Peeta
(Fourteen) A Nightmare in Itself
There's noise now. Music, like the Capitol's anthem, only louder and absolutely excruciating. Sounds have never been painful the way this music is. I see images, first of Glimmer, then of Lilliana, but they're not themselves. They're monsters with pointy teeth and glowing eyes.
Finally, I see another face. It laughs with the voice of Claudius Templesmith, but the figure is not human. The skin is red like blood and the eyes pure black. The mouth opens to reveal black pointed teeth. This figure is in the sky, swirling gray and black. I try my hardest to struggle away from the creature, against the current of the blood river. I stagger to a large, pointed rock – one of many. I lean against it, but as I try to move on, my bloody handprint leaves a mark that turns into horrific images – I try to wipe them away. I just want to get away from the images of burning houses, and foreboding dungeons, but I fall over onto a rock, and one of the images captures me.
I'm suddenly in the square of District 12, but it's thick with smoke. All the citizens are in the square - exactly like the Reaping. I'm on one end of the stage, and I look at the other end where Katniss is, hands tied above her head. I hear a whip, and she screams as blood spills down her back. Cato’s there, wearing a peacekeeper uniform, whipping her unconscious.
"Katniss!" I scream out, running toward her, but I’m thrown back by a force field. I turn to the crowd. They're coughing and moaning. They're all the people I know from District 12, but their eyes are glazed over with a milky white, and I realize they've all been blinded. I can't get to any of them. The force field surrounds me.
I close my eyes tight, and reopen them reluctantly. This isn't District 12 at all – it's the Capitol, and all its citizens are out there looking bizarre and laughing as if entertained. Katniss. She's still on the stage, bloody from the whipping, but it's not Cato with her, but Claudius Templesmith in his creature form.
He grabs her arm and pulls her out of view. I don't know what he's going to do, but I have a pretty good idea, and the thought kills me inside. I scream and repeatedly run myself against the force field, but it doesn't relent. I step back and aim to run at it one last time.
Boom! Suddenly I'm awake. I'm back in the arena, but it's still twisting with the whirlwind. I struggle down from the rocks, only to be taken in by more nightmares, and hallucinating realities. I see my family and friends tortured, and I see Katniss. Every single time I'm powerless to stop it, trapped by ropes, force fields, or simply unable to move.
Finally I open my eyes, and there is no whirlwind. The trees are still there, standing straight like normal and the ground is still. I feel the river. It's just water, not blood. And finally, there is no dying Katniss, and no tortured loved ones.
The world has turned back to reality, to my relief, but it turns out that reality might just be a nightmare in itself.
Finally, I see another face. It laughs with the voice of Claudius Templesmith, but the figure is not human. The skin is red like blood and the eyes pure black. The mouth opens to reveal black pointed teeth. This figure is in the sky, swirling gray and black. I try my hardest to struggle away from the creature, against the current of the blood river. I stagger to a large, pointed rock – one of many. I lean against it, but as I try to move on, my bloody handprint leaves a mark that turns into horrific images – I try to wipe them away. I just want to get away from the images of burning houses, and foreboding dungeons, but I fall over onto a rock, and one of the images captures me.
I'm suddenly in the square of District 12, but it's thick with smoke. All the citizens are in the square - exactly like the Reaping. I'm on one end of the stage, and I look at the other end where Katniss is, hands tied above her head. I hear a whip, and she screams as blood spills down her back. Cato’s there, wearing a peacekeeper uniform, whipping her unconscious.
"Katniss!" I scream out, running toward her, but I’m thrown back by a force field. I turn to the crowd. They're coughing and moaning. They're all the people I know from District 12, but their eyes are glazed over with a milky white, and I realize they've all been blinded. I can't get to any of them. The force field surrounds me.
I close my eyes tight, and reopen them reluctantly. This isn't District 12 at all – it's the Capitol, and all its citizens are out there looking bizarre and laughing as if entertained. Katniss. She's still on the stage, bloody from the whipping, but it's not Cato with her, but Claudius Templesmith in his creature form.
He grabs her arm and pulls her out of view. I don't know what he's going to do, but I have a pretty good idea, and the thought kills me inside. I scream and repeatedly run myself against the force field, but it doesn't relent. I step back and aim to run at it one last time.
Boom! Suddenly I'm awake. I'm back in the arena, but it's still twisting with the whirlwind. I struggle down from the rocks, only to be taken in by more nightmares, and hallucinating realities. I see my family and friends tortured, and I see Katniss. Every single time I'm powerless to stop it, trapped by ropes, force fields, or simply unable to move.
Finally I open my eyes, and there is no whirlwind. The trees are still there, standing straight like normal and the ground is still. I feel the river. It's just water, not blood. And finally, there is no dying Katniss, and no tortured loved ones.
The world has turned back to reality, to my relief, but it turns out that reality might just be a nightmare in itself.