By the next day Evelyn brings me a wheel chair and Annie helps me around. I've been staying in the Everdeen home while Evelyn treated me and haven't been outside since the accident. For hours Annie and I sit on the Everdeen's front porch and she points out the Hawthorne's larger home next door, the barn where their horses and the other animals are kept and the back of the saloon I hadn't seen before. My curiosity is peaked when she doesn't say anything about the stand alone cabin nestled under a tree across the field from us.
"And that?" I gesture to the structure, it's clearly new, possibly unfinished but has been built wonderfully, with attention and care to even the tiniest details
"No one knows" she shrugs and I bite down on my lip, questions always get me in trouble "he just started building, didn't say a thing to anyone, just started buying lumber and now he spends every free minute he's got on it"
"He?" I wonder
"Gale, Hazelle's son. He inherited this entire property when his father died. Obviously he let the Everdeen's stay in their home and he sold the plot behind the saloon to Haymitch but kept everything else"
"So you don't know what he's building it for?" she shakes her head
"Finnick, my fiancé, says it's a way of coping, you know with pressure and grief. I think he's pruning his nest"
"Like a bird?" I wonder, she nods
"He's a perfectionist in all things except knowing when to stop"
"When did he start?"
"Before Fin and I came here with Haymitch, years. I think right after his dad died"
"A hobby helps" I tell her matter-of-factly "something to take your mind off the pain. For me it was piano"
"You're admitting it then? That this was an ongoing thing?"
"You all seem to know" I shrug, a common occurrence now, it would seem "I don't know how I'm supposed to hide this" I say gesturing to the wheelchair, resigned to the fact that people now know and he'll probably kill me
"Has it ever been this bad before?" I drop my gaze to my lap and shake my head
"My father- my father just knocks me about a bit. He didn't do this"
"He didn't?" I shake my head again "who?" I shrug
"Some man he brought back with him. Thread?"
"He let someone do this to you?" she murmurs barely louder than a whisper
"It's not that surprising is it?" she doesn't answer "Annie? I know Evelyn checked me for … other damage. What- is there" I swallow, drawing my eyebrows together in concentration so I'm able to form the sentence "did he?" is all I manage
"No, she didn't find any signs of it" I suck in a breath and release it as a sob, it hurts but I can't help it. I weep in to Annie's chest and she cradles my upper body until there's nothing left of me.
"Annie" someone rasps when I've shushed to shuddering breaths. I think it's the man who decided I would stay but the boy who stands before us looks much younger than the voice would suggest. Cato's age at the oldest and then I realize with startling clarity that this is Gale Hawthorne "food" he casts me a look before turning and disappearing around the side of the house
"Gale?" I ask
"Friendly isn't he?" Annie smiles and strokes some hair away from my tear stained face "think you can handle a proper meal?" I nod "think you can handle meeting everyone properly?" I shake my head "come on" she laughs "they're not too bad".
Annie and Hazelle lift me and the chair down one set of porch steps, wheel me to the back of the saloon and lift me up another set of steps
"You all eat here?" I wonder
"No" Hazelle chuckles "a one-time thing. Only room big enough to house everyone comfortably for a meal" they push me through to a crowded room with a large table and lots of chairs. Everyone stares as we enter but I know they're not looking at Annie or Hazelle. I try to shrink further in to the chair, to make myself smaller somehow but only manage to curl my shoulders in before a sharp pain takes my breath away
"Quit staring" Haymitch growls at them and I shrink away from the look he gives me. I'm grateful to the man for all that he's done but he's basically a stranger and part of me can't help thinking he should have left me where I was
"You know Haymitch" Annie begins, pushing me up to the table and taking a seat beside me "and Evelyn and Hazelle" she gestures to each of them "what about Prim?" I nod and the young girl smiles at me "and you met Gale a little while ago" I nod and he scowls at the table "do you remember anything else from before waking up?" she asks and I turn to her when I answer
"Katniss?" a pretty dark haired girl seated on the left of the long table goes wide eyed and nods at me. She's about my age but taller and not as skinny, or crippled "and is Finnick here?" I ask quietly, remembering Annie speaking of her fiancé
"Hello beautiful" someone at the end of the table calls and I meet the gaze of an unnaturally handsome man, grinning ear to ear. His bronze skin and white teeth become dazzling after a while and I turn back to Annie "Rory and Vick and Posy?" I ask gesturing to the children around Hazelle, all strikingly alike although I'm quite sure I'm right
"Yes" she nods encouragingly "who else?"
"Johanna" I whisper, apparently not quietly enough
"Over here brainless" an angry looking woman with short hair waves sarcastically though it's not quite as mean as she'd like it to be. Probably because I look so pathetic
"That's all" I murmur, still baffled by the others at the table
"Well this is Cashmere and Glimmer" she says pointing to two intimidating-ly beautiful blonde's "and their brother Gloss" she adds pointing to an equally handsome man next to Finnick "Clove, Bristel, Levy and Thom" she lists, pointing to four dark haired young adults with lovely Indian infused skin "they work for Haymitch" she finishes and I try to work out what that means "That's Thresh down there at the end" the man at the end of the table is quite frankly terrifying. Not because of his dark skin, I'd always found that quite appealing, but because of his sheer size. I've never seen someone so imposing but he tips his head politely and gives a tight lipped smile, warmer than almost all the other greetings I've received "Thresh works the land and takes care of the animals with Rue" another young girl, sat next to Prim smiles at me and I try to smile back but I think it's more of a grimace. If she notices her pretty features don't let on "and that's everyone, everyone this is Madge" suddenly the already large group off twenty feels like hundreds and I curl in on myself again "help yourself" Annie encourages, gesturing to the platters of food covering the table.
Most of them forget I'm there and I'm happy for them to ignore me as I chew ten times longer than a normal person would have to, in order to swallow even the smallest mouthfuls without pain. There's bruising around my neck, I don't know what from but I can feel it's swollen. There's quiet chatter around the table and a little bit of laughter, mostly from Finnick but Haymitch, Evelyn, Katniss, Gale and the three younger children keep glancing at me and sharing meaningful looks. Eventually I can't stand it anymore
"Why am I here?" the table falls in to silence as my question bounces off the walls. No one answers for a while and then Haymitch clears his throat
"You're family".