Take It All Away: The Fight [Chapter Five]
Title : Take It All Away
Author: dreamyzingg
Summary: What if Katniss didn't have the berries at the end of the 74th Hunger Games? Would there be two victors, or one? Victory isn't so sweet for the winner of the 74th Hunger Games. Katniss/Peeta, rated T for PG-13 content and depression.
Rating: T
Pairing: Katniss/Peeta
Category: Romance/Tragedy
Hey everyone! Here's Chapter Five! Btw, I took the liberty of naming a few characters ;)
~~~~~~~
On the first day of August, my mother asks a favor of me.
My mother came into my room to feed me breakfast. After eating, she poured us both a cup of tea, and we sat on my bed in silence, quietly sipping. My mother had been reading her newspaper for most of the time; she had tried to start up a conversation with me, but it didn't go very far because I never said anything back to her. But now, as she is putting down the newspaper to pour another cup of tea for herself, she asks me, "Katniss, do you mind going into town to Rooba's? I need some lamb for dinner."
I set down my mug of tea on the tray she set up. "Are you too busy to go?"
"I am. It'll only take about twenty minutes. A short walk, really." She pours more hot water in her cup, steam billowing into the air.
"Mother, I don't think I can-"
"Katniss." She sets down her cup and takes my hand in both of hers. "Just three pieces of lamb. And then you can come right back upstairs to your bed." The look on her face tells me that I have only one answer to give her. There is no way I am getting out of this.
"F-fine. When I'm done with my tea, I'll go." I take my mug off the tray and take a long sip.
"Thank you." My mother leans down and kisses me on the cheek, then picks up her cup again to drink.
I know my mother could very well find time to get the meat herself, but I know she's just trying to get me out of the house. She's trying to bring me back out into the world, out of my bed, because we both know it has to happen already. She won't force me to go outside every day to face my district, but she will force me to leave the house in little pieces, readying me for a full return. As much as I'd like to, I can't spend the rest of my life in this bed. We both know that.
After we finish our tea, my mother helps me get dressed into pants and a clean shirt. She puts my father's old leather hunting jacket over my shoulders even though it's summer, and I am immediately enveloped in the scent of the woods. I shudder, realizing I have missed this scent very much.
My mother braids my hair down my back in front of my mirror. I look at my reflection, and am taken aback, since this is the first time I have looked at myself through a mirror since being in the Capitol. My cheek bones are protruding more than they should be, and my skin is yellow; if I squint, it's almost sagging. My eyes are bugging out of my head, and I think I see hair growing along the front of my ears and over my upper lip. My eyebrows also look very bushy. On top of being hated, I will now be mocked because of my appearance.
I convince myself that I do not care.
My mother hands me some money, then we walk outside my room together. My mother leads me through the house, since I don't know how to get around it myself. The only time I saw the first floor of the house was when I first arrived after the Games, but I didn't take much notice of it, since I ran upstairs immediately to the nearest bedroom. I notice that it is nicely furnished and that the white paint along the walls almost shines. I see a beautiful rug in the living room, and Prim's books and paper lying on the coffee table. I see the telephone attached to the wall outside of the kitchen door, and I remember Cinna handing me the piece of paper with his phone number on it. I almost want to call him, but I can't remember where I put the paper.
My mother opens the front door and leads me down the front steps to the sidewalk. I am surprised by how cold it is, since we are in the full swing of summer. It feels like a chilly autumn day; a shiver runs down my spine. I think, Autumn also means…
No. I will not think of that. Not yet. Not when I have just hastily swallowed down my fear and left my own house for the first time in months. I think maybe that fear will puke itself back up when I leave the Victor's Village and walk into the eyes of District 12, but I immediately swallow that thought away too.
"Why is it so cold?" I ask my mother.
She just shrugs. "It's supposed to be this cold for the rest of the week." She leads me down the street until we enter the pathway that leads to the district square. My mother stops there. She puts her hands on my shoulders, and kisses my cheek. "I'll see you in a few minutes." Then she walks back towards our house.
I stand at the entrance to the path for a few moments. Why would my mother leave me behind? I know she thinks that I have to get back out into the world sooner rather than later, but she could at least go there with me. She must know that the entire district hates me.
She thinks you're strong enough to go on your own I think. As soon as I think it, I know it must be true. But what my mother doesn't realize is that I am really not strong enough to do this on my own. I'm still broken, and I need someone next to me while I am facing my district, as much as I hate to admit it.
What if they don't despise you? a part of me wonders. I shake my head, dismissing that thought. Of course they hate me. I killed my district partner, my star-crossed lover, of course they hate me. They will frown at me and whisper behind my back, because I am the one who killed Peeta, and I know this district will never forgive me for it, no matter the circumstances.
I glance back at my house, and I see my mother on the front porch, smiling at me encouragingly. I take a deep breathe and start forward along the path, wishing this will be over with as fast as possible.
As soon as I reach the square, what feels like a hundred eyes glance in my direction. I look down, watching my feet as I make my way towards Rooba's butcher shop. People part past me as I walk, leaving me a clear path to my destination. I push away the feeling that people are only leaving a path for me because they don't want to be anywhere near me.
Soon enough, I arrive at Rooba's. When I walk through the front door, she looks at me, walks out from behind the counter, and gives me a warm hug, to my surprise. I tell her that I need three pieces of lamb for my mother. She tries to give them to me for free, but I refuse and put the money down on the counter before she can try and convince me further.
"Be strong, Katniss," she says, setting the bag of lamb in my hands. Rooba opens the door for me and pats my shoulder before I walk out the door. I walk down the street, surprised by Rooba's kindness. Am I really imagining that the whole district hates me?
I walk through the square, people still leaving a clear path for me, whispering and staring as I pass them. I move my feet along faster, and soon enough, I am very close to the pathway back to the Victor's Village. But before I reach it, I hear a yell that makes my bones shake.
XXX
"You! YOU!" I hear a storm of feet coming in my direction, and I turn around; my heart almost stops beating.
It is Peeta Mellark's mother.
I breathe harshly as she and a group of men and women follow behind her. She has a look of rage in her eyes, and her face is beet red. I spot Peeta's brothers behind her, tears in their eyes and their faces beet red as well.
I shake my head vigorously, willing this not to happen, willing her and the crowd to go away. But as much as I try, they only walk even faster towards me.
"YOU!" She shouts again. She stops two feet in front of me, glaring down at me.
"How DARE you show your face in the town square! After what you've done!" She reaches down and pulls on my hair.
"Who told you to get out of that house? WHO?" She puts her hand under my chin, grabbing at me with her long fingernails.
"I…I…my…" I can't speak; my voice catches in my throat and I begin to cough. I am terrified by Mrs. Mellark's rage. There is a large part of me that can't believe that she would attack me so cruelly in front of the district, and a paralyzing fear of her races through my veins. I wonder how much farther she is willing to go in front of everyone in the square.
"Stop coughing, you murderer, and look at me!" She pulls on my hair and shoves her hand further under my chin, pushing my face up to look at her.
I feel like I'm about to vomit.
"My son may not have had the guts to kill you in that arena, but me, I can kill you in your sleep." She pulls harder on my hair. Tears form in my eyes, and I begin to register shouts from a rapidly growing crowd. Shouths of assent at Mrs. Mellark.
"You get that scum, Edith!" a man shouts at Mrs. Mellark.
"She deserves it!" jeers a woman.
"She disgraces our district!" someone else shouts.
Mrs. Mellark grabs another fistful of my hair, and then she pulls back her other hand to smack my cheek. My ears ring and my vision blurs. I gasp and shut my eyes. I feel a kick on my foot, then a snap, making me cry out. My eyes open, and I look up into Peeta's mother's eyes, begging her to stop.
"Please…" I gasp. The pain is growing in my foot like a fire, and I can barely move it. She just smirks at me, and pulls back her fist, about to punch me again. But the punch never comes.
"STOP!"
Mrs. Mellark turns around. I look past her shoulder, and I gasp again.
It is Peeta's father.
He runs towards us, his face red and his apron covered in purple icing. Mrs. Mellark steps back just an inch, her hand still on my hair.
"Stop, Edith, stop." He reaches us, and pulls his wife's hand out of my hair.
"Why should I stop Patrick, when she killed our son? She deserves it!" Some people in the crowd cheer in assent.
Mr. Mellark just shakes his head, pulling her away from me. "You should stop because she doesn't deserve it. She's already broken. She knows what she did. Give her a break, she hasn't been at peace and happy since the reaping."
Mrs. Mellark's lips quiver and her face grows redder. "But she deserves it, Patrick. She should pay for what she's done!"
Mr. Mellark just shakes his head. "She doesn't deserve this. She was in the Hunger Games. She's paid more than she needs to."
My eyes fill with tears. Thank you, Mr. Mellark, I think.
He lets go of his wife's arms, and walks toward me. He takes the bag of lamb from where it fell on the ground, and gently takes my arm.
"Where are you going?" yells Mrs. Mellark.
"I'm taking her home." He glances at the crowd. "Don't any of you have work? Leave! There's nothing to see here!"
The crowd begins to disperse, and Mr. Mellark leads me down the path to the Victor's Village. I have never heard Peeta's father say so much in just a few moments. I am even more taken aback that he said it all for me, in my defense.
We walk down the path in silence. Mr. Mellark lets me lean on him since my foot hurts every time I step on the ground. Once we reach my house, I pull away from Mr. Mellark and vomit on the grass. He holds my shoulder as I puke out my insides. When I am done, he takes a napkin from his pocket and wipes the vomit from my mouth. I try to say thank you, but I'm afraid that if I talk, I'll start coughing or vomiting again.
"Katniss? Patrick?" My mother bounds down the front steps and steps onto the front yard. She rubs my arm as she asks, "Patrick, what happened?"
"Something involving my wife." He explains how he heard a commotion while he was inside his bakery, and when he saw his wife threatening me from the window, he walked outside and stopped his wife from hurting me anymore.
"I'm sorry, Juna," he tells my mother.
She sighs, a crease forming between her eyebrows. "And…the crowd? How large was it?"
He frowns. "Pretty large."
She nods. I notice her hands are shaking as they hold my shoulders. She leads me inside the house, with Mr. Mellark following us inside. I see Prim sitting at the kitchen table reading a book. When she looks up, she makes eye contact with me, and bounds up from her chair and runs toward us. "Katniss, are you okay?"
My mother sits me down at the table, and then Mr. Mellark says, "I'm so sorry Juna, I didn't know my wife would do something like this-"
"It'll be fine Patrick, it'll be fine. We'll… we'll just move on from this and…we'll see how it goes." I look up at Mr. Mellark, and notice the look in his eyes as he stares at my mother. I remember what Peeta said about his father liking my mother back in the cave-
I slam my fist down on the table. No. No. I will not think about Peeta.
"Thank you, Patrick, for bringing Katniss home." My mother brushes her hair out of her eyes.
"It was no problem. And I will be speaking to my wife about this-"
"Patrick." She puts her hand on his arm. "Don't worry. Please. We'll…discuss this some other time." She glances down at me as she says this, a look of concern on her face.
Mr. Mellark nods, and she leads him down the hallway to the front door. When my mother comes back, she takes off my hunting jacket, then washes my face and rubs my cheek with ointment where Mrs. Mellark hit it. She gives me tea, which I sip hungrily. I tell her that my foot aches, and when she rubs my big toe and the two toes next to it, I cry out in pain. When she rubs my ankle, I cry out again, and she says that they're broken. Prim helps her put a cast around my foot, then they help me up the stairs to my bedroom. Prim gives me crackers and fruit and my mother gives me more tea. She also gives me morphling ("Just a bit for the pain", she says), which makes my stomach churn with guiltiness, since I have a whole box load of morphling right below my bed.
My mother and Prim stay with me for a few hours, and we play card games. I don't have the energy to be angry at my mother for sending me to town on my own, because I don't want to ruin the entire day for her and Prim. After the card games, we talk, and while my mother tells us a story about her friend getting lost during the annual Harvest Festival, I fall asleep.
~~~~~~~
Let me know how it was! In the next chapter, the pace of the story is going to pick up a bit, and a certain character will make a reappearance. Stay tuned :)
Author: dreamyzingg
Summary: What if Katniss didn't have the berries at the end of the 74th Hunger Games? Would there be two victors, or one? Victory isn't so sweet for the winner of the 74th Hunger Games. Katniss/Peeta, rated T for PG-13 content and depression.
Rating: T
Pairing: Katniss/Peeta
Category: Romance/Tragedy
Hey everyone! Here's Chapter Five! Btw, I took the liberty of naming a few characters ;)
~~~~~~~
On the first day of August, my mother asks a favor of me.
My mother came into my room to feed me breakfast. After eating, she poured us both a cup of tea, and we sat on my bed in silence, quietly sipping. My mother had been reading her newspaper for most of the time; she had tried to start up a conversation with me, but it didn't go very far because I never said anything back to her. But now, as she is putting down the newspaper to pour another cup of tea for herself, she asks me, "Katniss, do you mind going into town to Rooba's? I need some lamb for dinner."
I set down my mug of tea on the tray she set up. "Are you too busy to go?"
"I am. It'll only take about twenty minutes. A short walk, really." She pours more hot water in her cup, steam billowing into the air.
"Mother, I don't think I can-"
"Katniss." She sets down her cup and takes my hand in both of hers. "Just three pieces of lamb. And then you can come right back upstairs to your bed." The look on her face tells me that I have only one answer to give her. There is no way I am getting out of this.
"F-fine. When I'm done with my tea, I'll go." I take my mug off the tray and take a long sip.
"Thank you." My mother leans down and kisses me on the cheek, then picks up her cup again to drink.
I know my mother could very well find time to get the meat herself, but I know she's just trying to get me out of the house. She's trying to bring me back out into the world, out of my bed, because we both know it has to happen already. She won't force me to go outside every day to face my district, but she will force me to leave the house in little pieces, readying me for a full return. As much as I'd like to, I can't spend the rest of my life in this bed. We both know that.
After we finish our tea, my mother helps me get dressed into pants and a clean shirt. She puts my father's old leather hunting jacket over my shoulders even though it's summer, and I am immediately enveloped in the scent of the woods. I shudder, realizing I have missed this scent very much.
My mother braids my hair down my back in front of my mirror. I look at my reflection, and am taken aback, since this is the first time I have looked at myself through a mirror since being in the Capitol. My cheek bones are protruding more than they should be, and my skin is yellow; if I squint, it's almost sagging. My eyes are bugging out of my head, and I think I see hair growing along the front of my ears and over my upper lip. My eyebrows also look very bushy. On top of being hated, I will now be mocked because of my appearance.
I convince myself that I do not care.
My mother hands me some money, then we walk outside my room together. My mother leads me through the house, since I don't know how to get around it myself. The only time I saw the first floor of the house was when I first arrived after the Games, but I didn't take much notice of it, since I ran upstairs immediately to the nearest bedroom. I notice that it is nicely furnished and that the white paint along the walls almost shines. I see a beautiful rug in the living room, and Prim's books and paper lying on the coffee table. I see the telephone attached to the wall outside of the kitchen door, and I remember Cinna handing me the piece of paper with his phone number on it. I almost want to call him, but I can't remember where I put the paper.
My mother opens the front door and leads me down the front steps to the sidewalk. I am surprised by how cold it is, since we are in the full swing of summer. It feels like a chilly autumn day; a shiver runs down my spine. I think, Autumn also means…
No. I will not think of that. Not yet. Not when I have just hastily swallowed down my fear and left my own house for the first time in months. I think maybe that fear will puke itself back up when I leave the Victor's Village and walk into the eyes of District 12, but I immediately swallow that thought away too.
"Why is it so cold?" I ask my mother.
She just shrugs. "It's supposed to be this cold for the rest of the week." She leads me down the street until we enter the pathway that leads to the district square. My mother stops there. She puts her hands on my shoulders, and kisses my cheek. "I'll see you in a few minutes." Then she walks back towards our house.
I stand at the entrance to the path for a few moments. Why would my mother leave me behind? I know she thinks that I have to get back out into the world sooner rather than later, but she could at least go there with me. She must know that the entire district hates me.
She thinks you're strong enough to go on your own I think. As soon as I think it, I know it must be true. But what my mother doesn't realize is that I am really not strong enough to do this on my own. I'm still broken, and I need someone next to me while I am facing my district, as much as I hate to admit it.
What if they don't despise you? a part of me wonders. I shake my head, dismissing that thought. Of course they hate me. I killed my district partner, my star-crossed lover, of course they hate me. They will frown at me and whisper behind my back, because I am the one who killed Peeta, and I know this district will never forgive me for it, no matter the circumstances.
I glance back at my house, and I see my mother on the front porch, smiling at me encouragingly. I take a deep breathe and start forward along the path, wishing this will be over with as fast as possible.
As soon as I reach the square, what feels like a hundred eyes glance in my direction. I look down, watching my feet as I make my way towards Rooba's butcher shop. People part past me as I walk, leaving me a clear path to my destination. I push away the feeling that people are only leaving a path for me because they don't want to be anywhere near me.
Soon enough, I arrive at Rooba's. When I walk through the front door, she looks at me, walks out from behind the counter, and gives me a warm hug, to my surprise. I tell her that I need three pieces of lamb for my mother. She tries to give them to me for free, but I refuse and put the money down on the counter before she can try and convince me further.
"Be strong, Katniss," she says, setting the bag of lamb in my hands. Rooba opens the door for me and pats my shoulder before I walk out the door. I walk down the street, surprised by Rooba's kindness. Am I really imagining that the whole district hates me?
I walk through the square, people still leaving a clear path for me, whispering and staring as I pass them. I move my feet along faster, and soon enough, I am very close to the pathway back to the Victor's Village. But before I reach it, I hear a yell that makes my bones shake.
XXX
"You! YOU!" I hear a storm of feet coming in my direction, and I turn around; my heart almost stops beating.
It is Peeta Mellark's mother.
I breathe harshly as she and a group of men and women follow behind her. She has a look of rage in her eyes, and her face is beet red. I spot Peeta's brothers behind her, tears in their eyes and their faces beet red as well.
I shake my head vigorously, willing this not to happen, willing her and the crowd to go away. But as much as I try, they only walk even faster towards me.
"YOU!" She shouts again. She stops two feet in front of me, glaring down at me.
"How DARE you show your face in the town square! After what you've done!" She reaches down and pulls on my hair.
"Who told you to get out of that house? WHO?" She puts her hand under my chin, grabbing at me with her long fingernails.
"I…I…my…" I can't speak; my voice catches in my throat and I begin to cough. I am terrified by Mrs. Mellark's rage. There is a large part of me that can't believe that she would attack me so cruelly in front of the district, and a paralyzing fear of her races through my veins. I wonder how much farther she is willing to go in front of everyone in the square.
"Stop coughing, you murderer, and look at me!" She pulls on my hair and shoves her hand further under my chin, pushing my face up to look at her.
I feel like I'm about to vomit.
"My son may not have had the guts to kill you in that arena, but me, I can kill you in your sleep." She pulls harder on my hair. Tears form in my eyes, and I begin to register shouts from a rapidly growing crowd. Shouths of assent at Mrs. Mellark.
"You get that scum, Edith!" a man shouts at Mrs. Mellark.
"She deserves it!" jeers a woman.
"She disgraces our district!" someone else shouts.
Mrs. Mellark grabs another fistful of my hair, and then she pulls back her other hand to smack my cheek. My ears ring and my vision blurs. I gasp and shut my eyes. I feel a kick on my foot, then a snap, making me cry out. My eyes open, and I look up into Peeta's mother's eyes, begging her to stop.
"Please…" I gasp. The pain is growing in my foot like a fire, and I can barely move it. She just smirks at me, and pulls back her fist, about to punch me again. But the punch never comes.
"STOP!"
Mrs. Mellark turns around. I look past her shoulder, and I gasp again.
It is Peeta's father.
He runs towards us, his face red and his apron covered in purple icing. Mrs. Mellark steps back just an inch, her hand still on my hair.
"Stop, Edith, stop." He reaches us, and pulls his wife's hand out of my hair.
"Why should I stop Patrick, when she killed our son? She deserves it!" Some people in the crowd cheer in assent.
Mr. Mellark just shakes his head, pulling her away from me. "You should stop because she doesn't deserve it. She's already broken. She knows what she did. Give her a break, she hasn't been at peace and happy since the reaping."
Mrs. Mellark's lips quiver and her face grows redder. "But she deserves it, Patrick. She should pay for what she's done!"
Mr. Mellark just shakes his head. "She doesn't deserve this. She was in the Hunger Games. She's paid more than she needs to."
My eyes fill with tears. Thank you, Mr. Mellark, I think.
He lets go of his wife's arms, and walks toward me. He takes the bag of lamb from where it fell on the ground, and gently takes my arm.
"Where are you going?" yells Mrs. Mellark.
"I'm taking her home." He glances at the crowd. "Don't any of you have work? Leave! There's nothing to see here!"
The crowd begins to disperse, and Mr. Mellark leads me down the path to the Victor's Village. I have never heard Peeta's father say so much in just a few moments. I am even more taken aback that he said it all for me, in my defense.
We walk down the path in silence. Mr. Mellark lets me lean on him since my foot hurts every time I step on the ground. Once we reach my house, I pull away from Mr. Mellark and vomit on the grass. He holds my shoulder as I puke out my insides. When I am done, he takes a napkin from his pocket and wipes the vomit from my mouth. I try to say thank you, but I'm afraid that if I talk, I'll start coughing or vomiting again.
"Katniss? Patrick?" My mother bounds down the front steps and steps onto the front yard. She rubs my arm as she asks, "Patrick, what happened?"
"Something involving my wife." He explains how he heard a commotion while he was inside his bakery, and when he saw his wife threatening me from the window, he walked outside and stopped his wife from hurting me anymore.
"I'm sorry, Juna," he tells my mother.
She sighs, a crease forming between her eyebrows. "And…the crowd? How large was it?"
He frowns. "Pretty large."
She nods. I notice her hands are shaking as they hold my shoulders. She leads me inside the house, with Mr. Mellark following us inside. I see Prim sitting at the kitchen table reading a book. When she looks up, she makes eye contact with me, and bounds up from her chair and runs toward us. "Katniss, are you okay?"
My mother sits me down at the table, and then Mr. Mellark says, "I'm so sorry Juna, I didn't know my wife would do something like this-"
"It'll be fine Patrick, it'll be fine. We'll… we'll just move on from this and…we'll see how it goes." I look up at Mr. Mellark, and notice the look in his eyes as he stares at my mother. I remember what Peeta said about his father liking my mother back in the cave-
I slam my fist down on the table. No. No. I will not think about Peeta.
"Thank you, Patrick, for bringing Katniss home." My mother brushes her hair out of her eyes.
"It was no problem. And I will be speaking to my wife about this-"
"Patrick." She puts her hand on his arm. "Don't worry. Please. We'll…discuss this some other time." She glances down at me as she says this, a look of concern on her face.
Mr. Mellark nods, and she leads him down the hallway to the front door. When my mother comes back, she takes off my hunting jacket, then washes my face and rubs my cheek with ointment where Mrs. Mellark hit it. She gives me tea, which I sip hungrily. I tell her that my foot aches, and when she rubs my big toe and the two toes next to it, I cry out in pain. When she rubs my ankle, I cry out again, and she says that they're broken. Prim helps her put a cast around my foot, then they help me up the stairs to my bedroom. Prim gives me crackers and fruit and my mother gives me more tea. She also gives me morphling ("Just a bit for the pain", she says), which makes my stomach churn with guiltiness, since I have a whole box load of morphling right below my bed.
My mother and Prim stay with me for a few hours, and we play card games. I don't have the energy to be angry at my mother for sending me to town on my own, because I don't want to ruin the entire day for her and Prim. After the card games, we talk, and while my mother tells us a story about her friend getting lost during the annual Harvest Festival, I fall asleep.
~~~~~~~
Let me know how it was! In the next chapter, the pace of the story is going to pick up a bit, and a certain character will make a reappearance. Stay tuned :)