A shrill sound wakes me early in the morning. It's the metallic shrieking of the telephone. I jerk up off of the bed and walk across my room, still heavy with sleep. I take the phone and put it up to my ear.
"Hello?"
"Posy?"
"Gale!" I exclaim, overjoyed at the sound of my brother's voice. I push a strand of dark hair obscuring my vision behind my ear. He hardly ever calls he's so busy with his job in Two. He sends money over every month so I can feed myself.
"How are you?" I ask him.
"Fine, even though I'm tired. Did you know I got promoted?" he says, excitement creeping into his voice.
"Really?"
"I'm going to be General Masonry Supervisor starting tomorrow." I can almost hear his grin.
"That's great!" I say. I hear a bell going off in the distance through the phone.
"Oh, I have to get back to work," Gale sighs.
"Always working, aren't you? Go, I'll be fine."
"Thanks," he says, and disconnects the line.
I let go of the phone almost wistfully, wishing I could talk to him longer. I miss my brother. I miss how he used to ruffle my hair and bring me presents from the Hob. He's an adult now, working in some faraway place.
He left everything and everyone for Katniss. Now she's had two children with Peeta. He's the one who ruined my brother's life. He and that Katniss, together they broke Gale's heart. Now he left me. Now I live alone. Rory and Vick have both gone to Five to work in the power plants.
People have always told me how much I look like Gale. We both have that same intense gaze.
I look out of the grimy window I stubbornly refuse to wash. I can see this perfect little house near the Meadow. It's the Everdeen-Mellark house. It should have been the Everdeen-Hawthorne house. Gale was the one who really loved her. I saw it! She was all he would talk about.
Peeta runs out of the house, followed by his young son. He's maybe four or five. My age when there was the Revolution. His face has a different…look to it. Now that I look at him carefully, he doesn't really look like Peeta. His sweet expression and delicate features are someone else's. They're Primrose's.
I used to admire her. She was so much older than me. She used to help people at the hospital. All I could do was watch her intently, mesmerized. She would smile back. I guess I was adorable back then. Not anymore. No one has smiled to me ever since outside of my family. Maybe it's because I never start with smiling myself.
When Gale left with Katniss to go to the Capitol, she was there to comfort me. It was a relief to know there was someone who knew how I felt. Then one day she left with the rebel medical team. She never came back.
No one really explained it to me, but I just knew. Gale blamed himself for what happened to Prim. I never really wanted to thin about it. Nothing can change the fact that I love my brother even though no one else does.
I notice I'm still frozen in front of the window, watching that house. I was lost in thought. The little girl runs out. Katniss in miniature. Except her eyes. Her eyes are a brilliant blue. Other than that, she looks just like me. Maybe it's because Gale looked so much like Katniss.
I wipe a tear away as both children run around with their father. In front of the house, the primroses are in full bloom.