A/N- Hello again... wow I'm getting through this quickly this week :D
I sat on my bed and wrote all night, determined to get this one finished for y'all and here it is, enjoy!
I am not Suzanne Collins, therefore I don't own The Hunger Games. Although, I do own Zinny x
A soft knock from my door wakes me this morning. I groan and sit up, rubbing my eyes and wiping away the sleep that's collected in the corners over the night period.
"Who is it?" I call, my voice brimming with sleepy groans.
"Who do you think, silly?" Finnick's voice replies from behind the wood.
"Why are you here so early?" I moan back.
"Today's a big day, remember?" He answers.
"What?" I grumble back. I mean, seriously, how does today different from every other day I've spent here? It's always the same routine of getting up, eating breakfast, then spending most of the day touring the Capitol with Finnick. It's not like I'm going anywhere, or-
Hold on a minute.I mentally add up the days in my head. No way. Have I counted right? Could today really be the launch of The 74th Hunger Games? Is today Peeta's last morning of civilisation before he's thrown into the arena this afternoon?
It can't be. It's too fast. This is not happening. Not today.
"Today, it's the-" Finnick begins to answer, but he's cut off by me yelling back.
"Yer, I know. The day where Peeta is cut off from the rest of the world and starts his fight for survival against twenty-three other teenagers, whom probably have more experience and knowledge about the subject of killing than he does! Hang on one minute, let me get the door"
I swing my legs out of the bed and run over to the door. I take off the latch that holds it in place and Finnick enters. He's already dressed and ready, whereas I've barely even woken up. It feels too early. Way too early. Wait, what time is it?
"Six o'clock sharp, just as I said" Finnick announces, tapping a watch and sitting himself down on the sofa.
"Ugh, it's early though" I whine at him, but he takes no notice.
"No time to laziness now. C'mon, chop chop now" He pushes me lightly in the direction of the bathroom.
I close the door behind me and go over to the sink. I turn the cold tap on and splash some water of my face, waking myself up a little. I know I don't have time for a shower, so I make do and wash myself roughly with the water from the taps. Picking up my toothbrush, I load it with toothpaste, stick it in my mouth and walk back into the bedroom.
Finnick stands there, holding out a pale blue dress with a deeper marine ribboned belt stitched across the waist. It's beautiful.
"I thought you'd better wear something nice when we go and see Peeta" He says, passing me the dress and sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Oh right, I suppose I should" I smile back at him, holding the dress in front of myself and looking into the mirror.
I totally forgot when I woke up, that today, Finnick had promised me that he would take me to see Peeta before the Games. It's not that I forgot the promise, I just didn't realise the days creeping up on me. It all just seems to have gone past too quickly, without warning me that today was just minutes away. I sigh. Today, I'm being given a second chance of a last goodbye and I'm really grateful to Finnick for making it happen.
Normally, The Justice Building would have been my last meeting with Peeta. That's the way the rules work. However, I'm not much of a rule-follower so of course I wouldn't obey them. I already sneak down to watch Peeta train through a window, which was as close as I thought I would get. That is, until Finnick thought up this idea.
Being the mentor for District 4 this year, Finnick already has access to most parts of the mansion. Not to mention, he knows practically everyone here. So, using this to our advantage, he's organised a secret meeting with Peeta, so we can see each other properly, before the Games begin. Honestly, part of me can't wait to see him, but, the other part of me is completely terrified.
What if I mess up again? What if our plan goes wrong and someone finds out? And what if he doesn't want to speak to me after last time?
These questions roll around and around in my mind until I feel as if I could collapse in a broken heap on the floor, curled up and wanting the world to open up and swallow me whole. Fortunately, I keep my cool on things and turn my mind off these questions.
"So, what do you think?" I ask Finnick, giving him a little twirl in the dress.
He smiles at me winking with his right eye, "Gorgeous, darling, gorgeous"
I roll my eyes at him, but inside I'm pleased. He may have had the record amount of girlfriends in the whole of Panem, but he sure knows how to make a girl feel good about herself. I guess that's another of his long list of qualities...
I give my hair a quick brush and check the clock, 6:48am. Twelve minutes until I see Peeta for the last time. Properly, for the last time.
Finnick opens the door and gestures that we should get going.
"You ready?" He asks, holding open the door.
"As ready as I'll ever be"
We pause, standing outside the door labelled 'Interview Room 1'. I'm starting to feel nervous again, my heart fluttering and my head feeling light. My breathing deepens too, as I attempt to slow my ever increasing heart rate. In through the nose, out through the mouth...
"You ok?" Finnick turns to me.
"Yeah, I'm fine" I nod back at him.
"Ready?" He asks, nodding at the door, one hand resting on the doorknob.
I take a deep breath and find his other hand and grip it tightly. He smiles at me and squeezes my hand in his, assuring me that everything is ok. But it's not ok. Nothing is ok anymore. I'm about to speak to my little brother for the last time, before he's lead to his death. It's hard to stay sane, but I'm doing it for his sake. If he sees that I'm coping the best I can, then he'll feel better about things. On the other hand, if he sees that I'm not coping, then he'll worry about me and not concentrate on staying alive. I need to show him that there is hope, even if he doesn't believe it. I have to try.
I look at Finnick, "Ready"
The handle turns and I enter the room.
The room is empty and bland, except from a table with a few chairs placed around it. Peeta's sat on one of the chairs, fiddling his fingers on the table surface. He looks up as I walk in and smiles at me. I smile back and sit down on a chair next to him.
My hand reaches out across the table and rests on top of his.
"Hey, you" I whisper softly.
"Hi" He whispers back.
I raise my forearm and brush a loose curl of hair from his face with my fingers. Just like I've always done.
"How are you doing?" I ask him, drawing back from fixing his hair.
"Alright, I suppose. Bearing in mind the situation, I could be clinically depressed or self-harming, but I'm not, so I must be doing pretty good" He grins at me, a little unconvincingly.
"Well, that's always good to hear" I smile back at him.
We stay silent for a few moments afterwards, not knowing what to say to each other next. It's Peeta that soon breaks the awkward silence.
"Anyways, how are you?" He asks me, looking into my eyes for traces of emotion.
I shrug, "Fine, but that doesn't matter now. What matters is you"
"Nah, I'll be fine. The training has been alright and Haymitch has given me some tips" He says.
"I know all about the training. Why didn't you tell me how strong you were?" I question him, my voice full of curiosity.
"Hm, I didn't really know about it myself, until recently. It's not that amazing though, Zinny. I just throw a few big things, no biggie" His answer is modest. Typical Peeta.
"Seriously, Peeta, it is. I could never lift any of those things you did!" I protest.
"That's because you're a girl" He says cheekily.
I give a little gasp of disbelief, "That's not fair!"
"But it's true" He laughs in his little cheeky way.
I giggle back at him, shaking my head.
"You haven't changed one bit!" I say to him, prodding his arm with an extended finger.
"Maybe not yet..." He trails off, looking to his feet uncertainly.
"Oh, Peeta, not now" I whisper to him, wanting to keep these happy moments for a little while longer.
"We can't forget about it now. It's too late, I'm going in, in a few hours" He shrugs, still not looking at me.
"I know, I know. And I need to accept that" I say.
Peeta's eyes flicker back up to meet mine, "I just can't believe it's today, that's all. I don't feel... prepared enough"
But before I can reassure him, a knock on the door echoes around the room and the door creaks open. Finnick's head peeps round and nods to me. It's time to go.
I turn back to Peeta and look deeply into his eyes, keeping his attention,
"I've got to go now, but when you're in there, the first thing to do is create distance between you and the other tributes, then straight away, find a water supply. As soon as you have access water, then you can think of a strategy. Hmm, let me see... If you can get hold of a knife, that would be very handy... and also some other weapons for emergency combat. Also, don't forget to use your strength and camouflage abilities as much as possible. You'll always need defence, not just attack methods. You never know what will be in there with you.." My words of advice come pouring out to him, because this time, I want to make sure that the last things he hears from me are beneficial.
"Zinny, thanks, but you really should go now. I don't want to get you in anymore trouble with Snow" Peeta stops me.
I sigh, knowing he's completely right. As usual, I rambled a little too much.
"Ok, ok, I'll go. Just promise me you'll be careful?" I ask, holding his arm, my fingers digging into his flesh.
"I promise"
I move closer and wrap my arms around him. Pulling him closer to my body, not willing for him to leave me. If only I could keep him safe with me, then maybe he'd get to live his life properly.
"Remember that I love you, ok?" I murmur into his ear.
"Always will, sis. And I love you too" He whispers back in mine.
We pull apart, I kiss him lightly on the forehead, brush away another strand of blond hair from his face and leave the room, not looking back.
For the next few hours, I'm alone in my room. Finnick has gone to prepare his tributes before the Games start, so I'm left waiting anxiously for the TV to come alive and show the countdown for the start of the 74th Hunger Games. After pacing up and down the room for about the 200th time in the last hour or so, the screen on the wall lights up.
I run back to the sofa and sit down, leaning in to be closer to the screen. The anthem begins to play and the cameras show each of the twelve districts out on the streets, cheering for their tributes. I wait patiently until images of the tributes from the first eleven districts have been showed, then gulp as Peeta's picture is filling the screen. He looks very serious and sinister on the image, entirely different to how he normally looks. But that's just for the audience, you're supposed to look strong.
Once the introduction has finally come to an end, the camera shows live footage from the centre of the arena. The Cornucopia stands proudly in the middle of twelve metal plates. From the angle of the camera, I can see that the centre of the arena is in the middle of an open meadow, and to one side of it, lies a deep forest. I can't quite see what's on the other side, but it could be anything. The arena changes every year, from sweltering deserts to freezing waste lands. Luckily for Peeta, this doesn't look too extreme. Thank goodness.
A loud countdown starting from sixty booms from the speakers and the tributes are raised up on their platforms, seeing the arena for the first time. I recognise Katniss straight away, looking fairly confident and scanning her surroundings. I hope she gets killed fairly early, then Peeta won't have to kill her... that is if he was telling the truth about loving her in the interviews. I'm still sceptical about the whole confession, but that's not important now. There's only ten seconds on the countdown, but I still haven't spotted him.
Six, five, four...And I finally spot him, standing on the opposite side of the Cornucopia, also seeming somewhat confident. There's a slight flicker in his eyes which shows he's terrified. But so am I.
Three, two...one... And the countdown comes to an end, releasing all the tributes from their plates to sprint for the best equipment around the Cornucopia. Above all, the Careers seem to get there before most of the others do, giving them first choice in the best weapons. That's predictable.
Before I can even look for Peeta, the canon fires, signalling that someone's died. This will go off a lot in the first hour or so, when it's a bloodbath as everyone collects what they can and try to get away. This is one of the worst parts, when you see a large percentage of the tributes drop dead all in the same time period.
The bloodbath is over, bodies lie helplessly on the grass around the Cornucopia. Knives tipped with blood rest along side them, gleaming in the sun rays. Everywhere within a kilometre radius from where the metal plates were is splattered in blood, used weapons and more blood. Hence the name, bloodbath.
Throughout the whole hour of so, everything was so hectic that I couldn't have possibly seen what Peeta did. Or even if he got out alive...
The meadow is empty, apart from the deceased bodies and abandones supplies. Not a soul in sight. About a third of the tributes died in the bloodbath, I believe, seeing the amount of bodies that lie in the grass. A sickening thought arises within me; Peeta could be one of those. I didn't see him leave his plate. I didn't see him engage in battle. I didn't see him collect any supplies. I didn't see him leave the Cornucopia...
Then the truth hits me. Hard.
Peeta might be dead.
A/N- Okay, so that was chapter 6 and things are starting to move on a bit, Peeta's in the games... but have I put a twist on things from the book? Aha, read and review to find out! PLEASE CLICK MY FAVOURITE BUTTON CALLED 'REVIEW'
Thanks, FireflyLlama x