The Hunger Games

[SneezeyLove]

Hello again. (What? She's back? Already? It can't be!) So I finally finished my vampire story, and I'm taking a short break from my MCR stuff, and what do I come up with? This. And what is this? I honestly don't know. What I do know is that I just finished reading The Hunger Games and just started reading Catching Fire. So far I love Peeta and hate Katniss, so that's kind of where this brain child came from. It's meant to be when they're in the arena, after Peeta's leg has healed but before the final fight (obviously).

Before I shut up, I just want to say that I'm not used to writing in first person, and I'm especially not used to writing in the present tense. So if I screwed something up somewhere, I'm sorry. But this is good practice for me to get familiar with a new writing style. At least that's what I tell myself. I'll stop rambling now, I promise.

Untitled

“Chigk!”

I wake to a strange sound. I glance around and see Peeta sitting at the mouth of the cave, keeping watch. I suppose I should probably take over. I don’t know how long I’ve been asleep, but it’s definitely been a few hours.

“I’ll keep watch for the rest of the night,” I say, coming up behind him. “Get some sleep.”

“Alright,” is all he says. He doesn’t argue, which is a little strange, but I shrug it off.

I sit down in the place he has just vacated while he gets settled in the sleeping bag. Until I hear the noise again.

“Hih-chigk!”

I whirl around to face him. “Peeta, did you just sneeze?” I demand.

“I’ve been doing that all night. Honestly, I’m surprised I didn’t wake you until now.”

But I’m in no mood for his lightheartedness. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

“No. I’m sure it’s just the plants outside. Or maybe it’s dusty in here.”

He’s lying and we both know it. I’m worried, but some part of me is annoyed too. Annoyed that after everything else, all we’ve been through, Peeta still might not make it. Because of a cold.

I slowly crawl back into the cave until I’m beside him. I feel his forehead, but he’s not feverish – not yet. Still, it’s never good to take colds lightly. I know how quickly they can turn into pneumonia. Sure enough, as if to confirm my fears, he coughs lightly into his fist.

“Please don’t cough,” I whisper. I can’t help but feel like this is somehow my fault. The wound in his leg is much better, but he is still weak, and here I've had him walking up and down the river all day. The cold air and colder water have probably interacted horribly with his immune system, which has undoubtedly been lowered by stress and fatigue. But right now, all he has is a cold. And there’s nothing I can do about that. “Get some rest,” I say. And then, almost subconsciously, I lean down to kiss him.

He turns away. “Can’t have you getting sick too.”

And I can hear how bad he sounds, how congested and hoarse he is. So I kiss him anyway.

A stray piece of my hair must have brushed his nose, because the moment I pull away, he sneezes again. “Ihh-CHIGK! Hih-GESHoo!”

“Bless you,” I whisper, softly, lovingly. I hope the audience is eating it up because this lousy performance is all I can muster.

“Thank you,” Peeta whispers back.

I tuck him into the sleeping bag and resume my place at the mouth of the cave, hoping that he can get to sleep. After about an hour, I think he’s finally drifted off, but his breathing is too loud and he coughs too often for my liking. There’s nothing I can do but sit and wait. I try to think of remedies my mother has made for pneumonia. I can think of several concoctions she used to soothe the coughing, but I can’t remember any actual treatments.

What would I have to do to get Haymitch to send me something this late in the game? I can’t even imagine.

So I sit and wait and hope.

End.

There you have it. Hopefully it wasn't horrible. I honestly have no idea where I'm going with this, if I am in fact going anywhere. It could be a oneshot and stop here. If there's something you'd like to see happen, by all means, please tell me. I was going to try to stay relatively believably within the book's timeline, but it doesn't have to. So comments/ideas/thoughts are most welcome, but please NO SPOILERS! I HAVE ONLY READ THE FIRST BOOK! Thanks!

[Coffee Chicken Barista]

I'm actually impressed. I considered starting a Hunger Games story and I got all of 4 sentences in when I was like "wow, this is a piece of crap." Haha. But I like what you did here. Read the next 2. They're both awesome!!!!!

[VividBubbles!]

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Okay, I've read all of the Hunger Games books and I love them so much! Poor Prim and Cinna! These are like the equivelent of the Harry Potter books for me! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I'm soooo happy! Finally, someone has posted a story! YES!!!!!!! Oh, thank god! I love you, I love you, I love you! Please don't make this a one-shot. Please, please, please! Or at least make more. Oh, and to anyone else reading the: PLEASE WRITE A HUNGER GAMES STORY! Peeta preferably but Gale will do. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! YAAAAAAAAAAAAYY! More, more, MORE!!! Tick-tock goes the clock (you'll get it after you read Catching Fire)!

BYE!

P.S. If you don't want a spoiler don't read the striked through part!

BYE! Again.

[SneezeyLove]

Thanks so much guys! For now, I'll hold off. Maybe I'll get more ideas after Catching Fire. Unless there is something specific that you want me to write about, then by all means, drop me a request (BUT PLEASE NO SPOILERS!!!) Until then, bye!

[stargazer]

I just finished reading the book not more than 2 hours ago and wished there was sneezing in it. So, what did I do because there wasn't any? I came here and found this. Your one-shot was excellent. It was like a scene right out of the book. And you did very well with the style. If you decide to write another fic, I'll definitely read it.

[Scion]

I agree wholeheartedly ADORE Peeta to absolute pieces. Hate Katniss' guts. This whole trilogy depressed me to no end, but I enjoyed reading this very much!

[inactiveaccount]

Very good. I can totally imagine this scene in the book (and the movie which better not suck!! ).

Scion, I completely agree with you. Katniss is like the Bella of THG. Totally depressing and easy to hate. Ugh.

Actually I'm that big a fan of Peeta either, so why am I here?

Can you do one for Gale? I would be very happy.

[inactiveaccount]

Meant "not that big a fan of Peeta," I hate my keyboard.

[alias]

This is a great piece of writing! I usually don't like reading sneeze fiction, but you caught my interest with The Hunger Games, and I'm glad I read! You did an excellent job of keeping with the tone of the story and not getting out-of-control. It is difficult to write sneezing into drama, and you did it beautifully. Bravo.