Fancy

Chapter 4

Peeta

Katniss has got to be the most stubborn person on this Earth. She agreed to give me a chance, but she'll only ever meet me in the woods at night. Like she's still afraid of the outside world. Like she's afraid someone will recognize her from the club. She says she's not ashamed, but her fear of me even knowing where she lives contradicts that. But even if she wasn't, I guess I could see why she only feels safe in the little known paradise of the forest. After what happened, I know every once in a while I feel like someone's watching me.

"Peeta?" I hear her voice cry out, breaking me from my thoughts. I turn to see her climbing up the hidden path behind me. Her eyes are wide with fear.

"Yeah?" I ask. "You okay?" She runs up to me and buries her face in my chest. "Katniss, what is it?"

"He's trying to appeal!" she cries. "He's trying to get out!" I shudder at the thought.

"We both knew this could happen," I say. "He could have claimed anything considering you had an arrow aimed at his chest before I stopped you."

"You should have let me kill him!" she says pushing away from me. "After what he did to me and my sister, he deserves to die!"

"And let you spend the rest of your life in prison for something he did?" I say. "No, I will never regret my choice."

"He tried to rape me!" she says. "I barely fought him off. Maybe if I hadn't, if I had just let him, he wouldn't have gone after Prim. She's so tiny. Such easy prey for that no good snake."

"You don't know that," I say. "And I'd rather not think about that happening to you."

"Peeta, if he claims that he only confessed because of our threats," she stops, not new needing to explain anymore. I reach out and take her hand.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you or your sister," I say. "You know that right?" She looks at me, her grey eyes filled with worry.

"Yes," she says. "But you can only do so much Peeta. If they let him lose, he knows these woods better than anyone." She looks around her, as though she feels like she is being watched. "Maybe even better than I do."

"He's not going to touch you or Prim ever again," I reply. "Even if he is released, he won't be allowed anywhere near you or your family."

"You really think that will stop him?" she asks. "Come on Peeta, I thought you were smarter than that."

"Katniss, it's not as simple as that," I say. "Would you rather share our ancestors' fate?" She follows my gaze to the ancient willow beside us.

"At least Haymitch and Maysillee were able to protect their families," she says. "Death was the end of the threat."

"But it also killed them," he says. "They were barely our age. They didn't get to live their lives. I'm not letting Gale take that away from us." Katniss shoves me against a tree trunk.

"Don't you dare speak his name!" she says. "You promised me that after this was over, I'd never hear his name again!"

"I'm sorry," I say but she just flinches away from me.

"He pinned me to the ground," she says, tears flooding her gaze. "He kept trying to touch me. I trusted him and he was trying to rape me. And later that night, after I finally fraught him off and got away, while I was hiding in the woods, he did the same thing to my fourteen year old sister! And she didn't get away, Peeta! That monster destroyed that sweet little girl that I promised my father I would always protect! I failed him! I failed Prim!"

She falls onto the ground and starts crying horrible heartbroken sobs. I feel my throat tighten. I've heard this all before, when I stopped her from making the worst mistake she'd ever make. But hearing it again, it hurts to think that I wasn't able to keep her safe from that monster. All those years of seeing him watch her like prey, I still had no idea what he was capable of. I kneel down next to her as she continues to cry.

"It should have been me," she says shakily. "My little sister would still have her innocence. Why can I be the one to choose who takes mine away when I was the one who brought him into our lives? Someone she could trust." She stares up at the moon and as she sits there, I realize that without all the makeup and flashing lights, she looks like the girl I found in the woods, her clothes tattered and torn, aiming an arrow at the heart of someone she thought to be her best friend. She was terrified, her beliefs shattered by betrayal.

"Katniss, there is always darkness before dawn," I say. "There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. He can't hurt you anymore."

"I thought it was over," she says. "That they would keep him locked up for a very long time, long enough to get Prim out of this town. But now the appeal." She shakes her head, looking at the grass as she begins pulling it.

"It won't stick," I reply. "Not only did he do what he did, but he was over eighteen. They won't take kindly to any of that."

"But he'll try again," she says. "How many times will I have to go through this until he can't do it anymore? Until he leaves us in peace?"

"I don't know," I say. "But I won't let you go through it alone."

"He wants to talk to me," she says.

"Are you going to?" I ask.

"Should I?" she asks.

"I will support you either way," I say. "I don't want you to, but you need answers. Answers only he can give you."

"Will you go with me?" she asks.

"If that's what you want," I say.

"I'm supposed to meet him tomorrow at four," she says. "During visiting hours. Will you be there?"

"Yes," I say gently wrapping my arms around her trembling form. "I won't make you do this alone."

"Can I stay with you tonight?" she asks, looking up at me. "At your place?"

"Yeah," I say standing up and offering her my hand. "Come on. Let's go get you cleaned up." She takes my hand and allows me to pull her up. Then together, walking the same path Maysilee and Haymitch did, we leave our meeting place with a dark cloud over our heads.