Hey guys! So this chapter is defiantly going to be about Katniss' dad's funeral.
Thx guys...
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Glory of Lorien
Katniss' POV
"Remind me to bring runners the next time we have to walk this far in flats", Madge whines. I never usually hear Madge whine, so it's a bit of a surprise for me. But now that I think of it, she has been whining a lot lately. But I have to agree, my feet are killing me. But I don't say that.
"We're not that far away", I try to convince her. Prim says naught because she's wearing boots. I probably should have too. Same with Madge.
Like I said, we were there in a couple of minutes. It's a little nice house. Bricks, with the colours cream and gray.
We head through the gate and up the pathway, to the front door. Prim knocks on the door and we wait. I can hear talking, but I can't make out what they're saying. But I don't think they heard Prim knock. I spot a doorbell, so I press the button. But I can't hear a bell or some sort of chime go off to let the women know that we're here. I press again, but of course, nothing happens.
I groan in frustration and Prim sighs and then knocks on the door again; but much louder. Maybe even too loud. I can hear everything go silent in the house and people muttering to each other. Then I hear feet shuffling to the door.
The door opens, revealing a lady about my mum's age; maybe a little bit older.
She smiles and says, "Hello girls. You must be Katniss."
I nod my head and try to smile.
"You must be Prim, and oh, darling who are you?" The lady asks.
"I'm Katniss' friend Madge", Madge says politely.
"Madge, lovely to meet you dear. My name is Rosie", Rosie tells us.
We smile and Rosie gestures us to come in. "We're just getting ready to leave. We won't be too long."
I look around and see some paintings on the walls. There's one painting of a man and it says at the bottom in small writing, 'Rest in peace.' The man doesn't look too old, probably in his 40's in fact.
Rosie must spot me looking at the painting because she says quietly, "That was my husband. Died from a heart attack. You wouldn't expect someone that age would ever have one." Rosie shakes her head but quickly changes the subject. "Make yourself at home, I'll just be in the other room."
Rosie leaves us in the entrance of her house. There's a chair, so I sit down in it.
Madge sees me and says, "Scoot over, I need to sit too. I told you my feet are killing me." I scoot over like she said.
"Do you know who Rosie is?" I ask Prim to start a conversation.
"No, but I've heard mum mention her to me once", Prim says. I find it weird that we don't know any of our mum's friends. Well I don't, at least.
The conversation dies quickly and we sit in silence, waiting. The women are in the lounge room it looks like. I get a quick glance of it, but stop looking in there when I see my mum.
"How many women?" I ask not wanting to look.
Madge looks like she's counting then looks at me and say, "About four or five. I can't really, see; they keep moving." I nod my head.
"Kat, look", Prim says gently and I follow her gaze.
My mum's talking to Rosie about something. Rosie says something and gestures over at us. Mum shakes her head and looks upset. Rosie starts to get annoyed and gives mum a little shove in our direction. Then we can hear as clear as day, "GO!" My mum quickly walks off in our direction.
Everyone looks away like we weren't watching as mum approaches. We busy ourselves by playing with our hair, fixing our shoes and looking at some paintings.
Mum clears her throat to get our attention. We look at her and she just stands there for a while. It's really awkward and it doesn't feel right being so near to my mum.
"Umm, hello girls", mum says nervously.
"Hi", Madge says politely.
"Hello mum", Prim says.
I don't say anything, so I just look away. But Madge nudges my arm with her elbow. It doesn't work the first time, but when she does it the second time, she digs her elbow in. I nearly yelp in pain but I keep my mouth shut. I glare at her and then look at my mother as I mumble, "Hi."
"I just wanted to check on you girls", mum says slowly. I look up at her and glare. Check on us? So finally on dad's funeral, she wants to check on us? Not when he just dies, but at his funeral! What kind of mother is she?!
"We're okay", Prim says before I can react.
"Of course we're not okay", I say and look at Prim.
Everyone goes silent when I say that. But it's the truth, I'm not lying. We're not okay, we're terrible.
"Katniss, I'm sorry, I was sick-
I stare daggers at my mum to shut her up. She does and I say, "So you decide to say sorry and check on us when it's dad's funeral. Not when he died!"
Mum looks away ashamed and says so quietly, "I was si-
"Stop using the same excuse!" I nearly shout. By this time, everyone is silent; and when I mean everyone, I mean everyone. Madge, Prim, mum and all the women. You'd think that I'd regret what I just said, but it makes me angrier for some reason. Everyone is staring at me with either horrid or shock.
I look away because I can't stand when people stare at me but it doesn't mean I'm not angry. I can burst any second now but luckily, mum leaves back to the lounge room. The women start crowding mum and hugging and saying comforting things. I nearly gag so I look at Madge and Prim.
"You have to start forgiving your mother", Madge says.
I raise my eyebrows and say, "How would you know anything about what I'm going through?"
"I'm just-
"No Madge, you don't. So why don't you just buzz out of my business", I snap.
"It is my business when I hear it!" Madge snaps back.
"No it's not, you can choose not to hear it", I say. "You can also choose not to be such a bi-
"Enough!" Prim nearly shouts. "Both of you." Madge and I both look at her in shock. Prim never does anything when people fight, so it's a big shock.
"It's dad's funeral", Prim starts quietly. "It's not the time and place to fight."
Madge and I mumble a sorry and then be quiet. Rosie comes over and says calmly, "Well, how about we go wait outside." We don't argue as we follow her out of the house.
"You girls can get in the back, if you'd like", Rosie says nicely.
All three of us hop into the back of her silver Holden commodore.
"I'll just go get your mother", Rosie says quietly before going inside.
"That was a nice way to get rid of us", I mutter.
"More like to just get rid of you", Prim states without looking at me. That shut me up. All the women probably think I'm mad, which I probably am when it comes to my mother.
The women get out of the house and say goodbye and head in different directions to their cars. Except, Rosie and mum come to us.
Rosie gets in the driver side and mum gets in the passenger side. On the ride there, no one says a single word.
…...
Rosie comes to a stop and my stomach twists in knots. I clear my throat as we get out of the car. We're at a church that's not too big, but big enough. People stand in front of the church, talking to each other.
I spot a pair of eyes on me. The pair's are Gale's. He starts to come over with Hazel but I freak out and luckily, Madge pulls me along and says, "Oh look, there's dad!" Madge waves to her father and we walk over to him. I sneak a glance over my shoulder at Gale and see his eyes still on me. I look away and turn my attention onto Madge's father.
"Hello, Katniss dear", he says.
"Hi, Steve", I say.
"I'm sorry about your father", Steve says. I nod my head and he continues, "He was a good man."
I don't look at him because I don't want to see his look. It will probably make me more upset. So I just say, "I've been told."
"Hmm", Steve says. "Oh, there's Angela. I better go get going." Steve winks at me and gives Madge a kiss on the cheek before going off.
When he's out of earshot, I turn to Madge. "Thank you", I say quietly.
"You're welcome", Madge says looking away. "Sorry about before, it's your dad's funeral; I should have been more nice."
I shake my head and say, "I should be sorry." Madge rolls her eyes and says, "Why can't you just except that I was wrong?" I don't get to answer because I see Peeta approaching.
"I'll go see Gale", Madge says quietly and heads off towards Gale.
"You look beautiful", Peeta says, pulling me in a hug. Peeta's wearing a black suit just like any other guy. But he looks more handsome than anyone else.
I smile a little before I whisper, "I really need to talk to you afterward."
Peeta has a look of worry on his face, but says, "Okay." I look behind him to see Alan coming.
I clear my throat before putting on a smile, "Hello, Alan." Alan pulls me into a hug too and says, "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be, it's not your fault he's dead", I say knowing that he means about dad.
"No, well, yes I'm sorry about your dad; but also about Helen", Alan says. I wince at her name.
"But don't worry, you won't have to see her anymore", Alan says more happier. I feel like telling him that I'm happy for him, but I don't because they're letting us in the church.
"I guess we better get going", Alan says and starts to walk off like everyone else.
But I just stand there with Peeta. I feel a lump in my throat and start feeling tears sting my eyes as I try to fight it.
"Hey, it's okay", Peeta says soothingly and takes my cheek in his hand. "I'll be right there for you, everything will turn out okay."
I can't fight it, I can't. All the tears come pouring down as Peeta takes hold of my hand. "No...you're going to hate me...I'm so sorry-
"Katniss, breathe", Peeta says. I take out deep breath and let it out. "Katniss whatever it is, we can talk about it later, okay?"
I nod my head and wipe my tears away. I stop crying and we walk in the church. But as we walk through the big doors, I say to him quietly that he barely hears me, "Dad would've loved you."
Peeta looks down at me and smiles weakly. "I hope he would."
Peeta and I are the last one's in there and we see that Prim has saved us a spot right up the front. I sit down next to Prim, who's next to mum. I try to ignore her as Peeta sits down next to me.
Then, the funeral begins.
I try not to look at the coffin, but I can't help it.
We start the gathering with the priest opening the service and starts reading something. But I don't really listen because I keep thinking about dad and how I should have talked to Peeta before.
I don't exactly pay attention as we go through the readings and sermon. But I do pay attention with the personal readings. The priest starts talking about what type of person dad was and reflects on his life. This section is probably one of the most emotional parts. So much nice things about my dad, Prim and I have tears rolling down our cheeks and Peeta doesn't let go of my hand for one second. Mum wishes to read out a passage from the Bible. She has tears in her eyes, but doesn't let them fall when she reads it.
I look at the way she talks, and the way she stands. It's only until now, I realize that my mother loved my father so much. I knew she loved him, but I didn't know how much. But she did, so much. I start to feel bad about today. Dad wouldn't of wanted me to say the things I said to her. I feel like I just betrayed my dad. I feel ashamed of myself.
But as mum walks back to her seat, she lets a tear fall when she spares a glance at me.
The prayers are said and then we get a minute of silence to reflect. The commendation and farewell comes before the committal. I thought the personal readings were painful, but the committal is the hardest.
This is when they lower the coffin in the grave. We walk to the grave and watch as they bury my father. I cry like most of us and non-stop continue to miss my dad more and more. It is a tradition to throw some dust/mud onto the coffin. The minister then says a short prayer.
Time passes before it's all over. Even when it's over, I still cry. Prim and I give each other a hug and surprisingly, mum comes over and pulls me into a hug. I first feel really awkward, but then I think of what dad would want me to do. So I don't let go, I let mum to be the first one to pull away.
There's lots of hugs and crying as people say goodbye to us and other people. After basically when everyone's left, Gale comes over to me. Luckily, Peeta's talking to Madge and her family.
"I'm sorry Katniss", Gale says quietly.
"For what?" I ask because he could be sorry for a number of reasons.
"About everything", Gale answers looking away.
"I'm sorry that I missed your dad's funeral", I say trying to change the subject.
Gale shakes his head and says, "Not your fault that there's idiots in the world." Gale refers to the guy that Peeta saved me from. I didn't find out until recently that Gale continued to have his father's funeral and that I missed it. I guess I haven't really thought about it until now.
"But Katniss, I really am-
"I know", I interrupt.
"But I-
"Hey, Gale. Haven't seen you in a while", Peeta says, Gale getting interrupted again.
Both Gale and I look down at the ground. "Did I interrupt anything", Peeta says as I look up to see him frowning.
"No",Gale and I say.
Peeta doesn't seem convinced, but he says, "Good", anyway.
"Did you still want to talk?" Peeta asks me. I look at Gale who has raised eyebrows. I look back at Peeta with a red face.
"No, it's okay. Another time", I say. Peeta nods his head while Gale still looks at me.
"Katniss, are you coming?!" Prim calls out.
"Yep!" I call back. "I better get going", I say to both Gale and Peeta.
Peeta gives me a quick peck on the cheek and hugs me. "Be safe." I nod my head and say bye to Gale politely. But he just nods his head.
I head over to Prim who's at dad's grave.
"Ready?" Prim asks.
"Ready."
I hope you guys liked it! It was a bit longer than usual but I think that's good.
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