Gale got up the nest morning to the sound of his alarm clock going off on his bedside table. He reached out to slam the snooze button like he did every morning only to realize it wasn't there. He was sleepy. Then he remembered, last week he was an hour late to work thanks to that horrible but oh-so-tempting button so Ennelle had bought him a new alarm clock and this clock must have been made by the devil himself.
The clock, when it rang (Or buzzed, chirped and whirred) rolled off his bedside table and raced around his room at lightning speed. If the ear-splitting noise wasn't enough to wake him up, the wild goose chase all over his room at six in the morning would.
He cursed Ennelle under his breath before rolling out of his bed, landing with a thump on his floor, jumping up and starting to look for the nuisance Ennelle had named "Beepy".
It wasn't long before he spotted it, rolling straight for his closet door. Without a second to lose he lunged for it and caught it in his hands right before it rolled over the threshold and into his closet. His closet floor was covered in clothes. He'd never be able to find it in there.
"Gotcha" He shouted as he hit the off button and it finally stopped moving and causing a racket.
He was faintly reminded of hunting back in District 12, the woods and Katniss. He stopped thinking about that immediately.
He didn't like thinking about District 12 so he didn't allow himself to ponder it much but sometimes it came back to him in nightmares. Hunting with Katniss, the reapings, THE reaping, wondering if he could put his family through the next year, falling asleep hungry and scared. Nope, he was not going to think of that.
He set the clock back on the bedside table and lumbered out to the bathroom, still half asleep. He relieved himself and went over to the sink to brush his teeth. He looked at his reflection in the mirror; his reflection in the mirror looked back at him. He still looked the same as he did when he was sixteen, though, when he was sixteen he looked like he should have been the age he is now, twenty three. He hit six feet tall at 14 and he estimated he was around 6'3" now. He was still muscular. He was still strong. He was still Gale. Same brown hair, same grey eyes, same Gale even though he had changed a lot since he was sixteen.
He brushed his teeth quick and brushed his hair. It was getting too long so he made a mental reminder to get it cut soon. Gale always knew his hair was getting too long when the piece, right at the crown, sticks right up and refuses to behave and stay put down where it belongs.
It was then he remembered he was still half naked and only in his boxers so he trod back to his bedroom and into the state of a closet he had. Gale was not a messy guy, his closet was. He never knew why only his closet was messy. An onlooker would know though. He has a habit of, when searching for a certain shirt or pair of pants he will dump the other articles of clothing on the floor. So, even though all of his dirty clothes ended up in the hamper, Gale never sees his closet floor.
He grabbed a pair of plain jeans and a white tee shirt. He'd change into his uniform at work. Gale walked out of his room, smiled a bit at the picture of his family who were currently rebuilding district twelve. He walked slowly out to his kitchen, trying to picture the look on Rory's face when he was thinking. Or remembering how Posy would always knock four times before entering a room. He missed them terribly but he'd visit district 12 some other time. Maybe he'd even visit Katniss and Peeta.
He poured himself a bowl of cereal and strode over to sit down on his couch. His kitchen and his living room were joined and he definitely liked it better this way. It was more convenient and he didn't have to walk far to get food when he was watching TV. He said "Turn on TV" and the screen came to life almost immediately.
He hated technology but he had to admit, it was quite useful sometimes. He watched some show called something about a republic but it wasn't that interesting. It was basically this guy who was a detective with his dad and his niece had something going on with his... Employee? He wasn't really paying attention. Long story short, he got shot, kissed some girl and talked in a stupid accent like everyone else on the show. He finished his cereal and brought the bowl over to the sink. He placed it gingerly in the basin and checked his watch. It read 7:12. Perfect, he could get to work early and show En that he could be punctual.
Did he just call her "En" like the rest of the office that had suddenly warmed up to her? He thought she could have been bribing them. No, she was not "En", she was "Ennelle" or simply "My boss". Not "En". He shoved on a pair of plain white shoes and headed out the door towards the elevator.
He pressed the down button and waited. He didn't like waiting so he pressed it again, and again. Eventually the doors opened and he stepped inside, pressed the "Main Floor" button and waited again. He was alone in the elevator except for a little girl, maybe seven, with red pigtails and a pink dress. She was smiling, somewhat distantly and Gale remembered seeing this girl around the apartment building, always off in her own little world.
"I love elevators" She said suddenly and Gale looked at her surprised.
"Really?" He asked, he hated elevators and he had never heard this girl speak before, he assumed she was very shy.
"Yes, I could just go up and down on them all day! But I do not think my mother would like that very much. I have to go to school most days" She said, still off in her own world but obviously talking to Gale as he was the only other person in the elevator.
"Do you like school?" He asked, wondering what to say because he was kind of stuck on what to do.
"No, not usually, the other children tease me quite a bit" She said still in her dreamlike state and Gale saw her fingers twitch oddly.
"Oh, that's too bad" He said shortly and then the doors opened to the main lobby and he got off the elevator and into his car.
The drive to work was relatively short. He was at the front doors of the building at 7:41 and he didn't have to be there until 8:30. Ennelle was going to be so surprised and then she'll realize he should have gotten the job. Gale smiled to himself and walked through the front doors and said "Hi" to the secretary who was in bewilderment because no one in the office even thought Gale got up before noon.
He decided to take the stairs up to level five where his office and Ennelle's office were. He took them two at a time and in a split second he was pushing open the door to the lobby where another secretary was sat at a desk. She, too looked at him strangely but said "Good morning Mr. Hawthorne"
"Morning Detta, Have you seen Ennelle around here anywhere?" He said shortly because he couldn't wait to prove to her he could wake up early and he thought for a second he couldn't wait to see her but that was wrong because he didn't even like her.
"Yeah, En went to the training center on floor six" Detta said bored and then followed it up with "You can stay here and wait for her if you want" with a flirty smile.
Gale ignored it and said a "Thanks Det, owe you one!" over his shoulder as he half jogged towards the door.
He pushed open the door and it swung back and hit the wall. He cursed under his breath and took on one more flight of stairs. He shoved open the door and sure enough, there was Ennelle, firing off a gun in one of the aiming practice things. He had never bothered to learn what they were called. She had big, black headphones on to block out the noise and they cause quite a dent in her poufy, curly hair. She was wearing a bit of a more military like outfit than the first day Gale met her but her shoes were the same. The same black, wedge heels, Gale mentally kicked himself just for knowing what a "Wedge heel" was.
He slowly snuck up behind her which probably wasn't a good idea seeing as she was holding a gun but he did it anyway just to surprise or possibly scare her. Scaring someone holding a gun is never a good idea but Gale was so excited to prove to her he wasn't lazy, he just did it. "Boo" He said into her ear very softly and touched her shoulder.
Well of course she went into a tizzy. The gun fired off and the sound rang in Gale's ears as he wasn't wearing headphones like he was supposed to. Her body jerked and the bullet hit the side of the target. She hauled her elbow back and hit Gale right in the stomach. He said "Ow!" and she spun right around to face him.
Well, I say face him. She basically had to get on her tip toes to look at his chest. She looked straight up at him and asked "What. The. Hell. Do. You. Think. You're. Doing?" in the most angry voice Gale had heard her use yet.
"Look! I'm here and I'm early! I thought I'd surprise you. See, I'm not the slacker you think I am!" Gale said somewhat triumphantly and she just glared.
"I don't think you are a slacker and I never did. But I do think you're an idiot because you actually decided that you are going to go SCARE someone who was holding a GUN! That alarm clock must work" she hit him on the arm "How SLEEPY are you?"
Gale looked at her and said smartly "Well, pretty sleepy since "Beepy" came into my life this morning" She hit him again.
"Hey! Stop that! Okay, look, I'm sorry for scaring you! Just calm down! Geez" Gale said with his hands up in the air after he realized she still had the gun grasped firmly in her hand.
"I'm not going to shoot you" She said plainly and put the gun down on the shelf that she was aiming on previously "Good job, you got here before ten. Now, go put on your uniform. Lily will be here in fifteen minutes. We need to start this snare project"
"Fifteen minutes? It's only eight! She shouldn't be here until eight thirty!" Gale wondered why Lily would be coming so early.
"Because, unlike you, Lily actually shows up at work on time and she comes early on Tuesdays to clean her office" Ennelle told him as she walked over to a big storage unit and brought over a work uniform.
She thrust it in his hands and said "Go put this on and wake up! You're always sleepy!"
He smiled because he knew she was surprised he was here this early. He could see it in her eyes. "Alright, and can you tell Detta to stop hitting on me? It's flattering and all but I don't see her that way. Now, if you don't mind, I will go to my office and take a nap after I've got these clothes on. I'm a bit... Sleepy" And with that he walked out the door smiling and she looked like he had just murdered her sister.
