Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games. All credit goes to Suzanne Collins. This is just my take on the story line.
Chapter 2: Visions in the Night
Peeta Pov:
Peeta was running, but from what? He turns around and sees a creäture that makes his heart sink down to his stomach. It had the body of a wolf, but that was where the resemblance stopped. It was walking around on its hind legs, like a human. This thing ran with speed that could be matched by only a cheetah. That is not what was terrifying about the beast though; it was that it had fur of a color that resembled his own blond hair, broad shoulders, as well as eyes that looked exactly like a mirror image of his own. Peeta was staring at a monstrous version of himself.
Before he knew what happened his perspective changed. No longer was he staring at the wolf, but now he had become the wolf. His senses were heightened, and a sudden surge of blood lust overran his subconscious. He had the urge to kill, but not just stop there. He wanted to devour the victim in its entirety.
When the sound of a twig snapping echoes from the right he sets out. Running as fast as his hybrid body would carry him. It is not long, however before he comes upon his victim to be. The girl turns around and immediately lets an arrow fly into the mutt's shoulder-blade. Of course this only angers Peeta and will only make the kill more satisfying when he finally gets his way.
The girl, however, is resourceful and pulls a knife, as she skillfully dodges Peeta's lounge at her. She appears to be quite able with the knife, which is made clear by the way she is able to scratch up the monstrous wolf man. Her efforts are in vain though because the thick hide that the mutt possesses cannot be pierced by something as insignificant as this knife.
The girl makes one strike with all of her might, and to her misfortune, the blade breaks from the hilt. The girl curses the Capitol under her breath for giving her such a feeble blade, and raises her head to glare at the abomination standing in front of her. With one last growl, Peeta lashed out at her, wishing that he hadn't once he saw the familiar grey eyes of the girl in front of him, but it was too late to stop, and he ripped the girl right in two.
Peeta awoke with a start, his breathing shallow, and his body coated in a thin layer of sweat. He sits up quickly, burying his face in his hands, in a feeble attempt to clear his head of the visions that are still tormenting him. He had allowed himself to be lost in the visions. The scared look that those eyes reflected could only be matched by the pure horror and agony contained in her blood-curdling scream. Normally Peeta would not have let a dream get to him, but those eyes… He knew exactly who they belong to; after all he had crushed on their owner for eleven years now. He closes his eyes and soon he is staring right at the face of Katniss Everdeen.
Peeta is not entirely sure about what it is that he sees in Katniss Everdeen, but ever since that day when they first spoke, she was the only one that held his attention. Sure he had looked at other girls could ever make him feel like he did when he looked at Katniss. His heart would flutter inside of his chest, his palms would start to sweat, his voice would catch in the back of his throat and butterflies would seem almost instantly in his stomach. He had spoken to this girl once in his entire life, and yet she still had a way of making him become unhinged. That day had been the high point of his existence thus far, with the time he had thrown a game winning touchdown pass in the last ten seconds coming in a close second.
His eyes flickered over to the clock that lies on his bed side table, and he sees that it clearly reads 3:00 A.M. There was no way that he was going to be able to go back to sleep tonight, that nightmare had really done a number on his sub-conscious, and he was not ready to make another attempt at sleeping. "It was just a dream, Peeta. A nightmare meant to torment you. Just relax. Katniss is safe. You did not really hurt her. She's fine, probably just asleep in her own house. "He mutters all of this to himself out loud, hoping to prove it to himself.
The muttering had done what it was intended for though, as he is indeed calming down. His breathing is gradually slowing down, and his eyelids are growing heavier with each passing second. His thoughts return to Katniss, of that day when they first met one another. The memory repeats on a seemingly endless loop as he finally drifts back off. The world of his dreams is no longer horrifying, but instead pleasurable. He knows this day far too well. It was the day when he first met the only person who captivates his interest.
DREAM SEQUENCE/FLASHBACK
Peeta's father pulls into the parking lot before rushing to the back seat to unbuckle his youngest son from his car seat. After all he was already late, on the first day of school nonetheless. As he was finally able to free his son, he picked him up and guided him through the front door of the building to where the class rosters were hung up in an organized way.
Peeta could not help but stare quizzically at his father who had a focused expression on his face as he attempted to read the lists, but despite his best efforts, the print has were far too small for his old eyes to handle. Mr. Mellark lets out a defeated sigh before he pulls out his glasses from the case that permanently remained in his back pocket. Peeta saw his father's countenance relax as he was now able to read the roster.
A few minutes pass and Peeta wonders what in the world is taking his dad so long, but when he looks at his dad's face he sees something that confuses him. His father is smiling fondly at something on the list. Peeta's eyes scan the piece of paper over, but since he cannot read all he is really doing is wasting his time. He pulls on the apron that was tied around his father's waist in trying to get him to move. Once Mr. Mellark realizes his son's intention he blushes embarrassed for a reason that remains unknown to Peeta. "Okay, Peeta your classroom is just down the hall to the left," he says with a light smile as he takes his son's hand in his own. Mr. Mellark had always been overly gentle with little Peeta for two reasons, the first being that Peeta was the only one of his son's that both looked and acted like him, and the other being because his wife was always rough with the youngest boy, and would not hesitate to beat the child for any minor offense that he might commit.
Mr. Mellark sighed as he saw the latest addition to his wife's handiwork scarring the forehead of his youngest son. It made his blood curl slightly as he never imagined that anyone could beat a kid as ruthlessly as she does, but what could he do about it now? The woman that he had wanted to marry had run off with a poor entrepreneur, and left him to come up with his own means of establishing a legacy. His love for the woman never faded though, so when he finally met the woman who was his wife it added strain. She would never be able to replace his first love in his heart. No matter how bad the marriage was though, he had gained the one thing that he had always wanted from his wife, the kids.
The baker had been so lost in his thoughts that he did not realize that they had arrived at Peeta's classroom until his son began to pull on his apron once more. "Daddy, is this my classroom?" The boy asked in a respectful way. The baker could not help but smile at his son and nod. "Yes, Peeta, it is," he added with a cheerful tone before opening his arms up to Peeta, "Come here. I want to show you something." Peeta grinned from ear to ear and ran into his father's extended arms. "What is it, dad?" Peeta implored as his father lifted him from the ground. His dad soon moved to where Peeta could see through the small window that was built in the door, and pointed to a little girl with dark hair, and olive skin. "Do you see that girl, Peeta?" Peeta quickly nodded to show his father that he was paying attention. The girl was probably one of the most beautiful people that he had ever seen, but he is too distracted by his father's words to take in the stimuli that his feelings are providing. "I wanted to marry her mother," Mr. Mellark began, and Peeta could tell that there was some sort of underlying feeling on the part of his father, "But she ran off with an entrepreneur before I could propose to her." Peeta's eyebrows rocketed skyward as his father says this. He had known that his father only married his mother because he had to, but he had not imagined a back story quite like this from him. "Why did she run off with another man?" Peeta asked clearly clueless about why someone would want anyone other than the impossibly kind man that he knew as his father.
His father's mood suddenly changes to one that he has not seen in a long time. Sadness. The tears that are building in his eyes are easy to spot. This woman had truly broken his heart if he was still able to be this emotional after she left him so long ago. Peeta's hands stretch out in front of him, as he does something that makes him seem so much older than five. He wipes the tears from his father's eyes and gives him a gentle smile saying that everything was going to be fine. This definitely takes Mr. Mellark by surprise, but it also tells him something about his son that makes him smile. Peeta has a heart of pure gold. He would do anything that he could to help his father feel better. With this new-found hope that his son granted him, he sets Peeta down and opens the door whispering to where only his son can here, "Peeta, you're the best child a parent could ask for." Peeta turns back, wearing a huge grin from ear to ear as he waves goodbye to his father.
Once Peeta arrives in the room he notices that the little girl his father had pointed out was looking at him, and walks over to talk to her. "Hi, "Peeta says wearing a huge toothy grin, "I am Peeta. Peeta Mellark. What's your name?" The girl blushes a light shade of pink, proving that she is just as shy as ever before she barely whispers her name, "I'm Katniss Everdeen." Now it is Peeta's turn to blush as he hears her name. It was an uncommon name for sure, but there was something that just seemed so right about it. The name seemed to fit the little girl perfectly. Peeta takes in the look of the girl for just another moment and takes note of a few important details: the first being that her hair is in two intricately woven braids, the second was that she was wearing a beautiful read dress, and the last was her scent, that seemed to match that of the woods after a long rain. All of this mixed with her sporty build lead Peeta to believe that she liked to play outside. Peeta is about to say something else to the little girl, but is soon cut off by a scream from the teacher.
END FLASHBACK/ DREAM SEQUENCE
Peeta opens his eyes quickly, and looks around. Of course it had all been a dream, he was no longer a bashful five-year old. Peeta hears another scream and pinches himself to make sure that he is in fact awake. Once the scream echoes for a third time he realizes that it is his mother calling him to go down to work.
He quickly throws away the comforter and forces himself on to his feet. Now begins the search for a pair of semi-dirty clothes to wear down to the bakery. He knows that whatever he wears is only going to end up covered in flour so he may as well just wear something that is already dirty. After about a minute of searching his eyes lock on a black t-shirt that lies on the floor. He tries to remember for a moment when he had worn this but can't so he just quickly throws it over his head, and grabs a pair of jeans sliding them on his sturdy legs before making his way down the stairs.
Once he makes the turn around the corner he notices his mother standing there with an impatient look on her face. "Where were you?" She asks with a tone that is somewhere between anger and frustration. He has to make up his mind on how to answer quickly. He needs a reason that sounds valid, but since he cannot think of one he just sighs and whispers his answer, "I overslept. Don't worry it won't happen aga-"Before he can finish she takes her hand and slaps him across the face. "Damn right it won't happen again. Now get to work." He holds the spot on his face that she just assaulted, and nods, "yes, ma'am."
Peeta makes his way to the back of the bakery silently, making sure to avoid the eyes of his father, and both of his brothers. Everyone knows that Mrs. Mellark abuses her sons, but no one reports her for fear of what will happen to the boys. The last thing that people want is for them to be placed in foster care. The Mellark boys never have a single bad thing to say about their mother though, in fact from hearing them talk about her one would think that she is a saint.
Now that he was alone, Peeta could do the two things that he loved most in the world. First he got a fresh cake and his frosting utensils, before proceeding to decorate the cake, and the second thing he did was fantasize about Katniss. Like what it would be like to talk about her, hug her and even kiss her. It was normally about this point in his day-dream that his mother would walk in and yell at him for wasting time, but it didn't come today. Instead he took note of a faint knock on the back door. "This is weird," he thought to himself, "no one ever uses the backdoor." He opened the door and his words caught in the back of his throat. He was staring into the stormy grey eyes of he loved. The visitor was none other than Katniss Everdeen
Authors Note: Leave me a review. Tell me why you think Katniss is here. I would love some suggestions. :D