Games Of Our Own

I smiled as I looked into his eyes. It was like I was the only girl in the world; like he would do anything for me. Peeta was my rock and I needed him to keep me stable after the Games. Life would never be the same, and he shared that feeling with me. Yes, Gale had to go through the war too, but Peeta and I saw things that he only experienced through the television screen. After the war, and my assassination of Coin, things were very unstable for me. I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I was… Crazy, and I knew it. My best friend had potentially killed my sister, the boy who had been in love with me since we were five had been programmed to kill me, I killed the new president that I was supposed to be siding with, and I wanted another Hunger Games to kill even more innocent children after all of the hell I went through. I even sounded crazy to myself. Dr. Aurelius made it so believable at my hearing that I sometimes questioned if he was wrong. Being in 12 alone was sometimes good for me because I felt like the slightest bit of human contact would cause me to explode because The Games were continually on my mind, but there were days, most days, when I thought of Peeta and how he’d be encouraging me to talk to people and be sociable. I laughed at the thought. I couldn’t be sociable here, could I? I never was good with words like Peeta or automatically likeable like Gale. I was socially awkward anyway. I missed Peeta. Come to think of it, he made me smile so much. I missed talking to him about the things that only he could understand. The pain. It was building up inside of me, almost ready to explode when Greasy Sae came back to the district. I avoided speaking at all cost. She would come and cook and tidy up for me and I would sit, and stare out of the window or go hunting. It was a nice tradition until one day Greasy Sae looked up at me from the pot of wild dog stew and said, “Child, it’s about time you give up the mute act. I know you can talk, and I know you’re not crazy. So stop trying to convince yourself that you are and stop pitying yourself. At least you weren’t messed with like-“
“Don’t,” My voice was rough with emotion and because it had been a while since I had used it, “Don’t say his name. I know what the Capitol did to him, but he… he abandoned me here.”
Greasy Sae frowned and turned back to her cooking. That was the only conversation we had for a few weeks. Then she’d start talking to me about the weather, her granddaughter. The little things. Before I knew it, she was telling me there was talk of people moving back into 12. I wondered who would be first to come back, but quickly decided that it was just a rumor. I could barely deal with Greasy Sae right now, none the less a whole town. Dr. Aurelius called continually and I continued to not talk to him. Soon Greasy Sae was telling me that the news today said the first group of people to 12 would arrive within the year. My world, my safe, secure routine world was about to fall apart.