The following morning after telling Gale that I had no intention of leaving him, I woke up feeling strange and out of place.
For one, I woke up in my own bed, when I specifically remember falling asleep on the stool at the kitchen table near Gale's head after he had drifted back into a morphling induced sleep. My own head lay close enough to his, that I could feel his deep, steady breath on my damaged cheek. It lulled me into an awkward slumber. Peeta or Haymitch must have carried me upstairs to my room for a proper rest.
My entire body felt like a foot does when it falls asleep; numb with a dull ache and the inability to move. Finally gathering the wherewithal, I sat up and stretched groggily. Someone must have slipped me a dose of the morphling as well.
I finally pulled back my bed covers and trudged over to the bureau, pulling on a green wool tunic and some dark leggings. There, placed neatly in the corner of the room, by the door were my favorite leather shoes, which had been cleansed of Gale's blood and left to dry. I went over to them with every intention of putting them on, but a twinge of aversion rushed though me. They were damp and I could still smell the faint coppery tinge of blood...Gale's blood.
Normally the sight of blood was commonplace between all of the hunting I've done and of course, The Games. It was the brutal fact that it was Gale's that unnerved me. There was so much blood. My fingers went to the angry lash mark on my face and I felt a surge of pain as I heard the whip crash against Gale's limp, naked body again. I could hear his sharp intake of breath, punctuating the silence of all of those cowards in the square. They stood by and did nothing as one of their own, a boy they've all seen grow before them into a man, was being lashed within an inch of his life. The blood was draining out of him, his skin shown sheen and pale. Bloodied and covered in sweat. Crack! Crack! Then nothing was perforating the silence. Something inside me broke as Thread raised his whip arm high above Gale for that last time. I knew that final blow would have taken my dearest friend's life.
"You shouldn't touch it, you know. It'll get infected," Peeta was in the bedroom doorway, eyes focused concernedly on the fingers pressed firmly against my cheek. It took me a moment to realize they were my own. I shot him a contemptuous look.
"Thank you, Mother," My voice sounded hollow and weak.
Peeta took a step into my room, his blue eyes still trained on me. "Well, I'm not your mother but I now seem to be the house baker and I've brought over everyone's breakfast." His eyes skimmed down to my midsection. "And you need to eat. I can practically see your ribs." His voice had a uncharacteristically sharp edge to it. Then I realized something.
"You didn't have to carry me upstairs. I was perfectly happy where I was." I tried to replicate the peevishness in Peeta's voice but couldn't quite make it work.
I was expecting a witty, yet derisive comment back but was met with unsettling silence. He was no longer looking at me, his eyes scouring a spot on the hardwood floor. "Fine, don't eat," he said just above a whisper as he retreated.
After running a brush through my hair and scrubbing yesterday's dirt and tears from my face, I headed downstairs to give into Peeta and my own stomach's grumblings. As I stepped on to the staircase landing, I was expecting to find a living room full of breakfast diners, since the kitchen table was being occupied by Gale. But instead, it was undisturbed. Making my way to the kitchen I could hear all sorts of activity and the scent of freshly baked citrus bread, mixed with medicinal herbs rushed through the doorway. My mother was rustling about the kitchen and had that look of medical determination she gets, as she was packing a tattered valise with tinctures, bottles and clean bandages.
Haymitch was staring off into the fire while Peeta was putting on his coat. Prim busied herself at the stove over some broth used from the last of the rabbit I had hunted a couple of days before. Gale lay just as I had left him the night before, only his eyes were half open and veiled in pain. A fresh layer of snow coat had been applied to his livid, torn back and I wondered why no one was keeping him company at the stool by his side.
I wasn't ready to address him... to take in his brokenness again. I made my way to the butcher block counter where the bread was steaming. I pulled off a chunk and popped it into my mouth as Haymitch and Peeta whispered conspiratorially in the corner by the fire. "What's everyone up to?" Suspicion rose into my chest.
"Mayor Undersee was injured by a mob of peacekeepers this morning. I must go over there straight away and tend to him." my mother said as she placed a vial of morphling in her satchel. "Is he alright?" I asked taken aback.
Was he being punished for not letting Gale's attempted murder reach its conclusion? Madge must be completely unraveling. My mother continued to rush around the kitchen as she spoke, tucking pots of plant pastes and fern clumps into her bag. "I don't know. Greasy Sae says it looks critical. He's was crushed under a mass of Peacekeepers and he may have some cracked ribs or a punctured lung."
I had a sick feeling in my stomach that wasn't lingering hunger. Madge had been so kind and courageous by braving the snow last night to bring Gale the much needed relief of the morphling, and now one of her own loved ones has been injured. I watched as Prim ladled the rabbit broth into a bowl, covered it with a cloth and set it on to the butcher block, next to my half picked at loaf of bread. She glanced over at Gale and then back to me.
"You'll want to see if he can take a bit of the broth first, and then, if his stomach stands it, you can dip some of the softer bits of bread into the broth and feed it to him." I began to panic.
Haymitch and Peeta were all bundled up and waiting at the kitchen door. "Where are you going in the middle of a blizzard? Are you crazy?" It came out as a kind of panicky chirp.
"We're not about to let Prim and your mother go out alone in all this snow and the streets teeming with blood thirsty Peacekeepers." Peeta said with that same edge in his voice from earlier.
My eyes darted to my mother who was still purposefully grabbing at things and stuffing them into her bag. "Prim? Why does Prim need to go? Is it really a good idea to drag her out into the snow?" I was starting to reel at the thought of being left alone with just Haymitch and Gale. Certainly Haymitch's bedside manner left something to be desired and there was the nonsense from Prim about feeding Gale. "I need Prim's assistance with Mayor Undersee of course," my mother bristled as if I was being foolish. I froze as I remembered that Haymitch was ready to go out into the white abyss as well. "I need to speak to Undersee about what happened and what the peackeepers are up to, if he's able," was Haymitch's answer to my silent question.
While all of this was going on, Gale lay silent and still, his eyes resting on me, the pain still residing in their silvery depths.
"You've all gone crazy!" I looked at Gale and back to my mother. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm no good at this? I've had trouble keeping your herb plants alive!"
As if I hadn't said a word, my mother finally looked up at me from her spot with the others at the door. "He will need some clean bandages laid on his wounds once the snow coat has appeared to have set. Make sure to feed and bathe him, so he has a better chance at fighting infection. We will try to be back by nightfall. Otherwise, if we haven't made it by dark, we will stay at the Undersee's."
I swallowed hard, trying to comprehend their abandonment. "What about Hazelle?" I squeaked, knowing that there was no way she'd be able to tend to Gale. She had to be with her other children at home. Prim must have seen the panic in my eyes because she came over to me while pulling a poor excuse for a warm hat over her hair. She clasped my wrist with her tiny hand. "Just feed him very slowly, lay his bandages gently and watch for signs of infection. You do a fine job watching out for everyone." She smiled at Gale as she left with the others. Without another word, I was left with my shattered friend.