Ten Times as Long - Chapter 7 Katniss Admits
Ā Ā Ā I know itās not right to stay. I canāt leave my family with Greasy and Peeta. Thatās not fair.
Ā Ā Ā I escaped to take a breath and figure out myself. Itās time to go. So I do, slowly.
   As I leave the woods I think about everything. I think about the past⦠Peeta, the games, war, death, destruction; I think about the present⦠My family, twelve, Peeta, my feelings; and lastly I think of the future⦠rebuilding, hope, love, fear.
Ā Ā Ā So many things.
Ā Ā Ā I finally make it home to the Victorās Village when I realize itās pitch black. I must have been gone for hours. Where had the time gone?
Ā Ā Ā I walk inside and find all the people I left sitting in the living room, talking.
Ā Ā Ā I canāt help it when my eyes wonāt leave Peeta. I sit next to him and sigh. Itās good to be close to him again. He finally looks at me and I open my mouth.
Ā Ā Ā āOf course, Poet,ā he just stares at me with his adorable confused face, āYou asked me a question⦠before I left. You asked if I cared.ā
Ā Ā Ā I watch as realization hits him and a small smile graces his perfect, pink lips.
Ā Ā Ā āI care about you a lot. You know that. How could someone go through all that we have and not care?ā His smile starts to slip, so I continue, āyou canāt go from loving someone so much it hurts to nothing. Thatās not how it works.ā
Ā Ā Ā āLoving someone?ā He asks with a gleam of hope in his eye.
Ā Ā Ā āWell duh, Poet. Love sneaks up on a person, you know? Itās not always a fun game.ā
Ā Ā Ā I suddenly become very aware that my entire family is in the room alongside Greasy Sae, but I continue anyway because I know I need to say it and he needs to hear it.
Ā Ā Ā āSometimes it comes easy. Like your love for me did when we were younger. Other times it comes slowly. Friendship first, love second. Other times still, it comes slowly then all at once. A fragile friendship, a friendship that you never want to hurt, then slowly you realize you love little things about a person, and next thing you know youāre looking at them when their back is turned and the fact washes over you. You love them so much and you couldnāt imagine your life without them.ā
Ā Ā Ā I can see him struggling, so I finish the thought, āI think it was that last one for me. In D13. I realized just how much I love you when you werenāt there. When you werenāt looking and I wasnāt pressured.ā
Ā Ā Ā āSo. You canāt go from loving someone to nothing, but can you go from loving so much it hurts to just caring?ā He asks it with so much fear I canāt held but give him a small reassuring smile.
Ā Ā Ā āNah. At least not in my experiences. Not that I have more than one. Itās kinda hard to love someone that much and let it fade. Even if it gets buried it a confused mind.ā
Ā Ā Ā He grins at me, and for the first time since the beachā¦
Ā Ā Ā I grin back.












