Hey guys! The wait for this chapter was shorter so I hope you all like that. And I want to tell everyone to check out my new fanfiction called Back to the Ocean. It's basically Finnick's story. I have been obsessed with his character for a long time and finally decided to write the story I've had in mind for him. So please check it out!
I am so nervous. I feel like I might throw up and the only solution I managed to think of was pacing around the room like a caged animal driving everyone crazy.
"God will you stop pacing!" Johanna yells at, "He's going to get convicted. Stop worrying about it."
"How do you know? What if they let him go?" I ask, my voice heavy with fear and concern.
Gale's trial is today. Peeta, Johanna, Annie, and I are all waiting in the front of the courthouse for the case to be called in. All three of them are to be witnesses against him. My Capitol assigned lawyer is already in the courtroom, preparing for the case. All I can think about is how well Gale always manged to lie to me, to convince me he actually still cared about me. What if he can convince the jury that he is innocent. He'll be back in the District and this time, he'll be angry with me. He was taken to the Capitol three days ago and has been in a temporary jail awaiting the trial. The rest of us just arrived this morning, dragging ourselves out of bed before sunrise to catch an early train.
Peeta grabs my arm, "Sit." he says firmly, pulling me down next to him, "Relax." he says taking my hand in his.
"What if the judge doesn't believe us?" I ask, "We don't really have any real evidence do we?"
Peeta shakes his head, "That's not true Katniss. You have us. Who does Gale have helping him?"
I shrug, "I don't know. Maybe he lied to someone else."
Peeta chuckles, "We're going to be okay Katniss."
The door opens and a woman calls out from a clipboard, "Katniss Everdeen?"
I star shaking as Peeta helps me to my feet and leads me into the huge courtroom. We take a seat and I steal a glance over to the other table where Gale, Thom, and their lawyer are sitting. He glares at me but his eyes are sad.
Both lawyers open the case but I'm not listening. My ears are ringing when I feel Peeta tap on my shoulder.
I look up startled and see that I am the first witness called up. I rise and shakily walk to the stand, trying to hold my head high. I swear that I will tell the truth and take a seat
"So, Miss Everdeen. What exactly happened on the day of the attempted rape?" my lawyer asks me.
I gulp. I don't want to talk about this in front of all these people but I have to, "Gale and I had gone into town and we were walking back home when he pulled me into an alley between two buildings. He told me he had feelings for me and he kissed me, but I pulled away. I told him I didn't have feelings for him and asked if we could be friends but he said no and he...he pinned me to the wall. I-uh-I started screaming but he covered my mouth." I see Peeta's hands tighten into fists, obviously angry but I ignore him, "That's when I realized what he was trying to do and I started crying. After a minute, I felt him get pulled off me and I dropped to the ground. It was Peeta. He knocked him out then carried me into the bakery where I fell asleep." I finish and when I do there are tears in my eyes, and Annie is crying.
My lawyer looks at me sympathetically, "Okay. I don't have any more questions for you. I just wanted you to tell everyone what happened." I sit down gratefully and he calls Peeta up and asks him how he found me.
Peeta replies, "I heard her screaming. The alley he pulled her into was next to my family's bakery so I left to go find her and when I went around the corner I saw him...holding her against the wall. So I pulled him off her and tackled him. I knocked him out then went to Katniss, who was crying. I took her into the bakery and let her fall asleep in my bed."
"And what happened to Katniss after that?" the lawyer questions, "How was she mentally?"
Peeta shakes his head, "Not good." he says with a dry chuckle, "She wouldn't eat unless I forced her. She rarely spoke to me and she stayed in bed for weeks. She thought he was her best friend but he betrayed her trust. Eventually she gave up and left."
"Where did she go?" the lawyer questions.
"To stay with Annie in District 4." Peeta replies.
He is released and Annie is called up to talk about what happened in District 4. She talks about how upset I was and how long it took for me to get over it. When she is released, she is crying again. Johanna talks about our encounter with Gale in District 12 when he taunted me in the streets and I was too scared of him to do anything about it so she beat him up herself. The story makes me laugh a little and Gale glares at me, clearly getting angrier with each passing witness.
Finally the moment I've been dreading arrives. Gale is called up to the stand.
"Explain in your own words what happened between you and Katniss that day." he is asked.
"Well its true that I pulled her into the alley and kissed her. But she's known I have feelings for her for a long time now and I thought she would respond positively. But she pushed me away."
"You're avoiding the question." my lawyer interjects, "We don't want to know about you kissing her. We want to know about the attempted rape afterwards."
"I made a mistake." he says, "I've known Katniss since I was 14 and I'm almost 20 now. I've apologized for it countless times. I wasn't even fully sober when I did it and it didn't get far enough to do any real damage."
I stand up, furious with him, "Only because Peeta pulled you off of me!" I scream at him.
The judge calls for order and Peeta pulls me back down next to him again.
"That doesn't change the fact that you mentally hurt a young woman who thought you were her friend." my lawyer states calmly.
Gale is released from the stand and I am called back up to describe what happened to Peeta. I relay the story of months of trying to get Peeta to regain his memory with no luck and how Peeta finally got his memory back, then how I searched for the attacker and found Thom. Finally, the story of how Gale threatened me to disprove the rape charge. Peeta is then called up to tell how he got his memory back when he saw me with Peeta. Then, last, Thom, who of course denies everything by saying Gale forced him into it. The jury is sent to deliberate and I feel myself get nervous again.
Peeta wraps an arm around me and I rest my head on his shoulder, "It's going to be okay." he whispers soothingly, "You did great."
"Thanks," I mumble. I am holding his hand so tightly it is turning white when finally, the judge returns to the courtroom.
"The jury has reached a verdict." he says loudly, "Both of the accused are proclaimed...guilty!"
I feel my body relax at once, warmth flooding back through my body.
"Gale Hawthorne is sentenced to five years in jail for attempted rape and helping with an attempted murder and Thom Engal is sentenced to four for attempted murder." he says, "Case dismissed!"
I jump up and Peeta picks me up and spins me around laughing, "You did it!"
"I know!" I say, giggling. He sets me down and kisses me softly, "I told you everything would be okay."
Annie engulfs me in a big hug, "Congratulations Katniss!" she squeals.
Johanna hugs me next, "So how does it feel to send that bastard to jail?" she asks quietly.
"Really good." I whisper back.
I know that chapter was a little short but it was just about the court case and sending those two bastards to jail :) I hope you guys liked the outcome. I'm not positive on where this story will go next so if you have any ideas, you can still tell me!
Here are review responses:
Mama'sBrokenHeart99: I'm glad you don't want this story to end and I don't either. I want to do Katniss and Peeta's life after this but I don't want it to be boring or get predictable, you know what I mean? Thanks for reviewing after every chapter! You are ususally the first reviewer and I'm really thankful for that!
Thg-delirium: I'm actually really glad you didn't guess that! I like surprising you guys instead of just making things predictable. Hope you liked this chapter!
Kittycatgirl101: Oh my god, thank you so much for reviewing twice! No one has ever done that before for one chapter :) And you are a new reviewer so that makes it even better. Hope you liked the update!
j (Guest): I'm glad you will still read it even if it takes me a while to update. The fact that you like it so much really encourages me to keep writing it. And I know! Katniss and Peeta are meant to be together! Hope you liked the update!
ionilove: Awww, thank you! I'm not as good as a lot of other people writing on fanfiction but I appreciate that you like my writing so much. That's my main goal. I hope you liked this chapter as much as the last one!