I don't own the Hunger Games,
Chapter 3: Calling
I wake up with my arms still around Peeta's shoulders, His hand is still rested on my head, I take hold of his hand and I kiss it, this makes him wake up,
"Hey Katniss," he says tiredly,
"Morning," I say in reply, "Did you have any nightmares?" I ask,
"No, did you?"
"I didn't either,"
I pause and think for a moment, Peeta is the cure to my nightmares, this may seem weird, but he is, every time I sleep near him or anything like that, I do not have any nightmares, I guess it is the same with him, I am his cure and he is my cure. I look over to the window. Someone is outside, it looks like a mailman, walking towards my house, the man slips a letter under my door and walks off, I have mail? Since when did people care to send me letters?
"A man just went up to my house, I think it was a mailman, come on," I say, as I take Peeta's hand, and prop him up on his feet, open the door the air is cool, as it usually is in the morning, but It will clear up, and become a beautiful day as it always does, I look over to Haymitch's house, I can see he is by the window in his kitchen, He looks at me with a scowl, preferably referring to me holding Peeta's hand I assume, I look away then we mount the steps to my house, I open the door and there is a small letter on the mat, I bend over and pick it up,
"It's from District 4," I say, I open the letter, and walk inside, Peeta not far behind me, the letter is written in clear words, so it is easy to read,
Hello Katniss,
It's been a while since I saw you, I haven't seen you since we were in District 13, and how have you been Katniss, I hope you are coping well about Prim, I know I am not, and you probably aren't either, just remind yourself she will always be here if you let her live on in your memories. Gale came in to see me a few weeks ago, to ask how you have been, but I had told him I haven't talked to you since the war ended, so I thought it would be nice to let you know everything's fine here, and I'd love to see you soon, hope you are doing well.
Love you,
Your Mother,
My mother cares about me? I thought she abandoned Prim and I years ago; she lost it when my father died, I don't understand.
"Katniss, who is it from?"
"It's from my mother,"
"Really? You haven't heard from her in a while" Peeta says,
"No, I haven't" I pause for a long while, Peeta is about to say something to break the silence but I say something first.
"Now, we have to go pay Theria a visit, you know, to see what needs to be done about your flashbacks,"
"alright, lets head over,"
We walk to the clinic, it feels like a long walk since me and Peeta don't talk, but once we reach the clinic the door flings wide open,
"Good! You are here! We have much to discuss," Theria says, we walk in and Theria takes us to her office, she sits us down on two chairs across from a desk, she sits on the other side,
"Now, I don't have the proper equipment nor medication here, the only place where we could possibly find a cure that could control your flashbacks, you have to go to District 4, I'll come with you, I'll send in another doctor to stay here in District 12 whilst we are out, this could take maybe a week and an half?"
I pause for a moment,
"Did you just say District 4?" I say, my mother lives there.
"Yes, is there a problem?"
"No, not at all, we should go, yes." what am I saying?
"Well, then it's settled, there is a train first thing tomorrow morning, keen to go then?"
"Oh, wow, sure." already? what If I come across my mother? "Thank you Theria, Is there anything we could do in return? This is a massive favor,"
"Katniss, you have rid Panem from havoc, it's the least I can do, so you don't need to return the favor," Theria says, "Go, pack your things, we don't have much time! It's already midday," she says,
I turn to Peeta, "Okay, lets go,"
"Okay,"
"See you soon Theria,"
We walk outside once again, we are just coming up to the victor's village when Peeta speaks,
"I'm just going to go get my stuff ready,"
"Okay, Talk to you later,"
Peeta goes off towards his house, I keep on walking towards mine, I open the door to my house and walk in, I go upstairs to my room and I get an old bag from one of the drawers, I put enough changes of clothes to last one week, and put all the essential things I need for traveling in the bag, this is when I come across the pearl that Peeta gave me during the Quell, I keep it in a little box on the dresser, every time I look at it, it either reminds me of Peeta, or the time in the Quell, the pearl has a strong connection to both of those subjects, but I try to edge it to remind me more about Peeta, I don't like remembering the time in the games, but some parts were okay, like when Peeta and I were on the beach, I get lost in my thoughts until I hear a knock on my door downstairs, I run down the stairs opening the door, thinking it was Peeta, or Theria, someone like that, But it's Haymitch,
"Now I don't know what this is all about, but you can stop pretending with Peeta now," Haymitch says,
"You're kidding right? What gives you the right to think that I-"
"Well, you did pretend during the games," He says,
"You told me to, but now I realize I don't have to pretend anymore, you know why?" I pause, as if Haymitch will answer, Because I love him, I'm not pretending, or anything like that, I open my mouth, then Haymitch cuts in,
"You passed,"
"What?" What did I pass?
"Did you really think I thought you were still pretending?"
"Well-"
"Have you seen yourselves lately?"
"What's your point?" I say with annoyance,
"You fall for things too easy," He says, whilst taking another swig from his flask,
"Hey, come back later when you feel like being mature for once," I gesture him go away, he does so but he mocks my gesture, I roll my eyes and shut the door, I go back to packing, I was almost done anyways, I hate how Haymitch thinks it's funny to play with my feelings, he can be kind sometimes, most of the time he just likes to wind me up and then see my reaction after, I finish packing and zip the bag up, I put it beside the door and sit on my bed, I place both of my hands on my face, I'm going to go see my mother tomorrow, and get some sort of cure for Peeta's flashbacks, I don't know how my mother is right now, but from the letter she sounds pretty happy, better than she was before the war finished, I look over to the clock beside my bed, it's only two in the afternoon, maybe I could go hunting for a while, I haven't been outside in the woods hunting properly on my own for a long time, I decide to go, before I do, I just get some bread I can eat on the way to the woods, I grab my game bag from the hook by the door, and head out.
I am outside in the woods, I feel normal again when I am, the woods are quiet, untouched by the Capitol, and they never will touch the woods, since the Capitol fell, I go over to the hollow in the tree and retrieve my bow and quiver, several old arrows I have been using for years are still in good condition, some still have old dried blood on them, some of the arrow heads are rusted, but it's okay, since the arrows come clean out of the animals once I have shot them, as they have every day, every year. I spot a turkey, I take aim straight away and kill it with one simple maneuver of my bow, I go over to examine my kill, and I have shot it in the eye. Things like this remind me of things Peeta has said, like he said his father told him I hit all of the squirrels in the eye every time. I sold them to Peeta's father, that was the only time I really saw Peeta in those days, I caught a glance of him every time I came to their back door to sell the squirrels, I put the turkey into my bag and head back, my bag only has room for one turkey, I guess I should invite Theria over for dinner tonight, since she had gone through all that trouble, and I don't care if she says its fine, she isn't going to use that excuse, It feels like I've only been out for half an hour, maybe I could climb a tree and sit there for a while, I do so, t
The view is still breathtaking, every time I look up to the sky, still bluer than ever, what feels like one minute, ten minutes go by, I savor every moment in the woods, because I will not be able to come back for a week, but I have to leave now, before the turkey attracts some unwanted critters, I climb back down and head back to the District, actually taking my bow and arrows with me, there is no point in hiding them anymore. People aren't that shocked to see me with them around town, I guess the suspect I have just gone out to hunt, nothing more than that, I get home and empty the game bag onto the bench in the kitchen the turkey is a reasonable size, wont be much of a challenge plucking the feathers out. I start working on the turkey; I'm almost done when Peeta walks in on me,
"Hi Peeta, have you finished packing?" I ask,
"Yes, I have," Peeta says, "I see you've been hunting,"
"Of course," I say, "We are inviting Theria over for dinner, I think after all she's done, we still need to repay her,"
"I agree, should I make some bread?" he asks,
"Yes, any flavor would be great," I say,
"Do you want me to bring the ingredients over here?"
"Yes, I'd rather not be alone for the rest of the day," I say, and I like your company,
Peeta smiles at me, I throw him a smile back, and then look down at the turkey I am plucking,
"I'll be back soon," Peeta says,
"Okay, don't take too long," I smile,
Peeta walks out, I'm here hopelessly smiling to myself, Peeta just makes me happy. I have finished plucking the turkey, now I must cut out any unwanted parts of the turkey, such as the inners of the turkey, I clear it, throwing the rest in the bin, then I rinse it with water, and gently dry it with a paper towel, Peeta comes back inside with his ingredients for his bread and gets started,
"I'll be back, I'll just invite Theria over," I say,
I pick up the phone in the kitchen, and dial the number to the clinic, she picks up a few seconds later,
"Hello, District 12 Health clinic, How may I help you?" she says in her clearest voice,
"Hey Theria, it's Katniss, " I say in reply,
"Oh, hello!" The formality drops from her voice, knowing I'm a friend,
"Peeta and I were wondering, If you'd join us for dinner tonight, since you had organized all of tomorrow," I trail off,
"Sounds lovely, what time?"
"Maybe around, half past five?"
"Great, thank you very much Katniss," she pauses, "See you then!"
"See you, and it's no problem at all,"
"Bye!"
"Bye,"
then I hang up the phone,
"So I'll take that as a 'she's coming'?"
"Yes, she is coming,"
"Great," he says as he pops a big sphere of dough onto a tray and puts it in the oven, how did he make that so quick, I walk over to the cupboard and pick out some salts, then I go back to the turkey and season it, once I'm done I place it on a large tray and put it in the oven, I ask him "What sort of bread are you making?"
"I'm making some raisin bread" He says,
"Hey, thats like the bread you threw me, you know," I say, then I throw him a smile, he returns the favor,
"I'm going to put the turkey on now, so if your bread is going to be done soon,"
"There's plenty of room in the oven, here, let me put it in," I don't protest, I just go to sit on the chair at the bench, watching him put the turkey in the oven, once he's done, he walks over to my side and puts an arm around my shoulder,
"Hi," I say, he laughs,
"Hi, Katniss." I take hold of his hand then I lean into him, then he lets go of my hand and puts his other arm around my other shoulder, I do the same. Now we are hugging, sometimes I forget how sweet his hugs are, when his arms are around me I feel like I'm safe from everything, nothing can hurt me, Peeta is there to protect me, although, it's usually the other way around. A few minutes pass, I pull away from Peeta and get off the chair, then I make my way over to the oven to have a look at the turkey, it looks fine.
"Hey Peeta, do you think your bread is done?"
"Maybe, I'll check."
He goes over to the oven and pulls it open, and takes out the tray with the bread on it,
"Looks about done, now I'll just let it rise on it's own now."
"Alright then," I pause, "Hey,"
"Yeah?"
"Do you mind looking after the turkey for a bit?"
"Sure, where are you going?" he asks,
"Just, out to the woods,"
"Okay then. Don't take too long, otherwise you might miss dinner," Peeta laughs,
"Okay,"
"-and don't forget your bow and arrows, you never know."
"Yes, I get it. I'll be back soon." I say, and then I place a kiss on his forehead.
I take a coat and put it on, I take my bow and arrows from where I left them earlier today and head out, I feel like just getting outside, It is where I am most myself, when I get into woods, I climb my favorite tree, this particular tree has the best view in my opinion, and I know that there is a flock of mockingjays that live nearby here, so when I sing, I can hear the echoes of my song throughout the wood, I decide to sing, to see if there are any mockingjays around,
When you were standing in the wake of devastation,
When you were waiting on the edge of the unknown,
The woods have gone silent, no birds are singing,
With the cataclysm raining down,
Your insides crying, save me now,
You were there, impossibly alone.
As soon as I finish singing, I hear echoes of mysinging; there are defiantly mockingjays here still, I lean back on the tree, listening to the birds, and I close my eyes. I know I shouldn't stay long, because I know I need to get back for dinner, but I sit there for a while, until the song dies down a little and returns to normal chirping. Then I start climbing back down from the tree, that's when I hear a howl.
Cliffhanger? Maybe? Leave a review? It would help a lot since this is my first fanfiction :D Hope you liked it! I do not take claim on the song at all, or the hunger games, this is just for "fan" (Dunno what word I should use) purposes.