Katniss was headed back home after a morning in the woods looking for plants and herbs to top off her supply. The sun was all the way up in the sky and it was much too hot to be in the woods in pants and boots and a long sleeved shirt and she needed a shower.
"Hello, dear!" Effie called to Katniss cheerfully as she hung up a sheet on the clothing line behind her and Haymitch's house. They had a dryer, but on nice days they liked to dry the laundry outside.
Katniss smiled at the woman and waved a hand in a friendly greeting before making her way to the back door of her own house. As she untied her boots, she glanced at the newly inhabited neighboring house. The curtains were still closed in the window Katniss knew to be the bedroom and the kitchen, which was unusual. Johanna should've been up by now and artificial lighting gave her headaches sometimes so the curtains and blinds were usually wide open in all rooms.
Kicking off her boots, Katniss turned to yell to Effie. "Have you seen Johanna today?"
"No," Effie replied, pinning a dress to her clothesline. "I'd imagine she's probably still sleeping though. Gale left early and I doubt she got much sleep."
Katniss hummed in agreement. That made sense. She was still going to go over and bother her after her shower because there was no way Katniss was about to let her friend mope over Gale leaving, because that sounded pathetic, pregnancy hormones and all.
"If you're hungry, we have some pasta left over." Effie added as Katniss opened the door.
"Thanks. Maybe I'll come get some after I take a shower."
Effie replied with a smile and Katniss entered the house. She left her bag with the gathered plants on the kitchen counter, grabbed a fresh set of clothes, and started the shower.
A little while later, clean and dressed in a tan short sleeved shirt and cuffed jeans, Katniss tied off her braid, tugged on a pair of shoes, and headed next door to bother Johanna.
She knocked three times on the door. No answer.
She knocked again and shouted "Open the door, Jo."
Nothing.
A sense of unease settled in Katniss' stomach. Johanna usually responded at the very least with a disgruntled shout to hold her horses.
Katniss returned to her house and grabbed the spare key for Gale and Johanna's out of the bowl Peeta had placed on the table in the entryway for keys and then returned to Johanna's door. She knocked again.
"I'm giving you ten seconds before I come in." Katniss announced. She waited eight seconds before she unlocked the door and entered the house.
It was quiet and dark in the house. Johanna hated it being quiet when she was awake and alone and the television was usually on for background noise. A shiver ran down Katniss' spine. Something was wrong.
"Johanna?" Katniss called, slowly heading towards the staircase.
She heard a noise and stopped dead in her tracks. "Jo?"
"-m up here," came a weak sounding voice from upstairs.
Katniss ran up the stairs, heart racing. She was afraid of what she was going to see, but that wasn't going to prevent her from checking on Johanna. Surely no one had broken in- the door had been locked, and everything looked to be in fine order downstairs. Effie or Haymitch would have heard glass breaking if someone had come in a window. Right?
Right?
The bedroom door was open and unoccupied.
The bathroom door was cracked open and Katniss' stomach flipped as she pushed open the door.
The sight before her made the victor's eyes fill with tears, but she wiped them away and she knelt beside Johanna, who was sitting with her back against the bathtub, and took her hand.
The nurses had been kind enough to show her to a room where she could make the phone call in peace. Her hands shook as she pulled the crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket and pressed the numbers on the phone she was given to use.
The phone rang once. It was answered by a man with a gruff voice. "State your business."
"I need to speak to Gale Hawthorne."
"He is unable to receive any phone calls."
"I understand, but this is an emergency. Please."
"Are you his sister, mother, child, or spouse?"
"No, but I-"
"You cannot speak to him."
Katniss' face burned red in anger. "Please-"
"No. Good day m'am."
"Wait!" Katniss said. She took a deep breath. "Are you really going to hang up the phone on the Mockingjay?"
That sentence made her cringe, she hated saying that, but if it let her speak to Gale, so be it. This was an emergency and he had to know.
"Katniss Everdeen?" The man on the other end of the line spluttered.
"Katniss Everdeen-Mellark," Katniss corrected, making her voice as firm as she could. "Victor of the 74th Hunger Games, Rebel Soldier, Girl On Fire…" she continued.
"Yes, I understand."
"I need to speak to Gale Hawthorne immediately."
"One moment,"
There was a period of silence and then another man answered the phone to verify her identity. Within a matter of seconds, she heard a tentative hello belonging to her best friend.
"How fast can you get back here?" Katniss asked.
"Considering they let me talk to you, not fast enough. What's wrong?" Gale asked.
Katniss wrapped her free hand around her middle. "Jo, she's, she's in the hospital."
"What?"
Katniss squeezed her eyes shut. "The baby, she… it's gone."
"She was fine this morning, I don't-"
"They, they think it's been a few days… I found her earlier… she lost a lot of blood. I-we thought we were going to loose her too." They still might, but Gale didn't need to hear that right now.
"Is she okay?"
A tear escaped Katniss' eyes at Gale's questioned. He sounded so broken. "Right now, she's stable… she's on something that knocked her out so she wouldn't have a panic attack." Johanna hated hospitals. And a panic attack on top of what she was already going through would just make things worse.
"Have you seen her?"
"No, we can't right now, but we're all here. We're not going to leave her here alone."
Everyone was there, Hazelle and Posy, Haymitch, Effie, Peeta, Rory, and even Isaiah were in the waiting room, in various stages of shock and worry.
"I have to- I'll be there as soon as I can." Gale replied.
"I'm sorry, Gale." Katniss whispered. It was the only thing she could think of saying, even though she knew it meant nothing. "I'll see you soon,"
"Bye," he murmured.
Katniss hung up the phone and let herself cry.
Somewhere in District 3, Gale kicked the wall, swore loudly, and started to cry as well.