This is going to be one huge update. Prepare yourselves.

Chapter 8: The truth

Gale POV

We walk back to the lake in silence, hauling our game bags over our shoulders. I place mine down next to the couch then walk back to the lake. A boulder sits on the outer ring of the lake. I sit down on the mossy rock, not knowing what else to do. No day has turned out normal, or with a happy ending.

It's not Katniss's fault. I did this to both of us, and she decided to stay. After all this, why would she? Neither of us are happy at the end of the day. The only thing to keep us positive is our hope. Hope isn't enough to switch this around. Hope won't make Katniss talk to me, remove our mothers last words from our minds, or explain yesterday. What we need is courage.

I take a flat rock near the boulder and skim it across the water. It hops 4 times before sinking in the middle of the lake. Honestly, we need to break the ice and stop hiding the truth. I know she's hiding something, as am I. We're best friends after all. We can help each other through everything. The reaping, our families, yesterday, our mothers…I can bring it up now, or wait for her to come over to me. If anything, she deserves an apology. I pulled her into this mess, and I should fix it.

I pull myself off the boulder and walk around the circular bend of the lake. I slide my hunting boots off, and place them under the woven rug. The colors are worn over the years of use. I go towards the bedroom door, and find Katniss sitting cross-legged on the bed. I lean against the door frame to leave space between us.

"Katniss, we need to talk." She seems startled by my voice. "About what?" She says, barely louder than a whisper. "About everything that's happened since we got here…Look, I'm sorry I put you through all this. I never expected anyone to find us out here. You didn't have to leave your family…you can always go back."

Her hands fumbled with the white sheets as she listened. "I left my mother a long time ago. I never trusted her after the mining accident. She abandoned us, and I had to struggle with Prim. She has not recovered since. But Prim has nothing now. Everyone in the village knows her; maybe they could help. I feel guilty about leaving her behind." She clenched the sheets tighter, trying to hide her emotions. "What if she abandons Prim again? There's nothing I can do to stop it out here."

She reaches over for the mirror on the bedside table and starts shifting it between her hands. "This mirror was my father's. It's one of the last things we have of him. I thought if I came here, that I would have some place to remember him, to remember the positive memories we had together. But, I feel like he is more distant than ever. Now that we're away from our families, I don't have anyone to talk to. Even you feel distant now…"

"I lost my father in the mining accident too." I spoke just above a whisper, so she could hear on her part of the room. "I've taken care of my family since the accident. So have you. We both know what it's like to be to take the loss of our loved one. But there's nothing we can do about it to carry on. Years later, do you think Hazelle or Rory, or Vick or Posy ever forgot about that? I still see the distant look in their eyes when they see the empty place at the dinner table. There's only so much that I can handle."

I see the solemn look on Katniss's face turn into one of fury. As she swings her legs over the bed, she drops the mirror onto the bed and marches over to me. "Doesn't that make us just as bad as our fathers? They have to fill the void of the two of us now. We should've volunteered while we had the chance."

She tries to march out, but I quickly grab her shoulder and turn her head around. "If you didn't want to come, you didn't have to. It was entirely up to you to sneak out, to show me to this house, to try to escape it all."

"Then honestly, I don't know why I came at all. It clearly wasn't worth it. If you don't mind, I'm going to find a place for solitude." She jerks out of my grasp, grabs her hunting gear, and walks out into the district woods.

Smooth moves Gale. Not only is she mad at you for asking her to come, but she thinks you forced her. She's more mad than before, and you're to blame.

I quickly peek out of the doorframe outside of the lake house, and notice that she's going in path to the left, leading towards the traps we set up on the first day. Surprisingly though, she strays off the path onto a one leading over the hills towards the district eleven woods.

After eating a dinner consisting of cooked bird, roots and a handful of berries, I head towards the bed for the night. Sitting upright, I lean over and grab the mirror in the middle of the bed. The handle is smooth, yet slightly dusty. An engraving of a rose rests in the middle of the handle where it curves outwards.

I know the rose means something more. It's a symbol of President Snow. Every time he flashes on screen, he appears with the same red rose in his suit. Although I've only heard briefly of it from other Victors, the scent is sweet but deadly.

I rub my thumb over the rose, realizing that the dust is only a reminder that his passing was years ago. My father left nothing in his passing. Except for the few belongings he had in Hazelle's room, there's no proof that he ever lived there. I never realized how distant he felt. And only in the custody of Mr. Everdeen's home, do I finally realize it's effect. I feel more connected to Katniss's father, than to my own.

More chapters on the way.