hey! so, uh, not much to say that i can think of... HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN THE CATCHING FIRE PICTURES? AAAHHHH SO EXCITED. sorry it took so long! i'm ultra cray mega busy, but yeah here's the new chapter! i will probably upload the next chapter as well fairly soon since I'M EXCITED ABOUT IT BECAUSE SHIT GETS INTENSE YO. but for now here is this chapter, enjoy! :) have a lovely day xox- Brooklyn
"No, Katniss, I am NOT comfortable with this" Peeta said sternly, keeping eye contact with his wife. Katniss tensed and took a deep breathe in.
"She's strong, Peeta" she spat his name in a mimicking fashion to his using her name, "she has a right to know."
"Not everybody is as tough as you! Just because you can handle it doesn't mean she can too". The too were arguing whether they would tell the children of their close family friend's passing. Peeta was sensitive to the thought of his daughter hearing her friend had died. Katniss however obviously felt it would be unfair to lie to her.
"She IS tough, would you honestly rather lie to our daughter and have her never know the feeling of loosing someone until it's someone like you or I?"
"I don't know Katniss. But I have seen enough death and horrible things in my life to know I don't want my child to feel the pain of loosing someone. Ever." Katniss saw the pain behind Peeta's eyes; she could feel the heaviness of his heart on her own.
"Don't be naïve" she whispered, her voice gentler, "she's going to have to experience it at some point, you know that." She watched as his body softened with defeat. He exhaled loudly and grinned tightly at her.
"Fine" he said quietly, turning to walk away, "but you have to be the one to tell her", he said before leaving the room.
Surprisingly, even to Katniss, Primrose was very understanding; she gulped back the tears and kept herself strong in front of her mother. Katniss was very gentle in the way she told her, speaking how it was a part of life and how he was in a better place now, (even though Katniss did not necessarily believe in God, due to the experiences of her life, she felt it best to give her daughter some reassurance).
"Mommy, why can't I come to the funeral too?" asked Prim not long after they'd spoken, while Katniss buttoned the little girl's sweater to drop her off at her mother's house.
"I told you already sweetie" she answered, looking up into the little girl's sad eyes, "it's adults only, no kids allowed".
"But Channing was my friend" she answered quietly, choking on tears.
"Oh, Prim" she said, pulling her daughter into a tight hug and allowing her daughter to cry on her shoulder. She knew it was only due time before she let it out, before she finally allowed herself to cry. "It's okay, baby. Daddy and I will be home later, and we will spend the whole night together, okay?"
"Okay… but why can't I go to school?" she asked. Katniss bit her lip, not entirely sure how to answer that. "Is it because we're going to have a substitute?" she asked. Katniss grew confused.
"Why would you have a substitute?" she asked standing and leading the little girl out of her room and down the stairs to the living room.
"Because Mr. Hawthorne knows Aunty Rose, I know because she visited our class one time, so he will be there too, because he is an adult" Katniss had completely forgotten Gale was her teacher, as well as how Gale and Rose were friends. She had basically been trying to suppress ever memory and thought of him in the last week.
"It's just best if you don't go today" she said simply and quick, "come on Peeta! We're going to be late, come on Cinna!" she called out before taking the frustrated little girl's hand and stomping out the door.
"Rose, hey" said Gale as he approached the small blonde with open arms.
"Gale" she said with a sad smile, walking into his arms and allowing him to embrace her in a tight, reassuring hug. "Thank you for coming, it means a lot," she whispered once they separated.
"Of course, I'm so sorry for your lose, Rose" he spoke softly, holding her gently at arms length. Rose nodded and sniffled back old tears.
"Yeah, so am I, but Peeta really put together a beautiful ceremony, didn't he?" she asked, gesturing towards the decorated outdoors.
"Peeta did this?" Gale asked looking around at the bright flowers, table with assorted cakes, and Balloons surrounding the grave sight.
"I asked Katniss, but she's not too keen on… well death. But you know Peeta loves to decorate and he jumped right on bored the moment I mentioned it. He did a nice job"
"Yeah…" questioned Gale slowly, "the flowers and cake look beautiful, but balloons?..." he asked judging the scenery.
"Yes. I told him I wanted it to look as little of a funeral as possible, more of a celebration of life" Rose sniffled back more tears, Gale nodded in understanding, however still judged the area around him.
"Oh, excuse me, more guests that, um, need greeting" She said awkwardly stepping away from gale, straightening herself up before walking off.
"Ouch, Katniss, ease up" whispered Peeta to his wife as they arrived at the ceremony. She squeezed his hand hard as they walked, funerals always made her uneasy.
"Sorry" she whispered, distant.
"You all right?" asked Peeta gently.
"Yes. I'm fine." Peeta could hear the lie clearly, but chose an argument was much better avoided right now. She was both anxious for the funeral as well as nervous of running into Gale. To put it simply, she wasn't all right.
People began to move in towards the grave, gathering for the speeches and for the decending of the coffin. Rose spoke about her brother briefly and that was all. A Priest said a prayer then they watched as the hovering coffin descended into the earth and two sheer metal doors closed over top, a light buzzing as they locked and Channing's name, day of birth and death, were displayed on the doors.
Katniss looked up from the grave, feeling queasy, when her eyes met his. Gale stood tall and strong across from her, staring straight at her, not looking away in embarrassment when she looked back at him. Her breath caught though she didn't look away, she was locked, stuck in eye contact with the one person she mostly did not want to see.
People slowly began to retreat from the grave, to Katniss' surprise Gale was one of the first, ripping his eyes from hers, allowing one glance at Peeta, who was in a deep conversation with the man next to him, scoffing and walking quickly away. It wasn't until Gale was away that her breathing returned to normal and her heart lifted from where it felt it had dropped to her stomach.
"Do you want to leave soon?" Katniss jumped at the sound of her husband's voice in her ear, forgetting for a moment where she was and whom she was with.
"Um, yes. Just let me say goodbye to Rose," she said, shaking as she untwined their fingers and she strode off in search for her friend. Keeping a strong eye out for Gale, to avoid him at all costs.
"Rose" she called once she found her friend.
"Hey!" she called back, embracing her in a tight hug.
"Beautiful ceremony" she said smiling gently.
"Thank you, your husband played a large part in that!"
"Yes I guess he did" she said giggling slightly, Rose squinted at her friend.
"I couldn't help but notice some tension between you and Gale earlier" Katniss' heart skipped a beat at the sound of his name.
"Today isn't about me, or him. Let's not talk about it okay"
Rose tisked.
"Fine, but whatever he did, you should forgive him, he looked torn up. Kept catching him staring at you all day"
Katniss' stomach grew uneasy, she'd only seen him once, he had been seeing and STARING at her all day?
"Well thanks for the advice. I'll see." She said not wanting to start an argument with Rose at this occasion. "Unfortunately Peeta and I need to go pick up Cinna and Prim from my mom's so we have to go"
"Okay!" chirped Rose with a sad smile, "thank you for coming, means a lot" the two hugged tightly again.
Katniss began to retreat back to the front gates where they had parked, when she felt an odd presence on her back. She looked back into the crowd and saw a man dressed in a sharp black suit, with frosty white hair staring at her. He looked incredibly familiar, she racked her brain for an answer when the remembrance of her night with Gale suddenly appeared, and it was the man she had met at the bar.
She was uneasy about her encounter with this stranger, and she wanted to speak to him again, she didn't like the feeling she got from seeing him now and from what she remembered she wasn't completely comfortable around him at the bar either.
Suddenly, the man turned on his heel and began retreating towards the street. Katniss began to walk towards him, then a slight jog, however his strides were longer.
"Hey!" she called after him. Was his pace increasing?
She finally caught up to where he had been right in time for him to slip into a sleek black car and drive off. Katniss huffed to herself. She wasn't completely sure why she wanted to speak to him, she just did. That's when she felt it again, the eyes staring at her. She shot her head up and there he was. Standing tall and proud just as before. Gale Hawthorne.
"Hey, Katniss!" she heard behind her, not turning her head, eyes still locked to gale's. "Hey, I've been looking every-" Peeta stopped once he saw what Katniss was looking at. "Oh" was all that came out. He made an audible gulping and breathed in deeply as Gale's eyes suddenly shifted from Katniss to Peeta.
In one swift move gale was on the street, walking towards them. Katniss tensed, she wanted to grab for Peeta's hand, but she also did not want to show her anxiety, so she remained still.
"Well if it isn't the happy couple," said Gale smiling tightly.
"Hello, Gale" spoke Peeta flatly.
"Hey Peeta" he returned slightly cheerfully. "So did Katniss tell you what we did last week?"
cliff hangers are my favourite. if you haven't noticed yet haha.
do you guys know the origin of the word "cliffhanger?" In a silent film back in the 1900s a character was left literally HANGING FROM A CLIFF by his finger tips at the end and that's where the term comes from! cool huh?
so i know sometimes i give like a passage from the next chapter or like a hint as to the next events, have I done that for this story or just others? i dunno. anyway! but all i can really say for this is THE NEXT CHAPTER IS INTENSE. I PROMISE. so just keep on reading!
for those of you who submitted your names, DON'T WORRY! you're coming up very soon :) i was gonna make you people just at the funeral that Rose is like "hey" to or something then i was like nah that's lame they have to be cooler than that! but yeah don't worry you will come soon.
please reviiiiew! i mean you don't have to i just like to know you're there :) LOVE YOU GUYS!