Katniss enjoyed Peeta's company. She loved him. He kept her grounded, kept the nightmares away. Even with Peeta there, Katniss did return to the woods now and then to hunt. Not because she needed to, but because it is what the old her would have done, what the old her grew to love. But she didn't return too often, since it didn't feel quite right without anyone watching her back. Her spot felt empty without anyone beside her.
The woods were a place where Katniss would often visit when she needed to cry. It used to be a place of comfort and serenity but ever since the rebellion it lacked something. It felt so alone in there. It felt like how it felt those first few months after her father died, when there was no one to accompany her. When hunting was something she had to do, not something she enjoyed. She remembered how this feeling gradually went away after she met someone in these woods, she was only 12 years of age. He was a boy who shared the same grey eyes and dark hair. Who had the same olive colored skin as her. He soon became her escape.
He was the thing the woods were lacking. He was the one who always had her back. Oh, how she missed her old friend. She thought and wondered if she ever loved this boy from the woods. She knew he had loved her. He had even told her once. He had even kissed her in these woods.
Yes, she thought. Yes, I did love him. She wondered if she still loved him. If he still loved her.
'Oh, Gale. If only you had my back now.'
She then sat and wept in the woods, wondering, if he would ever return to her. Wondering how she even let him go.