Chapter 2: Rebuild the Schoolhouse
I report for duty on the Reconstruction Crew early that next Monday morning. Darius and I are assigned to the same harness and beam, as we work to repair the schoolhouse roof. I never liked it here at school. It was an imposing building. And I had few friends. The other girls would whisper about me, and how my priorities were not on boys.
Darius and I now work back-to-back on the beam, passing each other tools from a toolbox between us. At one point, I turn to ask for a screwdriver.
"Darius, can you pass me...?"
I turn too quickly. Only the harness saves me as I fall with a scream from the beam, hanging in mid-air like an idiot. Darius reaches for me, as I struggle to get a hand-hold (which I finally do) on the beam.
"I've got you, Katniss! Just hold on!"
I happen to look down for only a moment. But it is no longer the concerned Crew down below that I see. And I am no longer at the schoolhouse. I am now in a tree in a wild arena, where four Careers now circle me and taunt me: Come on, Katniss... Fall...
I feel an arm grip mine. I think that it's Peeta, come to save me as he always did. But, no, it is Darius who pulls me not back onto a branch, but a beam.
I burst into tears and collapse in his arms. He just holds me quietly. "What did you see?"
I don't know how he could be perceptive enough to know that I, a Victor, had a flashback, but I appreciate his perceptiveness. Only when I've sufficiently calmed down do I return to work.
