It's the middle of the night when I wake up. There are hands around my throat, and they are squeezing tighter and tighter by the second. His eyes are full of rage. They are full of anger. I am screaming for him to let go. He won't. I am terrified. Peeta is actually strangling me. Haymitch was right. But in a second Peeta is trying to comfort me, telling me it was just a dream. I am screaming at him to stay away.
"Katniss, you were dreaming. It was the blanket. You must've had it near your neck when I tried to pull some back over. Does your neck actually hurt?"
"My throat does."
"From the screaming. Katniss-"
He attempts to come closer, but I grab my knife from my dresser.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" I scream and run out of my house-fleeing from him. It's the middle of the night though. Maybe a little past midnight to be precise- where do I go? The woods? No. There are too many creatures that roam at night. I can't hide in my own house, but then I notice the light across from my yard. Haymitch mustn't have stayed at my house, I wouldn't have noticed if he had. I run to his house and knock on his door rapidly. He opens the door with hesitation. Nobody ever knocks. I barge through the door, sobbing. He looks so confused. I start trying to tell him.
"He-he had his hands around my throat!" I stammer out.
"Sweetheart, are you sure?"
"He. Tried. Killing. Me."
"Could have been a dream."
"NO HE HAD HIS HANDS AROUND MY THROAT!" I scream at him.
He takes a seat back to where he was sitting, and turns his attention to whatever television program he had on. I curl up into an arm chair that faces the kitchen. I lay in fetal position silently crying. My hand touches my neck gently. I am so terrified of what will happen, so I fight off my drossiness to stay alert. After about an hour or two, there's a light tap on the door. I go silent, no sniffling, no squeals, no anything. I pull myself into a tighter ball. Haymitch groans.
"Can I get any peace around here?! God dammit." He mutters. He pulls himself up from the lumpy couch; on his way to the door he makes eye contact with me. My eyes grow wide with fear. He seems to understand, he always does. The door opens, but he doesn't let Peeta past the stairs.
"Haymitch is she here?"
"Katniss? Why the hell would she be?"
Peeta sighs. "Because she thinks I tried strangling her."
"You did."
"Tonight."
"Well, did you?"
"NO!" He's admint, but I know he is a clever liar.
"You didn't have one of your crazy episodes and sleepwalk over to her house? No chance?"
"No. I was awake—no episodes. I take those awful pills so it won't happen again…The side effects…you don't want to know." He recovers from his sidetrack.
"I woke up because she had all the blanket. I tugged some back over. It touched her neck and she started screaming. Took me forever to wake her up."
"So you were sharing at blanket in the middle of the night?"
Nightmares are bad, but this question knocks the wind out of me. I might have forgotten to mention we had been sharing a house longer than he knew, and might have left out that Peeta and I do share a bed. Peeta doesn't answer.
"Surprised it took this long," Haymitch shakes his head. "Go kiss and make up."
Peeta snorts.
"Oh and take her home will ya? She's in that chair and I'm trying to watch TV."
Where are those nighttime glasses when I need them? I would have loved to see Peeta's reaction.
Peeta walks over; kicking what might be soiled laundry out of the way. "Katniss?" he looks down at me.
"Hey."
He shakes his head at me, but appears to be smirking. "Hi," he says in a shy schoolboy voice.
If this was the time to apologize, I would. But I just couldn't. "You didn't do it?"
Beside the chair, he crouches down.
"No. I wouldn't do that. I'm not going to ever do that." Is he lying or telling the truth?
Haymitch is tapping is foot. I'm so tired, I really can't move myself. Peeta carries me back to my house. After reaching the threshold, Peeta takes my hand to lead me to a mirror on the wall. He stands behind me and turns on a light.
"Do you see any marks?" After I thoroughly examine I tell him
"No."
"There would be if I touched you, don't you think so?" He says softly.
"Yes- but there could still be bruises forming."
"Okay, well if you see them in the morning let me know." I can tell he's a little bitter that I would think so lowly of him- that he would actually wrap his fingers around my throat once more. There are no more words exchanged between us. We meet in the bed. He doesn't bother sleeping close, frankly I don't blame him. Finally, after a long night though I am able to let my body rest. I know he was with me when I went to bed.
But when I wake there is no one next to me. Swinging my legs over the bed side, I catch a glance of myself in the bathroom mirror. There are no bruises on my flesh. Once I drag myself down the stairs, I inhale the scent of bread. Of course, he's in the kitchen. Where else would he have gone? There's a variety of breads on the counter, one with herbs (Assuming the ones I picked), cheese buns, rolls with cinnamon toppings. He turns around to see me with my nose right next to his creations. Immediately he comes over to me. I look him right in the eye, my eyes tear up.
"I'm so sorry Peeta." I sob. He pulls me into his chest.
"I'm so sorry. You didn't hurt me." His hand smoothes my hair down over and over again.
"Shhh. I forgive you." It's almost a whisper. He leans down and presses his lips to my forehead.
I pull myself from his chest and kiss his cheek lightly. His face lights up, a huge grin makes its way across his face.
"Peeta, how many orders do you have today?"
"Just another two, but they should be finished shortly, why?" He asks curiously.
"I want to show you something." I say. "It's in the woods."
His head nods a little. "Okay."