Chapter 8: Will You Stay With Me?
My nightmares come swift and hard that night. I see Gale fighting for his life in the arena, before Cato finally subdues him, laughing evilly.
"Game over, 12! You'll never be a father now!"
I watch my lost love die all over again, my screams now joined by the plaintive wailing of an infant.
I wake in a cold sweat, my screams the only thing to pass seamlessly between the lands of dream and waking. My terror has evidently woken up Peeta, because I can hear his voice at my side, even if I can't make him out in the darkness.
"Just a nightmare, I'm sorry," I breathe heavily, embarrassed.
"It's OK," he soothes gently. "I get them too. Good night." I hear him returning to his air mattress and suddenly reach out blindly.
"Peeta….. will you stay with me?"
"Yeah," he replies without hesitation, and I get my secret wish as I feel the mattress sink a little deeper with added weight. I crawl right up against him, snuggling in his warmth.
"Always," he whispers. It's the last thing I hear before I drift back to sleep.
Only in the morning after I wake up do I realize that was my first dreamless slumber in years. I wonder all over again: who is this young man with such inexplicable power that even the nightmares obey him and flee?