell me what to do."
"Well if you-"
"Fiancé?" Peeta cuts me off. Everyone looks at him and he's staring at me intensely. "Fiancé? I didn't propose! We haven't even gone to college yet!"