The wood floor is cold and cracks when I step on it. My brother Vick is asleep on the bed next to mine, so I'm careful not to wake him up. Even though the Hunger Games start today, it's still Sunday, and now I have two families to provide for. Katniss and I had an agreement that if one of us dies the other would look after their family. And I plan to honour that agreement for as long as I can.
I check the light in the bathroom to see if the power is still out. It was out all day yesterday and will probably be out today too. Electricity on 12 was always something we couldn't count on, but every year on the days before the games only the Seam runs out of power. We think is a way for the Capitol to force us to go to the main square and watch the games there. This way they can film it and show that the people from the districts also want to see their kids fight to the death. At least that's my theory.
The water is freezing, and it makes my face hurt when I wash it, but it helps me to wake up. Even though is dark, I'm so used to by now that I get dressed without needing to light any candle. I'm about to head outside when Rory, who I thought was sleeping, calls me from the living room.
"Hey, Gale," he says in a low voice, being careful not to wake our mother and sister who sleep in the only other room of the house.
"Hey, Rory. What are you doing up? Go back to sleep."
"Just give a second, and I'll go hunt with you," he says getting up from the couch. Katniss and I have been teaching Rory how to hunt for a few weeks now. He's good at it, picks up things fast, and just yesterday shot his first squirrel. I wish Katniss was there to see it. She would have been so proud of him.
"No Rory, stay today. I need some time alone."
Rory is only twelve, but he looks older. He's big for his age, and I think that maybe he's going to be taller than me. Is on moments where he has to deal with his emotions that he shows how young he really is. "I miss her too. She was a good friend," he finally says, after struggling to find the words.
"They both were," I say, then leave, wishing that the weight on my chest would go away.
I make my way through the narrow alleys of the Seam making sure to avoid the Peacekeepers. Most of them know that I hunt and even buy my game, but it still is better to be careful, if the wrong peacekeeper sees me I won't have any money to bribe my way out of this.
There are several weak spots on the fence that people who hunt use to get to the woods, I usually use the one closest to my house. As soon as I get close I can tell something is wrong. Someone is leaning against a house waiting. It could be a peacekeeper, but they usually keep their helmets on, and this person definitely has long hair. I walk slowly, heart beating on my ears, fists firmly closed. The figure starts to become familiar as I approach it, but I can't believe is her until she calls my name.
"Hey, Gale," Madge says.
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I thought you were a mugger!" I say, trying to keep my voice low.
"Oh, come on, there are no muggers on 12."
"Not if you're a townie, there's plenty for the hunters." Madge looks at me in disbelief. Most townies don't know about this things. They think because theft is a severely punishable crime on 12 no one would dare to commit it. But that rule doesn't apply for hunters or anyone that trades or sells illegal things. "Look, is not exactly like we can call the peacekeepers for help, can't we?"
"I had no idea," Madge says, her mind seems to go back to the past, rethinking something. "So that time Katniss went to school with a black eye?"
"We got jumped by three guys."
I remember that day. It was a cold and rainy Sunday, Katniss and I have being hunting together for a little more than two months by then. We managed to catch some wild turkeys, it was our biggest catch so far so we were pretty happy about it. We made four blocks into the Seam when they showed up, demanding the birds. We refused and one of the guys punched me starting a fight. People from the nearby houses came out to help us, but the guys escaped with the turkeys. We end up at Katniss' living room with Prim stiching my forehead, under Mrs Everdeen's guidance, and Katniss on the couch with Peeta putting a coat of ice on her face.
"She told me she felt on the woods," Madge says. There are probably dozens of things Katniss never told her about it. Which is for the best, I don't think a townie, and especially one from the Capitol would understand.
"So why you're here?" I ask.
"I couldn't go to sleep at all, and I went to the woods a couple of times with Katniss, but I'm scared of going alone so-" she lets the words trail off, she's embarrassed about asking it.
I just wanted to be alone today. I knew people who died on the games before, but they were some kid on my school and the daughter of a merchant that buys from me. Never people that I talked with, that I went to their houses, eat with, laugh with. That's new and painful for me, and I guess is the same for her.
"Do you want to go see the lake Peeta talked about it?"
"You know where it is?" she asks, surprised.
"Yeah, come on, I'll show it to you." I take the lead, and Magde follows close behind, a few minutes later we enter the woods.
On our way to the lake, I stop a couple times to check on the snares, and to shoot at some easy prey. It still dark but the moonlight helps if you're used to the woods. Madge definitely isn't. She seems to trip over every single branch and rock on her path. It's loud, it's scaring the game away, and it's annoying me.
She trips again, and this time I'm close enough to catch her. Madge is ice cold and trembling in my arms. Katniss probably only took her to the woods during the day, at night, this place is completely different. The shadows on the trees look like predators, and you jump at any unfamiliar noise. If you're not used to, is absolutely terrifying.
"You know, I was pretty scared at the first time I entered the woods alone," I say putting my best reassuring smile.
"You were? I thought you were practically born with a bow in your hand." Madge fix her shirt, recomposing herself.
"Not really, my dad showed me how to hunt with snares. It was Katniss who taught me how to shoot with the bow."
I remember clearly those first months after my father died. The Capitol gave my family some money, but we all knew it wasn't going to last long. My mother was still pregnant with my sister Posy, and my brothers were too young to help with anything. I knew that if I didn't do something, we would all starve to death.
One morning I left my house without telling anyone. It was the middle of the winter, so I packed up with several layers of mine and my father's clothes, but I could still feel the cold wind cut through my bones. It had snowed heavily on the previous night the forest was covered on snow, making me instantly discouraged. I hoped to at least find some roots that I could dig up, but the ground was frozen. I was about to go home, cold and with an empty stomach when I saw the tracks on the snow. Rabbit tracks.
I pulled out my knife and start to follow it. I didn't know how far they would go, but I knew they had to be fresh tracks, so I decided to take my chances. I don't know how long I walked. My hunger, and will to feed my family dragged me forward until the tracks ended at a small entrance on the trunk of a tree. A rush of adrenaline went through me, and I started to dig through the snow like a mad person. The snow melted through my gloves giving me ice burns, but I did not care, I just rested when I thrust my arm into the tree and pulled out a hare.
The thing was vicious, it was kicking and biting me and only stopped when I put a knife through its throat. I felt bad for a split second, I've never killed an animal before that day, my dad was the one who did that, but I reasoned that it was better for that animal to die than my family. So I stuffed it on my game bag and ran back home.
The Sun is up when Madge and I reach the lake. She calmed down a lot, and now that the woods aren't so frightening she's enjoying it. It's so weird seeing the forest through someone else's eyes. I always saw it as a source of food, and a place where I could vent my frustrations without worrying about being arrested, but Madge's green eyes are full of wonder. She sees beauty in this place, and it makes me happy to see it through her eyes. I guess this is one of the reasons why Katniss brings Peeta here.
"Are you going to stare at me all day?" Madge asks, and I dodge my head fast, I didn't realize that I was staring. She has pity on me and changes the subject. "When did you found out about this place?"
"It was years ago, even before I met Katniss. I used to come here to swim and dig out roots. One day I got here and saw her swimming with Peeta, they didn't see me. But that was the last day I came here, until now."
"Why?"
"I don't know really, they were just swimming. I guess seeing her happy bothered me." I never told that to anyone, and I don't if it's because I'm at the lake again, or if I'm starting to feel close to Madge, but I finally tell someone what I felt that day. "That was the first summer after our fathers died. I was miserable. My only goal was to survive to the next day. And when I came here and found her laughing, I thought to myself, 'what kind of person does this? Just moves on. Like their own father's death means nothing'. After that, I spent as many years avoiding her as I could. If Katniss wasn't so good at hunting, I don't think I would've ever spoken to her."
"Gale, it wasn't like that. I remember that winter. Katniss and I weren't friends yet, but we were in the same class. She was never chatty, but she used to laugh and to sing. All that changed when her father died. I spent the entire winter seeing her come to school with dark circles on her eyes, losing weight, shutting herself away." Madge stops, her eyes turn red as she fights back the tears.
"And then she met Peeta," I complete.
"I don't know what happened between them, but I guess he showed her that she could be happy again. Is she a bad person for wanting that?"
Madge enters the cabin instead of waiting an answer from me, not that I have one. My friendship with Katniss started out of convenience. It was easier to survive if we worked together. I never gave much thought on why she loved and cared so much about Peeta. I just assumed it was because he's a good guy, and insanely devoted to her. I had no idea that what they have between then could be so much deeper.
The cabin is full of Katniss and Peeta's things. You can tell they spent a lot of time here. There are bows and broken arrows, teacups, blankets and pillows, books and the concrete walls are covered by Peeta's drawings. I knew he could draw, but I didn't have any idea he was that good. On the wall by the door, he drew the lake using charcoal. I've never been on the lake during the night, but he seemed to capture what it would look like, with the moon and the stars reflecting on the surface of the water.
"Do you think they spent the night here?" Madge asks, also wondering how Peeta could've known how the lake looks at moonlight.
"Probably not, have you ever met his mother?"
"Yes, she's always nice to me," Madge says. Of course she would be nice to the blonde, green-eyed Mayor's daughter. "Honestly, I don't really like her. She keeps trying to set me up with Peeta. It makes me feel uncomfortable every time I have to go to the bakery."
"That woman is horrible."
"Yeah, she thinks I'm stupid. That I don't see right through her," she says shaking her head. "It amazes me that Peeta came out such a good person, he definitely didn't learn from her."
Even though Katniss always told me that Madge was a good person, I never believed her. I always thought no one from the Capitol could ever be good. That being born there made you automatically disgusting and vain. But I have to admit that I was wrong. People from the Capitol may be awful, but Madge is alright.
I continue to look at Peeta's artworks on the walls when I hear Madge closing a notebook with a swift motion. Her entire face is red, even her ears.
"Maybe don't look at Peeta's drawing books," she says. It doesn't take me long to figure out why.
"Okay, that's definitely something I don't want to see." The comprehension of the other activities they did here makes me feel awkward and guilty. This is an intimate place that Peeta and Katniss built to be happy, and being here with Madge makes me feel like we're desecrating it. "We should leave."
Madge seems to agree with me because her eyes are full of sorrow. "They aren't even dead yet, but they already fell like ghosts," she says, walking out of the cabin.
"I wonder which one of this trees Peeta was talking about," Madge says. When we were saying our goodbyes, Peeta asked if we could bury Katniss and him under a large oak tree on this lake, there are dozens of trees here. But one is special.
"I think is that one." I point to the oak tree right beside the cabin. It has the initials 'K.E. - P.M.' engraved on it. I don't think Peeta really thought it though when he asked me about being buried here. But I intend on keeping my promise. I just don't know how. "Maybe we can bribe the gravedigger, or have them cremated. Madge?"
I turn around and realize that Madge isn't by my side anymore. She's looking at the lake, her fair skin turning red while the tears fall from her face.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't hold it in anymore," she says.
"Don't be," I say getting closer to her. "You know, the woods for me was always a place where I could say whatever I wanted, without being afraid of the wrong people hearing it. Things I could never say in 12."
"Like 'fuck the Capitol'?" she says, drying away her tears and starting to laugh.
"Yeah, exactly!" I turn to the lake and yell at to the top of my lungs, "FUCK THE CAPITOL!"
Madge looks at me like I did the most rebellious thing she could possibly imagine it. And she seems to feel encouraged by it. "FUCK THE HUNGER GAMES!" she screams.
"FUCK THE REAPINGS!" I yell.
"AND FUCK MRS MELLARK!" and we both collapse on the grass laughing.
We spend some time laying on the grass, watching the clouds. The weight on my chest, completely gone.
"Gale, can I ask you something?" I know her question even before she asks it. The rumours that Katniss cheats on Peeta with me probably came back at full strength after the interview last night. I hate those rumours, especially because I found out about them when Mrs. Mellark shouted loud and clear on the bakery's kitchen, well at Peeta's earshot. I felt like if the Earth could swallow me whole right then and there, I would let it.
"Look, Katniss is a hunting partner and a friend, and I don't really see her as anything but that. Maybe in some other life where she wasn't with Peeta, I could possibly consider that since we work great together. So, no, nothing ever happened between us."
"Actually, I was going to ask about what are you going to do about the interview with the families. Now that you two are cousins," she says, smiling at my expense.
I would let the Earth swallow me whole right now too. "I did spend a good part of the night thinking about it. I could pull off being Katniss' cousin. But as soon as the Capitol looks through our birth certificates, they're going to find out that we lied. So I guess my only choice is to hope that they just lash me."
Madge looks at the distance, pondering. I can see that she's debating something with herself. "What if you two actually became cousins?"
Madge didn't elaborate more on what she meant. She only asks me to meet her at the back of the Justice Building after I'm done with my trades, which I try to do as fast as I can. After I'm done at the Hob, I stop at the Everdeen's to give their share and see how they are holding up. Unsurprisingly, I find Rory there.
"Hi, Gale good morning," Prim says, her voice is weak, and you can clearly see she's having problems sleeping.
"Hi, Prim, where's your mom?" I ask, giving Rory an angry stare. I told him several times that I didn't want him alone with Prim.
"She took some sleep syrup yesterday and hasn't woken up yet," she says while cutting vegetables for their lunch. "I don't think she's going to wake up any time soon."
"And what are you doing here?" I ask Rory who also chops vegetables, and fails miserably at not looking guilty.
"He's staying for lunch, you can stay too Gale if you want," Prim says nonchalantly.
"Sorry, I can't, even though I wanted to. I just came by to drop this." I take out some squirrels, some fruits and roots. It won't be enough to get them through the week, but I'll make sure to stop by with more food in a couple of days.
"Gale, thank you, but we can't accept it," she says. I expected something like this would happen. For better or worse, Prim is a lot like Katniss.
"Don't worry Prim. I'm buying credit with your healing services. Accidents on the woods happen all the time," I say holding aggressively Rory's shoulders.
After Prim finally accepts the food, I say goodbye to her and leave, but Rory follows me outside.
"I just like to hang out with her, Gale, she's my friend."
"What did I told you?"
"That if you find me doing anything with Prim besides being very good friends, you're going to shoot an arrow on my ass," he says, while I nod. "You know, I think you're more protective of Prim than me."
"That's because I like her better," I joke. I see where he's coming from, there's nothing normal about these past days, and Prim needs all the support she can have. "Alright, don't do anything stupid, and invite her and Mrs. Everdeen for dinner."
Before I get to the Justice Building I stop at the bakery, I still had some of the things I usually trade with Mr. Mellark, but they didn't open today. The Mellarks probably didn't want anyone's pity stares at them, and I can respect that. The main square is packed with people, huge screens show the live footage of the Farewell Ride, the tributes wave at the Capitol's crowd from convertibles. Thinking about how many of this kids will be dead in less than five hours makes me sick.
I don't want to see Katniss and Peeta. I know myself well enough to know that seeing them would make me do something I would regret. But something odd catches my attention. The camera pans down showing the Capitol people, and some kids from the Capitol stand looking solemnly at the parade. When their car passes, the kids place three fingers on their lips and raise them up. They probably saw us doing and thought it was cool, but their image still keeps bothering me until I get to the Justice Building.
Magde is already there, kneeling down messing with the basement window. "What are you doing?"
She jumps when she hears my voice, and I try my best not to laugh. "God! You're so quiet! I can feel my heart beating on my throat!"
"Feels good isn't it?" I say, mocking her.
Madge rolls her eyes at me. "I'm sorry about this morning, Gale."
"So, what are we doing here?"
"Not here, there," she points to the window. Madge opens it, and craws inside of it. By the look of it, this isn't the first time she does that. I follow her, and as soon as I enter it, I realize where we are.
"This is 12's records room."
"Exactly. Most records were lost during the Dark Days, and the districts were supposed to file the remaining ones on a database, but there was never funding to do that, so they just stayed here," Madge says, gesturing at the rolls of rusty metal cabinets with most names fading. "And I thought, maybe we could do some volunteering work, and file some of this records."
Madge and I start looking throw the cabinets looking for Katniss' and mine last names. We also take out several other files to file with it, so it doesn't look suspicious.
"So how do you know about this place anyway?"
"My dad told me about it when we moved to 12, and since no one comes here, I was using this place for a while," she says, moving away from me suspiciously.
"Wait, is this your make-out spot?" I thought I would be only surprised, but I find out that I'm not only disappointed, I'm jealous. "Couldn't you just go to the Slag Heap like a normal person?"
Madge seems to be taken back by my unintentional accusatory tone. I didn't mean to hurt her, she answers on the same angry tone as mine, "I don't know if you noticed, but I don't get to be a normal person, Gale."
"I'm sorry." Going to the Slag Heap is one of the most common things we do on 12, it never occurred me that for Madge, being a regular kid was never an option. "I have to admit, is kind of hard picture you here with some townie. Who did you bring here anyway?"
"Not of your business, that's who," she says, a small smile forms on the corners of her lips. "And he was from the Seam, not the town."
"Was?" I smile too, and I think it makes her blush.
"Just keep looking for the files," she says, walking away from me.
We fill the dusty service desk with dozens of files. Madge decided to come here every day for the next weeks and enter the files on the database, eventually entering the Everdeens and the Hawthornes.
"Do you want to be on Katniss' father side or, mother side?" she asks.
"Father," I answer, nobody would believe I have any relatives from the town.
"Okay, I'm going to file that your grandmother was Katniss grandfather's sister, making you two second degree cousins. How about that?"
"Sounds great, but do you really think this could work?"
"There's really only one way to find out, Gale," she says. I don't know what is the punishment for document forgery, but I'm certain there's one. I don't exactly have a lot of options, so I decide to take my chances, only time will tell if I made the right decision.
The cold breeze on my face feels great after I leave the basement. In a couple of weeks, I'll start to work in the mines. Being trapped underground for ten hours straight without being able to see the Sun will be horrible, but at least I'll have the woods on the weekends. Maybe Madge would want to go there with me, I could show the meadow, it's a million times better than this basement.
"Did you hear that?" Madge asks, calling my attention. The sound is coming from the square, a loud repetitive tick. "It's the Countdown."
I hadn't planned on watching the Bloodbath. I wanted to stay the entire day in the woods. But when Madge starts to race to the square, I can't control myself and follow her.
It's almost starting, the clock at the top of the Cornucopia counts backwards 47…. 46…. 45...
The camera does an aerial shot over the arena. No trees in sight only buildings. The Cornucopia and the tributes stand on a square not too different from the one we are on, that seems to be the center of the arena. The only source of water seems to be a fountain at the base of a building a block from there. 34…. 33... 32….
The buildings look similar to the ones on 12, with broad entrances that supposed to be for shops and what I think are apartments on the other floors. But they're falling apart, many without rooftops or windows and the rumble of bricks and branches piles up everywhere. They are also higher, averaging three to four stores each, and much closer together with narrow alleyways between them. 15... 14… 13…
The camera changes to the Cornucopia. It's full of bags, boxes and backpacks, things that will make the difference between life and death for Katniss and Peeta. 10...9...8… As the camera enters the Cornucopia you can tell that the most important items are placed deep inside of it. Fresh food, water and weapons. 7...6...5…
I look at it carefully, I can see knives, spears, a sword, but no bows or arrows. Madge holds my hand, and we intertwined our fingers together. 3...2...1.