A/N: SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE! Life hasn't been siding with me lately; neither has my homework. And I kinda had no idea what to write... I had help from a reviewer, but putting that plan into action took some serious thinking...

But I came to this conclusion: When I started writing this, I wanted this to end in a happy ending with Katniss and Gale. But, I've gotten way to absorbed in my story, and to be honest, I'm not sure how a love story could be played. If anyone has any ideas...? I think you follow my drift. Updates should be more constant once I have an idea of what I'm doing. Thanks to everyone who has read, is reading, or followed this story. And I didn't have any idea what to name this chapter, so today, it's just Chapter 5.

Three days later:

I'm still in the room. I'm going mad. I want this to end more than ever. Sticking me in a room with nothing with my thoughts is more dangerous than putting me in a room with a dagger. With a dagger, the pain won't last. In this room, I'm drowning in the guilt and the pain; the hurt and the sorrow. And as much as I want the oxygen to run out, I can still breathe.

I start refusing meals. In pure honesty, it's the only way I can think of as a way out. I know that there are drugs that can (and will) keep you nourished if you can't eat. In my case, I won't eat. They have managed to keep me hydrated. But I have a feeling that Katniss doesn't have these medicines on hand. They are the kind that you need to have major authority to keep, and that is basically at hospitals. If they do happen to have those, which I can only hope they don't, well, I'll find some other way to leave. Maybe this is a form of punishment. If it is, it's working all too well.

I stare at the walls endlessly. The room never changes; the light bulb has never flickered, the door never opening. Not since Katniss's entrance some hours ago. A day, maybe? There is no clock, no window, no way of telling time. Only instinct can tell me how long I've been trapped. I continue to gaze at the wall opposite of me.

It's at that moment that Katniss makes her second appearance. She's noted that I'd been refusing to eat. In her hands she holds a tray and a bottle of water. A faint smile is etched upon her lips. She says sarcastically, "So, you're trying to starve yourself?"

I almost roll my eyes. Almost. I say in reply, "It's the only way. It's not just the only way, but it's one of the worst ways to leave. I deserve to die in pain."

She sighs. "When will you realize that the world around you isn't an enemy? The people in your life don't hate you, Gale. You need to, at some point, start living again."

I don't say anything. I don't need to. My answer is no.

She sees that her first attempt failed. I can't see anything she says working, or having the slightest effect on me. That's until she says, "Fine. If you refuse to eat, then I refuse to eat. Plain and simple." She crosses her arms with an air of finality. Damn, this is going to be hard.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Basically, after that, she walked out of the room, and walked back in about, maybe two minutes later, a wooden stool in tow. Katniss set it down, and sat, and looked at me. That brings me to the present, having Katniss stare around the room while I try and figure out, well, everything.

The way I figure, I've been starving myself for three days before Katniss said she would, and I've never been 'well fed' to begin with. Katniss, on the other hand, looks as healthy as could be and she's starting to starve herself three days after me, thus putting me at an advantage. But incorporate body size, weight, and heck, you could even say growing up in Twelve could prepare you for this, and you've got your solution: If Katniss is really doing this (I doubt she's lying; I see straight through her lies), we'd both die around the same time. That leads to yet another revelation: I need to do something to save her. I close my eyes and sigh. I just need to think…

I don't think I can do anything to stop her but stop myself. Letting Katniss die is not an option. I could do this for a few days; see if she turns her back… I doubt she will. Katniss is as stubborn as a mule when she wants to be. It's one of the things I love about her, that ability to not step down from her cause unless she personally wants to. If she wants something, she will work endlessly to get it. So she has the life she wants, from what I can tell. Not her perfect life, the one where everyone is alive and happy and healthy, but the one where she feels that her life can't get any better. In her case, it probably can't.

Please, kill me now.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I try making her back out of her 'vow'. We end up staying in the white room for what I think is another five days. But here we are, both of us, staring into each other's eyes, searching for something. We've caught up. In the two years that have passed, we haven't done much. Nothing but heal.

But in that room, I think I've healed more in those few days than I have in the two years leading up to this. I see something happen to Katniss, like a mask being slowly removed; maybe a connection being forgotten; forgiven. The latter, however unlikely, a possibility. I almost start to forgive myself. As if one by one, all of those lost at my hand are letting the hate they keep for me go. And some of the hate I have for myself, I find, is gone.

Slowly, I get a bit better. Day by day. Every second I spend with Katniss is one second I don't wish I wasn't alive for. I only wish she could be mine… But that is a fate that will never be mine. If she doesn't want me, then I can't have her. It's her life; it's her decision.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A day later, a man who must be a doctor walks in. He declares me 'well' enough to be moved to a more suitable room. Ya, right. Cautiously, he and Katniss walk me to a different room. The first thing that doctor does is get me a plate of food and a glass of water. He and Katniss leave. The first thing I do is inspect the room. They made a major mistake. They put me in a room with a window. A window with just about the simplest lock to open, more specifically. A ghost of a smile crosses my face. I'm not quite healed. I turn the lock and open the window, cherishing the breeze that flows through it. I climb out onto the ledge. It's a three story jump. Just my luck. Closing the window behind me, I brace myself, and jump.