Stay • Everlark (REVAMPING)

15. interruptions

Finnick is pushing on his chest, but it's not working. "Come on, Peeta."

"Wake up." I whisper into his ear, sobbing next to his face "don't leave me."

Minutes drag by but it's useless. Mags puts a hand on Finnick's shoulder and nods. Finnick blinks back tears of anguish and looks at me hopelessly. "He's gone, Katniss."

I shake my head. It's not real. I gently caress Peeta's face and tap it gently. "Come on, wake up. We have to move."

There's no response. Just the booming of the cannon.

I lose control. I turn into an animal. A mutt. Kicking and screaming, I launch myself at Finnick. But before I reach, everything stops, and I'm stuck in a limbo; the same moment over and over.

I wake up with a start and sit bolt upright, traumatised by my latest horror. Screaming and crying, I kick the covers off my body.

I feel a pair of strong arms come around my shoulders and I start to shake violently. My first instinct tells me I'm being strangled.

"I'm here, you're okay." A voice whispers in my ear and I forget to breathe. I whip around to see Peeta with a sincere but confused look on his face.

"Peeta!" I sob, just looking at him.

"You okay?" He asks.

"You were dead, you left me." I cry. I hope he remembers and knows what I'm talking about.

"Deja vu?" He jokes, making me smile. But I welcome his comforting arms and he rubs circles on my back.

"You're not actually dead. Real or not real?" I ask. distracting myself with this age-old game.

"Real, I'm not going anywhere. You don't want to kill me, real or not real?" He replies, tentatively.

"Real. Did you have a nightmare?" I ask concerning, he never tells me.

"When do I not? But you're here, so I'm okay." He smiles.

His arms are my safe place. I never realised how much I yearned for them until they were taken away from me. When Peeta was in the Capitol, it was all I wanted. I dreamed about being in the warmth of them. No one has ever made me feel this safe.

"Marriage." Peeta whispers, I can't tell if it's to himself or to me. I reply anyway.

"I don't want anything to change. We could get married now and it could change everything." I reply.

"Some things will change for the better. You'll be called 'Katniss Mellark'. And who knows what else could happen in between?" Peeta winks, his ego inflating.

This causes my face to flush red. I've realised that it happens every time Peeta makes some kind of comment like that. He's never had that effect on me before, so what's changed?

"Stop it." I snap, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You can't resist me." Peeta says jokingly.

"Maybe I can't." I whisper lowly in his ear. I decide to play along, turning my body to stroke his face gently. I turn innocently back around and pretend it never happened. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him blushing.

The rest of the night is spent talking until I finally give in and go to sleep mid sentence. My hair is just now long enough to braid, so when I wake up, there are two braids instead of one. A common occurrence.