Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I wrote the last chapter, but I had TONS of schoolwork, ugh. But I did do it, so here's the third chapter of Alone!

Inside the locket there is a piece of paper folded many times so that it would fit inside the tiny locket.

The note reads:

Hi Katniss. If you're reading this after I'm dead, I hope you're doing ok. I hope you don't think I died for you, I didn't and you need to survive, to lead the rebellion.

My eyes fill with tears. Even on paper, Peeta is so good with words.

Katniss, I love you and I always will. You're one of the bravest people I know, and I want you to know that. Down at the bottom is something I want you to have. I know it'll be nice to have something of me to hold onto, even when I'm not gone.

Be yourself, be perfect, like you are now, girl on fire. I'll see you again someday soon.

~Peeta

Down at the bottom, there is a necklace. It's tiny, and I really wonder how he got this all into the locket. The necklace is small, it's a gold chain. At the bottom, there's a tiny charm. It's a loaf of bread.

"Oh, Peeta," I whisper, "it's perfect." I look up thinking he'll be next to me, smiling as I opened it. But I look up and there is no boy with the bread, and in that instant I know he's gone, gone, gone and not coming back.

Suddenly, I'm so exhausted. I clasp the locket with the note and the bread necklace around my neck and push Finnick. "Finnick. Can you watch for a while?"

"Sure," he mumbles. He grabs a trident and stumbles to where I was sitting. I take his place. As soon as my head hits the ground, I fall fast asleep into a dreamless sleep for once.

I open my eyes into bright sunlight. Finnick and Mags are sitting, eating who knows what but looking fairly alive.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I grumble.

"Oh, you know," replies Finnick, "I thought you might need to sleep, you know, after losing Peeta, and the baby."

Oh. Right. The baby. In the craziness of yesterday, I totally forgot about that. "Okay," I say slowly.

"It's fine," he says. "Come on over and eat."

The food's delicious. There's some sort of water bird and a basket of rolls that Finnick explains were sent to us before I woke up. Apparently there were twenty-four. I don't have the foggiest notion why I need to know that, but he seems to think it's important so I just let it go.

"Eat up," Finnick urges when he notices I've only eaten a little bit of my roll. "Gotta keep your strength up for the baby!"

I sigh and take another bite of roll just to please him. But I'm totally preoccupied thinking about Peeta and my? our? baby.

The Capitol citizens must be totally devastated that Peeta is dead. They, of course, don't know he was still alive. They'll also be wondering about the baby.

Someone gives me something. It's Mags. She gives me a toothless grin, giving me her awl. She mumbles, "Water," but Finnick takes it instead.

Mags pats my back. She says something about Peeta, claw, dead, sorry, but that's all I catch, although I understand her sympathy.

Peeta. Everytime I think of him it bring another round of pangs and longing. What I wouldn't give for ten minutes with him.

"I miss you Peeta," I say out loud. This is all for the cameras, not me. "I love you, I wish you were here now." Then I bury my face in my arms, crying.

Mags resumes patting my back. It's a kind gesture and everything, but it just makes me cry harder.

Suddenly Finnick comes crashing through the trees with the awl. He picks up his few tridents and I am totally bewildered.

"Katniss! Get your stuff!" he yells. He passes me his tridents and runs in the opposite direction he came.

I'm still awfully confused but I quickly gather my weapons and run after Finnick. As I run, a peppering sensation shoots on my arm, I look back.

A purple fog is following us. It looks normal, but a way that it moves tells me that this is obviously not a normal fog. It's too uniform for that. It's an arena trap.

I begin to run faster. I'm crying, because I never did stop crying after Finnick came to get us, crying because I'm tripping all over the place because I'm crying, and crying because the way we're running seems to be the one with the most prickers.

Lucky for me, I catch up to Finnick. We make it to the beach and literally collapse.

We just lie there for a while. If Brutus, Enobaria, Cashmere, and Gloss were to find us now, we'd be dead before you could say "Hunger Games."

But they don't find us, they must be out hunting somewhere else. Finally I sit up and look at myself. Where the fog's tendrils touched me hurt badly, and I notice something is leaking out of them.

I know my mother once told me something about wounds and saltwater. I decide it's worth a try, at least. So I gingerly slip my hand into the water.

It begins to sting, so I quickly pull it out. But it hurts more not in the water, so I stick it back in. Slowly, I begin to put more and more of myself into the water, and the more is submerged, the less I hurt.

Of course, there's only one downside of this. Now my brain, not having anything better to do, will start thinking about Peeta again.

So I sit in the water and cry.

Not exactly a cliffhanger ending, but you're probably tired of those, well, all of the other chapters have been cliffhangers! Well, cliffhanger or not, I hope you liked it. Also, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!(Although don't forget to favorite or follow either!)

A big thanks to bmdrwho12, who was the only reviewer for last chapter, thanks a load for reviewing! It means a lot to me and totally makes my day when I se I have a new review. :)

RANDOM QUESTION: What's your favorite color? Mine is maroon and gold! (Well, for now. My favorite color changes A LOT.)

Until chapter 4!

~~FuzzySocksAndWriting