This is a place where I feel at home || Katniss & Peeta
Desolate. It was the only word that Peeta could think of to describe the place that had once been his home. It was hard to believe it was his home at all. District Twelve had never been the shining example of a happy, cheerful life. The district had always been bleak but now, it was nothing. It was rubble, it was the ashes of corpses that could have been his friends, customers at the bakery, or his family. His family. That was the hardest thing about returning home. They were dead and this is where they were. There were no bodies to bury, there was nothing here to represent the childhood he had lived. There was no proof that his family even existed.
Everything was just gone.
The camera crew were watching him carefully and he felt disgusted by it. Why would they want to capture the most devastating thing in Peeta's life? For the rebellion. Their excuse was that it was for the rebellion. Look at what their rebellion had done! The anger that was always dormant under Peeta's skin was bubbling closer to the surface. That was why the guards were with him, one either side to make sure he wouldn't do something stupid. His brain screamed at him, telling him over and over that it was Katniss Everdeen's fault. She was the mutt and she had brought this on to the people of District Twelve.
"Peeta, we're here. Would you like to go in?" They had stopped walking now and were standing in front of the Mellark's Family Bakery. There was nothing there though. It was just broken beams of wood and twisted chunks of metal. The biggest chunk was twisted until it was unrecognizable but he knew what it was. Without answering the question of the film crew, Peeta stepped over what was once the threshold of the bakery and went straight to it. The metal had been so hot that it had become this. The oven that he had used day in and day out had become this broken piece of metal. It was useless now but still Peeta wanted to take it with him. He wanted a part of home.
"What are you feeling Peeta?" The question irritated him so he chose to ignore it. They weren't going to get anything from him and he didn't know why they even bothered. Another step into the bakery showed him nothing new, piles of debris and ash was all that was left. It made him wonder though. What were they doing when it happened? Were they asleep in their beds? Was his father cleaning up in the kitchen, getting ready for the next day? Did they feel it? Did the scream when they were burned alive by the bombs that were dropped on them?
Someone asked the question again and Peeta finally turned on them. His teeth were bared with the anger he felt and he wanted to lash out but all that happened was a single tear fell down his cheek. He turned away quickly, brushing it away with the back of his hand. "What do you think? How could I feel? You've brought me here to walk on the dead bodies of my family and my broken life."
He returned to the oven, the only possession that was still whole in it's twisted way. "This is all that is left. My family are gone, my home is gone, the bakery I grew up in and worked in is gone. I have nothing. Nothing at all. If I died, it would be like I didn't exist. I have no past and I have no future. All I have is this. A twisted bit of charred metal that represents my life. And it's unrecognisable." He turned, facing the camera then. The tears were still in his eyes but he wasn't going to let them fall. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction. "Tell me, how would you feel?"
No answer came. Not that he ever expected one.
"It's time." They told him. It was time to return to the victors village. Nothing felt victorious about it now. It was just a place he had lived for less than a year. The promises the Capitol had given him were that he could live his life out there, happy and undisturbed. It seemed everyone was in a habit of breaking promises.
The walk was quiet. Every now and then the crew would stop to film something that was especially devastating. Half a child's doll here, a broken piece of furniture there. Nothing was whole though. They were filming the broken lives of those now gone.
That was when the anger started again. Peeta was angry with the Capitol for doing this to his home. He was angry for the rebels for bringing him back here and making him relive the horror he hoped he'd never have to experience. He was angry at them for filming it for their use. Above all, he was angry at Katniss. Peeta had spent the last few months incredibly confused and angry at the world but one thing remained constant. It was Katniss Evedeen's fault.
This was all her fault. And that was when he started to see red again. He wanted her dead and this time, he would do it right.
