"No. You're mine and I can do whatever I want to you."
"There is a side of me that only forty-seven other people have seen, and coincidentally, those people are all dead."
I sit straight up in my bed, rubbing my eyes. The voices from my dream echo in my head. Immediately, I shoot straight out of my bed and hurry into the living room of Haymitch's compartment. He isn't up yet. I wonder what time it is.
Quickly, I hurry out the door. It must be breakfast, there are people going to the cafeteria. They don't pay much mind to me as I hurry past them. All of my dream was all too familiar. The man I've seen before. He was one of men who came every other night in the prisons. What is it that he said? 'I've been waiting a long time for this.' Yes, that was him. He was the man in my dream, I know it.
In the dream, it looked like we were in some ballroom, dancing. Haymitch was behind me. Threatening the man not to touch me again. But he still got what he wanted. He still touched me.
Shaking the thought out of my head, and continue down the hallway until I reach my destination. Knocking on the door, my hands are shaking and my head pounding.
"Madge? Are you okay?" Rory asks, and I immediately start talking.
"Is Gale here?"
He stares for a moment, and then nods. "Yeah. Come on in, I'll go get him." I follow Rory into the living room, and Vick and Posy smile at me. Mrs. Hawthorne nods her head at me in greeting.
"Is something wrong, Madge?" She asks gently, standing from the couch and coming over to me.
"I just need to talk to Gale about something." She smiles at me as Gale and Rory come out from the bedroom, Gale looking a little concerned.
"Hey," He finally says, pulling me gently by my wrist into the hallway. I don't flinch. "You okay?"
I take a breath and speak, "I think I'm remembering." He shifts on his feet, trying to hide his excitement. He thinks I'm remembering stuff about him.
"What'd you remember?"
My eyes shift to the ground and I swallow. Even now, after being out of the prison for weeks, I still feel violated because of the torture. I feel so violated because of what they did to me. "I-I know who one of the men was. I think it was on our Victory Tour. Haymitch threatened him and he said that I was his."
Gale's quiet for a moment. "I swear to God if I ever find this guy, I'm going to kill him. He had no right to say that to you. No right at all. No right to even come near you." I can literally see him shaking in anger and frustration.
"Gale, it's okay." I mutter, and he shakes his head abruptly, running his hand through his hair.
"No, it's not Madge." He responds, sliding down the wall and sitting on the floor. His head drops to his hands. "It's my fault."
"It's not your fault, Gale." I start, and he shakes his head.
"It is my fault! Madge, if I hadn't let you out of my sight on our Victory Tour, then he wouldn't have.." He trails off and I slide down next to him. He doesn't even move, just continues to stare at the ground. He starts speaking again, his voice shaking, I think in anger. "I would take everything that you've been through in the last year in a heartbeat, just so you'd be okay and happy."
I don't say anything, just watch Gale. He looks extremely tired, like he hasn't slept in weeks. I can almost bet that he hasn't slept. He keeps rubbing his face and staring at the floor.
"Well it sucks that the first thing you remember is a bad memory." He lets out a dry laugh and I shrug.
"It wasn't really remembering. Just.. I don't know. It just.. seemed familiar."
He nods slowly, and then stands, holding his hand out to help me up. This time, I take it.
"You hungry?" He asks and I nod. He pulls up his sleeve and looks at his schedule. "Do you have any free time today?" I quickly look at mine, and nod.
"Yeah. After Command today."
He nods and smiles. "Good. I still need to bring you to the piano." I grin and the two of us start walking to breakfast. It's not until we get to the elevators that I realize that our hands are still linked. They fit together perfectly. My heart skips a beat. Yes, there's definitely something there. Gale slowly notices and starts to release my hand, but decides against it. I don't really want him to let go. I like holding his hand.
The two of us walk to the cafeteria together, and only then does he let go of my hand so we can get our trays. We must be really early to breakfast, as there aren't many people in the cafeteria. Gale and I are two of the seven in the cafeteria.
"What time is it?" I ask and he looks toward the giant clock on the wall.
"Seven fifteen."
"Oh. Did I wake you up? When I came?
"Nah. I was already up anyways." He doesn't elaborate, but my guess is a nightmare. They're reoccurring now, for me. I'm seeing the same ones now. Either Gale will be dead or something. Mostly it's Gale.
We sit down, and start to eat. "Are you still working in the hospital?"
"Yeah. I've been moved up into the hospital. Seems like I'm moving up really fast." He frowns, and I continue. "They said that if I pass the next exam then they'll put me on a team to go to the Capitol."
Gale's fork clatters onto his plate. "What?" I repeat what I said and he groans. "That was her plan all along."
"What?"
His voice lowers and he drops his mouth to my ear, "When Coin took you out of the Training, she said that you wouldn't have to fight. We didn't realize that she could put you on a Medical Team and still manage to get you to the Capitol." He finishes, and I try to process what he's saying, I really do, but his proximity to me is distracting.
"So what you're saying is..?"
He chuckles into my ear, sending goosebumps fleshing down my arms, "I'm saying that she wants me and you out of the way because we're what caused this whole mess, and she knows that neither of us exactly like her. That being said, I know that neither of us will want her as our president if the Capitol falls." I shake my head and he continues, "Basically, if we don't want her as president, everyone will get the hint that she's not the best person, and won't vote for her. She wants us dead."
I process all of the information. "Well that's comforting."
He laughs and nods, "Yeah, I know. It's not exactly the best thing to hear in the morning."
"No, it's not." We finish in a comfortable silence, and then Gale says he'll walk me to my session with Dr. Byrd.
"How's that going, anyways?"
I shrug. "Good, I guess. I'm not really sure."
"Well you seem like you're better to me." He responds, and says he'll see me in Command.
"You're in a good mood." Mona comments when I walk into her office. I sit down across from her and she smiles. "What happened?"
"I think I'm remembering." I tell her what I told Gale, and she jots all of it down on her clipboard.
"Well, it's a start. It's a small start, but it shows that you can start remembering. Now, because you've gotten some glimpse of what happened before your torture, I'm going to start giving you assignments to help remember more."
"Okay."
"These assignments will consist of pictures, and you must write what you think of when you see the pictures." I nod, and she hands me a small packet. "Go ahead and do the first one now, and then we'll talk." I open up the packet, and stare at the first picture while Mona taps something into the computer.
The first picture is a picture of a lake. I know that I'm supposed to be afraid of water, but just looking at it I'm not scared of it. Maybe it's just when I'm near it. I jot down a couple of words that come to mind. Pretty. Intriguing. Nothing that says I'm still afraid of it. I probably am, I just can't remember it.
I give it back to her and she types in a few more words in her computer. "So you're going to take the packet and do one of these every morning. Then, at your next session with me, I want you to bring the assignments with you so I can access what you've remembered, if anything.
"Not to be rude, but how is this going to help me?"
"It will help monitor what you're remembering. Each picture is something specific from your past, and when you remember the piece of information, there are specific words that should be written. We'll know that you have remembered that certain time when you write down certain words."
"What sort of stuff am I supposed to write?"
"Just write what you think when you see the picture."
"Oh." I flip through the papers, seeing a few different pictures. My aunt's pin, a knife, some other stuff. Roses. Immediately, I jot down deathly, and evil by that one. I know that those are bad, just because of how Haymitch and Gale reacted when they found them in the Victor Village's house.
After my session is over, I go to the hospital for work. Prim was moved up with me, along with a few more kids. I'm not longer the oldest, now there's a few older than me. Currently, I'm working with Prim on helping set a bone back in place. A few people crossed over the border early this morning and were in pretty rough shape. One girl died a couple hours ago because of her injuries, and the other two are still in the hospital.
Prim sets the bone and then I wrap it up so it doesn't move. The other one is getting checked out by someone else. When we finish setting the arm in place, we have to knock the girl out with morphling so she can sleep. I hate morphling and Prim has to do that for me.
The two of us go to where we have to practice and stuff. I manage to learn how to stitch wounds quicker and faster than before. I can stop blood from flowing out of wounds. Give CPR. I'm able to set bones now, like Prim. All stuff I'll need if I end up going to the Capitol on a Medical Team.
I can't get over that President Coin wants Gale and I dead. It's not like I'm going to get hurt on a Medical Team, I'm just helping people. Gale, on the other hand, is going to be in a full-blown war. He's actually going to be fighting.
Finally, we're released for the day, though we are released late, and Prim and I make it to lunch for the tail end of it. Like this morning, there aren't many people in the cafeteria this late in the lunch period. Prim and I sit down together and quickly eat before they force us out of there. Prim goes to her lessons, and I hurry to Command before Coin can count me as late.
I make it there literally two minutes before the meeting is supposed to start. I hurry into the room and sit in my place next to Haymitch. Gale grins at me from across the table, and I smile back. Coin immediately starts talking, and this time, I know that I can't tune her out.
"So, updates on the war. We now have District 2 on our side. The Rebels there were able to overthrow the Peacekeepers and the people on the Capitol's side. Other than 2, we have 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, and what would be 12 on our side, but considering the circumstances of 12, we have decided not to count that one as of now. We have four more districts in all to get on our side, but if we can get two or more, we will have enough power to overtake the Capitol and get in."
Haymitch shuffles through some papers next to me, and I try to glance at them, but he moves to fast. "We have a significant number of Rebels in District 5, but they are waiting for our signal before they can rebel and take control of the District."
"Send them the signal, the more Rebels we have, the better." Plutarch says, and someone in the room taps a few keys on their keyboard.
"The signal has been sent. They should receive it sometime in the next hour." They say, closing the laptop.
"Good." Coin muses, glancing around the room. "As for District 1, I doubt we will get control of them; the Capitol has always treated them better than the rest of us, and a lot of the citizens there are still very loyal to the Capitol. The few Rebels there would be crushed in an instant if they decided to rebel today."
"What about Districts 9 and 10?" Gale asks, looking at Haymitch.
"They have Rebels present in the Districts, but not enough to rebel against the Peacekeepers." The room is quiet for a moment, only the shuffling of paper and the squeaking of chairs is heard.
"Now, as for our plans for the war, we have teams being put together now," Coin is cut off by Katniss.
"President Coin, we aren't leaving to go to the Capitol for at least a month. Why are teams being put together?"
"Well, we were going to send a couple of them to Districts 9 and 10 to help with the Rebel cause, and we need them anyways for the war, so Plutarch and I figured that the teams should be together now."
"Don't drag me into this one," Plutarch responds quickly, sinking in his seat.
"Coin, the earliest time that we're going to leave is a month and a half. You said yourself that there weren't enough rebels in those districts to rebel. If we go, it's just an opportunity for someone to get themselves killed. Or for us to cause another district to get blown up. We've done that enough, we don't need to do that again." Finnick groans, trying to change Coin's mind.
"We weren't planning on sending many troops, just enough to get the districts under our control."
"It's not going to work," Finnick says, with agreement behind the statement, "Coin, you have to give the troops more time to prepare. We are obviously not ready."
"Well your squad is, Soldier Odair. Or, last I checked, they were. Your whole squad has been training since they arrived in 13, with the exception of Soldier Mason and Soldier Lytle, who got here around a month ago. Those two will be joining you later in the Training." She pauses, shuffling through some more papers, "As for the rest of your squad, they are all ready."
"Coin, we aren't leaving until the war actually starts in the Capitol." Gale says, and Coin shoots a glare at him that could kill. There's some more arguing before Coin finally agrees to push back the date of when the troops leave. They also agree that no troops will be sent to District 9 or 10 because of safety issues, and we really can't afford to blow up another District.
When the meeting adjourns, everyone disperses quickly, and Coin disappears into her office. Haymitch and Finnick walk out of the room talking about some sort of defense system, and Katniss walks out with Plutarch, though I don't think he was her first choice to walk with. He's probably going to try to make her go see Peeta again. I wonder how that's going. I make a mental note to ask her later when I see her.
Gale comes up to me and grins. "You ready?"
"What?"
"I'm taking you to the piano, remember?" He responds, smiling.
"Oh! Yeah, sorry." He chuckles, and tells me to follow him. We get in an elevator and go down a few levels. "Are we even allowed there?"
He thinks for a minute. "Probably not." I laugh and he grins again.
"How'd you even find it?"
He shrugs. "A couple days after we got here, I was just wandering around because I had no clue what to do and I came across it." A couple days.. That must've been after I gave that interview, or something. Maybe that's why my torture was as bad as it was. "You okay?" Gale asks when I shrink into the wall a little.
"Yeah. Fine." He still looks concerned and worried so I sigh. "Gale, I'm fine. You worry too much."
He finally accepts it as the elevator opens. He beckons for me to follow, and I do. Once outside of a door, he uses the keypad to unlock it, and then lets me in.
The piano in the room is much smaller than the one I had back home. But it still manages to make my fingers twitch from lack of playing it. There's a thin layer of dust on the keys and on top of it. Instead of the walls being a harsh white, are more of a beige color.
"This is amazing." I finally make out, and turn to Gale. He's smiling at me.
"Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to play it?" Quickly, I move and sit on the bench. Gale's quiet steps follow behind me, but he doesn't move into my view.
"Sit down," I tell him and he actually listens to me, grinning, and moves next to me. He doesn't touch me, but just watches me. Slowly, I move my hands onto the keys and press one down, and frown. Something's wrong. Out of tune, I guess.
"Go on. Play." He murmurs, and I try again.
"I can't."
"Of course you can." He retaliates, pressing his own hand on a B flat. I cringe at the noise it makes when he presses another key down with it.
"Okay, okay. Stop. You're hurting my ears." I laugh and he removes his hands from the piano. "I'll try again." I press one down and this time it sounds right. I press a few more and keep cringing at how out of tune the piano is. But it's a piano, and it's better than nothing.
I keep playing it, my hands traveling up and down the keys and pressing the right notes, the ones that I remember. The ones that my mom taught me. When the song ends, it's deathly quiet in the room. I can only hear our breathing.
"Wow.." Gale trails off, but then continues again. "That was amazing, Madge." I blush and he pushes a piece of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering on my cheek. His touch sends tingles down my spine, and my breath catches in my throat. "Teach me?" He murmurs, and I nod slowly as he removes his fingers while our heads turn to the piano.
"Put your hands there," I tell him, lifting his hands from his lap, and putting them on the right keys. When I tell him to play, he moves his hands, pressing the wrong keys. "Gale," I grumble and he chuckles as I try to put them back. Again, he moves them. "You're impossible." I laugh and he chuckles.
"Only sometimes." He responds, laughing as I try to put his hands in the right place. When he finally keeps his hands there, I nod.
"There you go." I play him a simple tune, and he plays it back, using only his pointer fingers to play. "Stop, just stop. You're killing me here." I try to teach him to use all of his fingers, but he can't seem to grasp the whole concept of it. "I give up. You obviously have no skill on the piano."
"Which is why you play it, to make up for how horrible I'm at it." I laugh again, and turn back to the keys. I tap out a couple more simple tunes, and he attempts to create them again, but always messes up at the last minute.
"I can't even explain how much this is hurting my ears." I tell him and he grins, pressing the B flat again, getting a grimace out of me. "You're absolutely horrible at this."
This time, he presses down on the keys with all of his fingers and I shove him off of the bench immediately. "Don't do that," I finally laugh and he presses the highest note down.
"What, you don't like it?" I nod and he grins. "You probably shouldn't have told me that." He goes to press the keys again, and I reach out and grab his wrist before he can.
"Are you trying to torture my ears?" As soon as I say it, I wish I could take it back. His eyes narrow a little, but then he straightens out a little and grins, but it seems forced.
"Definitely not. I'm just trying to see how mad you'll get." He jokes as he sits back down on the bench. "Here. I'll take it seriously this time." I narrow my eyes and give him a pointed look. "Hell, who am I kidding. I'm not going to take it seriously."
I grin and have to bite my lip to keep from laughing more. I've already laughed at him enough today. "Go on. Laugh." He grumbles, and I giggle.
"I'm not laughing."
"As you start giggling, yeah that's definitely not laughing." I laugh even more, at this one. I lean into him and he starts laughing, for no reason. I guess we haven't laughed enough. "Why are we even laughing?" Gale finally chokes out as he laughs into my hair.
"I don't even know." I say, my breath uneven because of all of the laughing. I realize that I trust Gale a lot more than I let on. I do like him, yes. I really do. Maybe I'm just afraid of being hurt again. But, I know he won't hurt me. It's Gale. He won't.
A/N: Weelll. Sorry I've been gone forever. Life just got in the way. I'm going to try to get back to the once a week updates thing, but no promises! I was going to end this chapter a while back, and make y'all wait for them going to the piano room, but then I realized that I've made y'all wait long enough for this chapter. Anyways, the next chapter will be a continuation of this one. So their relationship is definitely improving. Predictions? Thoughts?
