Chapter 29
"Mrs. Madge Hawthorne?"
"Yyyess, your honor." I stammer out. Everything is spinning and I'm gripping tight to the wooden railing in front of me for fear of passing out.
"You have been officially summoned to testify in a pending criminal lawsuit. Your testimony is required, as is complete and total truth. Any attempts to falsify your testimony will be considered an act of defiance against the Capitol, punishable to the fullest extent of the courts. Do you understand?"
"I understand." I say, voice cracking something terrible. I feel like I might vomit. Criminal lawsuit? What criminal lawsuit? Did my father and Mabel have to testify too? Who do we know that's a criminal? Oh dear God, no! Please don't be about Gale! Please, please don't be about Gale hunting and going into the woods! My mind is racing as a courtroom official seats me in a chair before the judge. My father and Mabel, seated behind me, out of my line of sight. I haven't been able to look at them yet. To make eye contact with them.
"Mrs. Hawthorne, until your recent marriage, did you always reside in the Mayor's Mansion of District 12 with your father?"
"Yes."
"And in that time, who else resided there?"
"My parents. Well, until my mother went away to a health facility last Spring."
"When your mother still lived there, was she taking any medications?"
"She was."
"And what were they?"
"I, I'm not sure. I wasn't the one who administered them."
"Who did?"
"My father or our housekeeper, Mabel."
"I see. And were the medications in a specific form?"
"Injections mostly. Pain pills too."
"Do you know where the medications originated?"
"No. I assumed from the Capitol. From one of her many physicians"
"And to your knowledge, were these medications ever tampered with, in any way whatsoever?"
I freeze. How do I answer this? Do I tell the truth? Do I say yes? Do I admit my father tampered with them? I'm trying to think as fast as I can but I'm stalling and the judge isn't having it. He repeats the question more sternly, following it up with a reminder that I will be criminally charged if I lie. Shit. I have to tell them. They already technically know or else I wouldn't be here. Right?
"When my mother was still in our house, I understood the medicines to be necessary and to be given as prescribed. And I was unaware of any tampering." I answer, trying desperately not to out my father.
"And after your mother was sent to the facility did you become aware that her medications had ever been tampered with?"
"Yes." I answer so quietly that I'm afraid he hasn't heard me. I stare down at my feet, hands clenched so tightly in my lap that my knuckles have gone white.
"And how where they tampered with?"
"The injections had tracker jacker venom in them."
"By who's doing?"
"My father."
"And how did you become privileged to this information?"
"My father told me."
"To your knowledge, was your housekeeper aware of the tampering?"
"Yes." I continue to look down at my hands while answering.
"Would that be before or after your mother was sent to the facility? Was your housekeeper a party to the tampering?"
"I'm not sure. I only know that afterwards, she was aware of it. I never asked if she was part of it. I never asked much at all."
"And what did your father say was his reason for poisoning your mother?"
"He needed to prove her insanity in order to void a contract she'd signed on my behalf when I was an infant. He was acting out of fear for me."
"Thank you Mrs. Hawthorne, that will be all for now. You may exit the room and wait outside while the facts of the case are weighed and a verdict is decided upon. You will be called back in for the court's final decision."
And with that, I'm dismissed. Escorted back out into the hallway to the bench. On my way out, my eyes finally meet with those of my father. His eyes are red and his cheeks tearstained. He mouths "I'm sorry." As I'm quickly pulled passed him. Mabel only looks down at her lap.
Out in the hallway, the tears trickle down my cheeks despite my efforts to contain them. My shaky hand reaches up to wipe them away but it's now use. They keep coming. Rolling one after the other down my face. There are peacekeepers standing on either side of me, making sure I stay put. As I sit, my mind feels numb. How had they caught my father? How did they find out what he had done? Did he know they were on to him? Or did they catch him by surprise? And Mabel? What about her? Did she know the whole time about the venom? Does that make her an accomplice? What's the penalty for something like this? Will they be harshly punished? I'm lost in a puzzle of thoughts and questions when one of the peacekeepers takes my arm, ready to lead me back into the room.
Back in the courtroom, my knees wobble so much as I walk to the front that I'm for once thankful for the grip the Peacekeeper has on my arm. If it weren't for that, I'm certain I couldn't make it down the aisle of the courtroom. He leads me to a wooden chair and pushes me down into it. My father and Mabel are seated in the same place as before and the chair I'm in is behind them by two rows. Once I'm seated the judge begins speaking.
"Mayor Undersee, please stand before us. You have been charged with the attempted murder of your wife. The Capitol has gone to great lengths to investigate and gather information in regards to this matter in effort determine your innocence or guilt in this matter. After my review of the facts, it is the official opinion of the Court of Panem that you are indeed guilty as charged. You intentionally poisoned your wife, for multiple years, witnessed her declining health as a result of said poisoning and yet you continued to fill her veins with illegally obtained venom. The review board assigned to this case will determine your punishment. Until such decision can be reached you are hereby remanded to custody of the Capitol. You will be held here in prison until further notice." My father's back is too me so I cannot see his face but I don't know if I should. Don't know if that's what will break me completely. The judge continues in his speech.
"Your title as Mayor of District 12 is revoked, effective immediately. Your property, all funds, the house and all possessions within are now to be considered property of the Capitol. Do you understand that which has just been explained?"
"I understand." My father says. Voice still and solemn.
The judge bangs his gavel on the oversized wooden desk and the Peacekeepers lead my father out of the room, through a door at the front corner. They're taking him right now. They aren't even letting us say goodbye. The judge moves on to Mabel next. Her charges are accomplice to attempted murder of my mother. They sentence her to prison, alongside my father but unlike him, the review board has already decided her punishment. She is to serve 15 years in prison, after which she will have to go before a review board again to determine if it is safe for her to return to our district as a free citizen. As with my father, they escort her out of the room without so much as a goodbye glance in my direction.
Next, the judge calls my name and a peacekeeper pulls me to my feet. My breath catches in my chest. Am I next? Are they about to send me to prison as well? Am I an accomplice for having known after the fact what my father was doing? Am I about to be punished?
"Mrs. Hawthorne, I thank you for your honesty in this court today. Your allegiance to Panem is noted and respected. As mentioned in your father's sentencing, your family property, home, possessions and funds now belong to Panem and you will need to turn over any keys you may still hold to the house and will not be permitted to return to the property."
I nod but cannot find words to speak. I know my eyes are red and brimming with tears.
"You are free to go now Mrs. Hawthorne and the Capitol thanks you for your time."
And with that he bangs his gavel again and I'm escorted from the room. Out in the hall again, I look to the peacekeeper not knowing what to do now. He hands me my bag claim check and nods as if I am dismissed, then turns and walks away. I go downstairs and collect my bag but have no idea what to do next. Where do I collect my ticket to get back home? How do I get back to the train station? I step outside, thinking perhaps another vehicle will be waiting for me but there isn't one. Is this how it works? They bring me here, force me to testify against my father and Mabel, then abandon me with no resources to get back home? I can't even purchase a ticket. I don't have a cent to my name now that the Capitol has seized all of my father's money. Gale and I certainly don't have money for me to purchase a ticket. I see a phone booth and I'm walking towards it, thinking I should call Tripp, let him know what happened so he can tell Gale, when a hand touches my shoulder. I turn abruptly, unsure of why I'm being touched and find the face of Haymitch Abernathy.
"Come on darlin. Let's get you home."
I nod and follow him into a vehicle, heading towards the station. "I, I don't have money for a ticket." I manage to squeak out.
"It's taken care of." He says and gives me a look that tells me not to ask questions. I assume it's because of the peacekeeper driving us. Assume there is something he doesn't want to tell me in earshot of a peacekeeper.
At the station he leads me by the elbow, onto the train and through the cars until we arrive at a sleeping car room. Inside the room, I find Katniss and Peeta. Haymitch enters the room as well, closing the door behind us. I drop the bag I've been carrying and fall onto the bed, face first, crying freely for the first time today. The sobs don't stop coming for hours. Haymitch leaves to tend to some business and Katniss goes with him. Peeta stays though and gently rubs my back as I cry. He doesn't force me to talk or anything. Just sits with me as I cry so I don't have to be alone. He's good at this sort of thing. Hysterically crying girls aren't really Haymitch and Katniss's sort thing. Eventually, they return though and begin to talk to me.
"Darlin, sorry I didn't get to you sooner. I only just caught wind of the fact that you'd been summoned and I came for you as quickly as I could." Haymitch apologizes.
"I don't even understand what just happened."
"Madge, your father has been under investigation for quite some time now. When your mother became a ward of the health facility, they discovered the reason behind her sickness as being tracker jacker venom poisoning. They've been after your father ever since. Mabel fell into the mix along the way. The Capitol isn't a fan of your father's lax ruling over the district and this was an easy way for them to get him out of the way so they could bring in a harsher Mayor."
"They made me testify against them. I helped send them to prison." I say in a trance like tone.
"We know." Haymitch says.
"They brought me here, made me do that, and then just abandoned me without a penny to my name. I didn't even get a ticket to come back home."
"We paid for your ticket. We're taking you home to Gale right now. Don't worry. It's going to be okay." Katniss tells me.
"They didn't let me say goodbye."
"They never do darlin, they never do. I suggest we all get some shut eye and put an end to this day. We'll have time to talk tomorrow." Haymitch says as he stands to leave. Katniss and Peeta go to follow him out.
"Want me to stay with you in here tonight?" Katniss offers though I know she isn't comfortable listening to me cry all night.
"No. I'll be okay. You all have already done more than enough for me. I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay. We're right next door if you need us though." She says, giving me a sad smile. "You'll be home to Gale soon." She adds as she exits. Peeta follows behind her and nods in my direction.
Alone in my room, the tears continue to fall. I pull Gale's shirt out of my bag and bury my face in it. Why is the Capitol doing this? Why do they insist on taking everyone I love away from me? What have I done to deserve this? Everything is all my fault. My fault, plain and simple. If it weren't for me, my mother would be living a vibrant and healthy life. My father would still be a successful Mayor. Mabel would be their happy, loving housekeeper. But because of me, because I exist, their lives have been forever ruined. And all because they wanted me to be safe from harm. Who's next? Where does this end? Is it Gale? Is he next? Will my existence become his demise as well? Will his love for me and desire to keep me safe be his undoing? I just can't let that happen. I can't and I won't. Whatever I do, I won't let that happen.
A/N: I am sooo sorry for being MIA the past week! I ended up taking a last minute vacation to the Grand Canyon and had zero computer access. Sorry to have kept you all waiting and I should have the next chapter posted tomorrow! I also want to thank all of you for your amazing reviews-you have no idea how much I love reading them!
