Hello everyone! I'm back! I've decided to make a change to something in this story, perhaps I won't include the spooning scene. It might just be too awkward between the two of them! Sorry if you were excited for that – it might be in the future! Anyway, let's get to it!
Chapter 2 – winter's sting
~ Three days after where we left off ~
I stare at one of the paintings that a fan had sent me from the Capitol, which included Peeta, Rue and I, sitting around a campfire and eating my favourite lamb stew. It was a small gift; but it means a lot to me. The other gifts the Capitol sends me, like some expensive shampoo, I throw into the bin. My mother always complains that I'm being wasteful, and I should be grateful for the gifts that I receive. Sometimes I find her actually sorting through the trash to see if I'd thrown out something that would be of actual use to us, yet she always seems to come into my room empty handed. I hear a door opening and immediately look over to my left, where my little sister stands, holding Buttercup, the cat. "Urgh" I groan, annoyed that sister had brought in that THING. "It's only a cat" said Prim, sounding obviously annoyed. I sighed, and looked up at Prim, who was on the verge of tears. "Why are you crying? Buttercup isn't that bad, I guess" "N...No, a girl at school s...said that she wished Peeta had won, instead of you." I walked over to Prim and gave her a tight hug. This must be so hard for her, I thought, patting her back softly.
After I had talked to my sister and had another crying session myself, I headed out into the crisp wind that I thought was nonexistent for a few more days. I turned straight around and treaded back into the warm house, heading into the coat room to get my father's hunting jacket. I'd forgotten that winter was here, and it was just going to make it harder for me to get from place to place. Especially if we had a snowstorm, I'd refuse to stay in the house and let myself get stuck in the black hole again. Completely ignoring my brain, I headed into the house that was next door to me, Haymitch's house, or more like Haymitch's refuge. I take a deep breath before twisting the door knob, knowing that it's going to smell as bad as it did the other day. The reason I'm stopping of at Haymitch's house is because I need to give him some of his bloody bottles of alcohol, which he insists I should start drinking too, because it really does help with the anxiety. Putting the bottles of liquor on the floor right next to his drunken body, I make a hasty retreat out of his den and into the fresh air of winter.
On my way to greasy sae's, where Gale had promised to meet up with me after work, I walked around the hob, searching for something I could get for my sister. I noticed that my sour mood was affecting lots of people. Prim always looked so depressed ever since the time I almost hit her with a pillow during one of my many tantrums. She must've realised how much the Hunger Games had changed me, for the worse.
I found a perfect little book, which my sister could keep as a journal if she felt the need to express her feelings on paper. The book was slightly tattered and had a few ripped pages, but I was sure that she would be grateful for the thought nonetheless. I hoped that Prim would move on from what she saw on the small, dingy television set we had in the seam, but I realised that she clearly wasn't. No, Prim wasn't the giggling duck-tailed girl I left last year, and she never would be.
Heading back towards Greasy Sae's stall, I bought two of her famous 'Wild dog stew' which she served in the winter to heat everyone up. Unfortunately, Sae felt the need to add some flavour to the stew, so she always included Pig stomach (If it was available), and several other 'delicacies'.
Gale found me not too long after I'd bought the stews, and he thanked me with a quick nod in my direction. Too make matters worse, Gale didn't feel the need to greet me in any way, shape or form. 'What's your problem?' I said a bit too harshly. 'Mine collapse' he said so quietly I could barely hear, probably because he didn't want Sae to start her list of questions. However, she found something else to talk about. "Well, well, well" Said Sae, putting on a deep, sarcastic voice. "Look who finally decided to come crawling back to Ol' Sae's store, hmm?" "You didn't visit while I was in the arena?" I questioned Gale, who looked a pale shade of green at the moment, and it wasn't due to the piece of stomach he'd just swallowed. "I was a bit preoccupied" he said, clearly annoyed that Sae had brought that up. Sae rolled her eyes and said "We all were, if it weren't for me money, I would 'ave closed the stall." Sae admitted. "In fact, Gale, I don't think I saw you 'round the Hob at all, while Katniss was in the arena" She finished, looking at Gale with a smirk.
After we finished, I didn't bother questioning him about the incident in the mines. Personally, I didn't want to know. I know that sounds selfish, but I get queasy when I hear about something that happens down there, mainly because it reminds me of my father dying down there not too long ago. Also, Gale wouldn't want to talk about it because he was –and is- in the same boat as me. Fatherless, due to the poor conditions the capitol makes us work under.
After leaving the hob, Gale walked me to the Victor's Village where my new house sat, in annoyingly perfect condition. On the way there, I refused to let a question drop that was bothering me all day. "Gale" I said, curiously. "When I was in the arena, what did you do?" "The usual" Gale didn't sound surprised that I asked this, and continued "Hunt, bring food back for my family, but I also spent a lot of my time building the tree house. I couldn't bear going home and watching you kill yourself" "Kill me self?" I asked, clearly annoyed. "Well you know, Katniss, I could see things that you didn't. At some points, when you were about to die of dehydration, you were so, so close to a source of water. It was incredibly frustrating, and sometimes I felt like yelling because I hoped that you would hear me." Gale confessed. "Isn't that crazy?" he asked. "No, no it's not Gale." I said, "At some points, I thought I could feel your scowl, or your grimace." At that point, I was pulled into one of Gale's infamous bear hugs, a type of hug that a person suffering from claustrophobia would hate.
Gale left then, and I turned the silver knob that allowed me access into my new house that might have, if I were luckier, been a neighbouring home to the Mellark family. As I entered the large lounge room, my mother gave me a warm hug, which frightened me. Normally she would be slightly hesitant when showing me any kind of affection, due to my up and down moods lately. And then she pointed at the coffee table that sat in the middle of the living room. I picked it up hesitantly, and on the front of the envelope, in Effie Trinket's neat, loopy handwriting was "Victory tour Schedule, 74th Hunger Games." And then I gulped.
Hello! I hoped you liked that! Sorry for the long amount of time it took me to upload! Normally it will only take me about a week to update, but I had my sister's birthday party, which I had to plan -_-
Thank you so, so much for the reviews! They really cheered my day up! A special thanks also to the followers and the people who favourite! I literally say "Yay!" when I see the notifications on my email account, and my family look at me like I'm "Special." But I'm used to that anyway, just kidding'! See you all (Hopefully) next week! xx
