Big thankyou to the reviews and the people adding my story to their favourites or even just reading it, means a lot as this is my first fanfic, I'll try to get another chapter up tomorrow, but I have a lot of homework! Problems of a 14 year old;) keep reading!
Where the hell has he gone? I stand in the square tying to search for any sign of where he was heading, boy's fast, would he have gone home or something? No, he wouldn't have wanted his family to see him like that. Then it hits me, the woods, of course, but I can't really go in there, I'll just get lost and it was Gale and Katniss' place, he might get mad if I intrude. I was turning round to head home when I remembered the look on his face, he was in agony , I have to go find him or he'll do something stupid, get attacked by a dog or something, and I'm not sure if I can cope with Katniss and Gale getting taken away from me.
As I headed to the seam where the fence was less guarded I mulled over my thoughts, why did I even care if Gale was hurting, I mean obviously I'm not a monster, I don't like seeing people pain but if it had been anyone else, I might have tried to stop them and comfort them but I would definitely not be heading to the woods just to see if they were alright. I mean asides from the obvious reasons that he is really attractive, with his tanned skin and Seam grey eyes with streaks of blue running through them, and his, err, body, I'm not usually one of the girls who swoons over boys with big muscles, but damn, it's impossible not to swoon over Gales. But he's so caring for his family and so protective over them, you can't not see how compassionate and just, how essentially good he is, doing everything he can so his family doesn't starve like many of them in District 12, especially those without a father.
That's how he and Katniss became such good friends, Katniss had told me once that after her father had died and she ventured into the woods to see if she could hunt down anything for her family to eat she had found one Gales snares and they got to talking and after a few years later they had become best friends and hunting partners. I had tried not to feel jealous at the time as it was obvious that Katniss had no romantic interest in Gale, but it was also obvious by the way that Gale looked at Katniss that he definitely had some romantic feelings about her. I guess it's a bit too late for them to get together now, even if Katniss does come back alive I can't see her ever wanting to start a family and putting her own children at risk from the reaping's and the capitol, she just isn't like that.
I'm at the fence now and not too sure what to do, is it on? I think Katniss said something about there being a buzz if it was on? What if only hunters who have very good hearing can hear it? I'm not cut out to do this, the woods look very dark and scary. I can my heart beating in very loudly in my chest, I can't afford to stay here for very long or people will notice me and I can't have them running to tell father. Okay, you can do this, breathe. I lean in and can't hear any buzzing and I cautiously stick my hand out to touch the wire, as my fingers touch it I flinch and wait for the electric shock, nothing. Phew, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and ducked underneath the wire and started to walk away when I felt something tug at my dress, No, oh no someone caught me, I spun a random excuse on my lips to explain just what I'm doing outside of the fence, I turn around and no one's there, I realize my dress is caught on the wire, probably should've changed, not a particularly good thing to be wearing in the woods, too late now. I rip my dress as I try to remove it from the wire, great, mother's going to kill me, this cost a fortune.
Soon I was what I thought was quite deep into the forest, and realized I was lost, I had absolutely no idea where I was, everywhere looks the same and there was no path, I walked out into a small clearing and was just about to call out for Gale and hope no nearby predators would come to investigate the noise as I was pretty much defenseless when I heard a twig snap to my left, I spun in the direction trying to see through the dense trees. I must've been wandering for over an hour, the sun was about to set and it was getting dark. I was still staring at the trees when there was another snap a few metres to the right of where I was staring, "Gale?" I whisper hoping it's him. Nothing, "Gale, if you're trying to scare me you win okay, I'm scared so come out" I tried to sound firm, but I sounded about 3 years old, maybe he'll take pity on me.
I'm looking desperately into the trees and finally I spot something, eye shine reflecting from the last bit of sun, but they're too low down to be Gale's and not the right shape. Another twig snap, a low growl and the muzzle of a wild dog emerged from the dark, the beast stalked forward and I was completely paralyzed with fear as a scream scraped up my throat trying to get out but I couldn't open my mouth, I couldn't do anything, only stare into the eyes of the creature that was surely going to kill me. I had no weapons, I couldn't hope to outrun it and I had no chance of climbing a tree before it got me, even if I could climb.
Well, this is where it ends, I think, funny, I didn't imagine it like this, never really did think of how I would die, but I assumed I would be reaped or just die of old age or disease. Weird how calm my thoughts are yet my body is so panicked it just shuts down. I guess your life doesn't flash before your eyes, I wonder where someone made that up, oh well, would've been a boring show anyways. When the dog is fully in the open I see just how big is, it's got to be a fully grown male, I'd only see a few wild dogs before and then they were dead, none of them were this size, he was a monster. As it crouched to spring something inside me snapped and I could control my body again, just as he leaped, I dived forward earning myself a mouth full of mud as I went down, I twisted to face the sky just in time to see a huge form sail over me. It started to flail in midair trying to get me, I could see right into its eyes and that scared me more than anything, they were just so wild.
I saw something small shoot through the air but didn't dare see what it was, my main worry was the dog in front of me, it began to stalk forward again as I hurriedly scrambled backwards on my butt. Another small thing soared right over the top of me, this time it hit the dog square in the chest as blood squirted out of the hole I realized it was an arrow, before I even had time to register this another arrow came from behind me and found its mark a couple of centimetres next to the other one. As the dog slowly keeled over I turned to face my saviour.
Gale, of course it's Gale, who else would be out here in the woods, with a bow and arrow now that Katniss has been reaped, no one else dared venture in here, except me it seems now. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I thought I was dead. I think these things and try to say them but no words will come out. "You okay?" Gale cocks his eyebrow at me, he's towering over me and I can't see his face properly but I think he's looking at me with concern or anger, I can't figure it out. I open my mouth to say that I'm fine and tell him how grateful I am but instead a weird screeching comes out and my whole body shakes as sobs rip open my chest so hard it's painful.
"Shit," he crouches down in front of me and takes one of the hands I was using to cover my face because as my mother has told me many times, my crying face is not attractive. He rubs reassuring circles with his thumb on the back of my hand whilst whispering, "It's okay, it's okay, it's dead, it's gone, you're fine."
He doesn't understand, that's not what I'm crying about, well some of it is but it's more Katniss, it's hit me again like it did after I said goodbye, I do want to tell him that it's about Katniss but I don't want to upset him again. I guess I could tell him, I mean who else can I talk to about Katniss if not her best friend?
I wait for my sobs to die down a little before I start talking, "It's not really about the dog, well it is a little bit, but, it's just I'm so worried for Katniss, I mean she's going to the arena where there's going to be worse than a single wild dog. There are people who are focusing all their efforts on killing her Gale! No, worse innocent will go completely wild and kill her just so they can live! Children Gale! What kind of place do we live in where we force kids to either lie down and die or go completely savage and start killing other kids? This can't happen to Katniss she's so good, she doesn't deserve this, well no one deserves it, but you know I don't really know any of the other tributes. To be honest, I don't know Katniss either, she was my only friend and I hardly knew her, I wish I'd spent more time with her, what kind of friend am I? I just…" I couldn't even continue, I had pretty much said all of that ranting, crazy person speech in one breath and my tone was slowly creeping into hysteria and the sobs were about to start up again until I felt Gale's arms weave around me and I felt better, safe.
"Shh, it's not your fault, just calm down, Katniss could win it you know, I'm certainly rooting for her." Gale's voice is soft and it tickles my ear, a shiver runs down my spine and my heart beats a little bit faster. He pulls back and gives me a once over to check I was okay and then stares into my eyes. His eyes are bloodshot and a little puffy but he's not crying anymore.
"You okay now?" I can smell him from here, he smells like the woods and darkness and danger. I lean in closer still staring into his eyes, he seems to lean in too and in an instant that seemed to last forever I felt something stirring deep in my chest as his eyes lit up, a feeling that went beyond, wow, he's really hot.
But it didn't last and Gale jerked back and paced over to where he dropped his game bag which seems to be full, he turned back round to face me with a slight smile hovering on the corners of his lips but a sad look once again in his eyes. I dropped my gaze and could feel a blush creep up from my neck on to my cheeks and hope that it's too dark for him to see it but when I look up again the smile is definitely more pronounced and as he meets my eyes it turns into a full blown grin. Jerk.
I stand up and walk right past him deliberately barging into his shoulder, I make it about 10 steps into the trees before I feel his hand on my shoulder, stopping me. "Unless you're planning on running away into the wilderness, and I really doubt that's the case, I believe the direction you'll be wanting is that way," he pointed in pretty much the opposite direction I came, he was still grinning and that annoyed me more, boy thinks he's so irresistible now, I shouldn't have lent in. I stormed off in the other direction without saying a word and I could hear snickering coming from behind which only made me move faster.
I was making such a racket walking through the woods, my feet seemed to find every single stupid twig, that I didn't know Gale was walking behind me until he reached out to sweep away a spider's web that was blocking my path.
I jumped back clutching my chest "God damn it, Gale, don't do that, you scared the crap out of me! Can't you make more noise or something so I know when you're coming?" I sounded more breathless than angry so Gale just shrugged his shoulders and smiled again.
"Language, Miss Undersee. I didn't mean to scare you, I was trying to be a gentleman and make up for shouting in your face earlier, I'm sorry about that by the way, I was… Upset." His voice broke on the last word and my anger dissolved.
"Thank you, and it's fine I understand." I wanted to comfort him but I didn't know how so we just stood in awkward silence for a bit until he started walking forward, he turned back and motioned for me to follow him.
"So, what brings you to the woods today, never really thought of you as an outdoorsy type of girl, I mean, look, you ruined your pretty dress." He gestured towards my dress and I realized what a state I was in, my dress was torn and had grass and mud stains on it. My hands and knees were cover in dirt and I flinched when I brought my hand to my face, I had scraps on my chin and nose where I had face planted the floor and I had streaks of mud going down my face, I found two leaves in my hair and a twig, well this is embarrassing, I look like a crazy person who lives in the wilderness.
"I'm not an outdoorsy person, I came out here to make sure you were okay, you seemed rather upset earlier, I just wanted to make sure you didn't do anything stupid, I knew you'd go to the woods, so I came in too, didn't really think it through though." I sort of sound like a stalker now, that's just great.
He was looking at me how he did this morning when I said about going to the Capitol, Jheeze, was that only this morning feels like a lifetime ago when I buying those strawberries, so much has changed since then. "You didn't have to do that, I wasn't going to do anything stupid, I know how to be in the woods, unlike you, so I think it's time you got back home, wouldn't want the mayor to worry. And you wouldn't want to be seen with me in the woods, might spark up rumours, it'll ruin your reputation hanging out with a seam boy." As he said this we broke through the trees onto the little meadow bit before the fence.
Ruin my reputation? What reputation? "Please, I can be seen with whomever I want, believe it or not I do have a free will of my own. And you know it wasn't all for you, I've always wanted to come into the woods, just wasn't brave enough until now." Well it wasn't a complete lie; I have always wanted to go into the woods but it wasn't my curiosity for the woods at all that made me cross the fence.
"Yeah todays a really turning point, who knew that half the people in this district still had hearts?" He mumbled sarcastically before ducking in between the wires of the fence and turning to help me through.
We walked through the streets of the seam in silence, but it wasn't awkward this time, more like the silence me and Katniss shared at lunch, companionable silence between two people who didn't need to continuously chatter about things. When we reached his house he turned to face me, "This is me, think you can make it back to yours without getting attacked by a wild dog?" His eyes twinkled mischievously.
Well, aren't you just hilarious? "I'm sure I'll manage." I put as much acid into my voice as I turn on my heel, my dress flaring out, and start to stomp away.
I feel his hand catch mine and yank me back to face, "Hey, I'm sorry okay?" When I don't meet his gaze his other hand tips my chin up so I'm looking straight at him, "Seriously, thank you for everything, coming to try and find me and that. It means a lot. I'll try not to be such a jerk in the future okay? Come on, smile?" I try to stop myself but I can't help the little smile that pulls at my lips. "That's better, I'll see you soon okay?" He swiftly ducks down and pecks me on the cheek, before I can respond his loped his way to his front door, "Bye!" He calls over his shoulder.
"Bye" I say with a little wave as he slams the door and I make my way back to my house trying to think of an excuse as to why I'm covered in dirt, when I think of nothing, I decide it doesn't matter, my old worries seem really unimportant in the light of today.