Helping The Mockingjay Sing Again

Chapter 24

Katniss's P.O.V

I move around the kitchen picking up basic ingredients, chopping them up and popping them in the saucepan of boiling water I placed on the stove. I start to sing a song that I loved to sing with my dad when I was about 10. There's a high note that I'm unsure if I'll hit, having not sung the song for a while. Oh well, we'll see soon enough. 

You shout it out

But I can't hear a word you say

I'm talking loud not saying much

I'm criticized, but all your bullets ricochet

You shoot me down, but I get up

I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose

Fire away, fire away

Richochet, you take your aim

Fire away, fire away

You shoot me down but I wont fall

I am titanium

You shoot me down but I wont fall

I am titanium

Cut me down

But it's you who'll have further to fall

Ghost town and haunted love

Raise your voive, sticks and stones may break my bones

I'm talking loud, not saying much

I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose

Fire away, fire away

Richochet, you take your aim

Fire away, fire away

You shoot me down but I wont fall

I am titanium

You shoot me down but I wont fall

I am titanium

I am titanium

I am titanium

Stone-hard machine guns

Firing at the ones who run 

Stone-hard as bulletproof glass

I actually hit it! A huge smile spreads across my face as I sang the final part.

I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose

Fire away, fire away

Richochet, you take your aim

Fire away, fire away

You shoot me down but I wont fall

I am titanium

You shoot me down but I wont fall

I am titanium

I am titanium

I am titanium...

I sing the last note and spin around, only to see Peeta staring at me with an enormous grin on his face. Before I can register what’s happening, he’s hugging me tightly. I relax into the hug after a second or two, my arms around his neck, his around my waist. 

"That was amazing!"  he whispers to me. I smile into the hug before we pull away. He steps back but his arms are still firmly around my wiast.

"Thank you," I whispers back, chuckling slightly. "I hope you don't mind me staying. I made stew and didn't want you waking up and..yeah." I look down at the floor. 

"No problem,  I was on my way over to thank you anyway."

"Thank me? Why?" I look back up at him, surprised.

"You stopped me from having a flashback. Why wouldn't I thank you?" He says smiling at me before turning a way and reaching for a glass of water. 

"Because I'm the reason you get them." I mutters, not thinking he’d heard me, before sitting on a stool. I feel him come over to where I’m sat. Using two fingers, he tilts my chin up. I see sadnees and worry in his blue eyes.

"Listen to me Katniss. This isn't your fault. It's his okay? And anyway, I'm nearly cured. Doctor Aurelius said as soon as I fill in the blanks from the past I should stop getting flashbacks."

"You need me to help fill them in right?" I question, although I already know the answer.

"Whenever you're ready. I'm not pressuring you into it." He says smiling sadly at me. Guilt washes over me. He’s been so good to me and I’ve just wallowed in self pity. Seeing Peeta so broken yesterday, shocked me. He was always so strong. I can’t believe I.. ‘he’ caused him so much pain. I made, for me, a big decision.

"Okay." I motions for him to sit opposite me and he sits down.

"Lets play Real or Not Real." I say. He raises his eyebrows to say 'Are you sure?' and I nod before I can change my mind.

"Okay," he begins, "Here we go..."

I take a deep breath and interlock my fingers. I rest my hands on the table and look at Peeta. He's staring at the table his brow furrowed. 

After a few minutes of silence, he says,

"You used to wear your hair in a braid down your back, like you have it now."

"Real, although you said in the first arena you remember me having two when I was little." I sighed slightly, that was a pretty easy question. Still looking at the table, he asks,

" When we were at school, you pushed me down the steps outside of school and I had to have five stitches in my fore-head."

I barely managed to contain a scoff, before I confidently answered "Not Real, there were no steps outside of our school."

"Your father was in a mining accident when you were 11."

I silently winced, whenever some one mentions it I can't help but feel hurt. That was the day my life changed for ever.

"R-real."

"That day in the rain, you told lies to my mother so I got beaten." 

"Not Real, that was the day you saved mine and my family's lives. You burnt the bread  on purpose because we were starving and threw it to me." 

"You learnt to use a bow and arrow from your dad, and then after the accident you learned to hunt to provide for your family."

Another pang. I cared for my family for years to then have them ripped away from me.

"R-real..."

Looking at Peeta I started worry. He was turning pale, and he was starting to shake. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were squeezed shut. I went to get up to him but he asked me something that shocked me to my core.

"You are the reason my family is dead."