This fantastic chapter is dedicated to PureblueSkies, whose reviews are exceedingly entertaining to read. So, thank you, PureblueSkies. Here is the next chapter thingy. Oh, and last chapter I forgot to mention what happened with Katniss' arm whilst she was dressing and such, but I'll fix that in this chapter! Enjoy my good fanficians!
My grip turned sweaty about halfway to wherever we were going. Peeta seemed to know, but I didn't ask him just in case it brought on unwanted emotions. I felt my dress swish against my feet, and my braid bumping against my back. It was only less than one minute into the walk when I asked Peeta why he put it into a regular braid instead of something else.
"You're still Katniss." he replied simply. "I wanted to keep it that way."
For some odd reason, I was immensely grateful and touched that he did that.
We kept on walking, and as we did so, my legs became more and more like rubber. I was sure I was going to break down in the middle of the service. I was going to blubber and cry. How do you like Panem's savior now?
Peeta held me securely the whole way there, careful not to hurt my arm, which was in a temporary plaster and was hanging in a sling. My arm was also around his waist, too, but whereas Peeta's was lightly curved around my back, my fist was bunched up in the material of his shirt.
` To my surprise, my mother and Prim walked out from a door just ahead of us. Prim was wearing a quaint little black dress that fanned out at her feet, and Mother was in one of her longer dresses. Their hair was put up in buns. When Prim saw me and Peeta, she barreled straight at me. "Katniss!"
I was taken aback. "Primrose?" She threw herself into my arms just as I opened them. My shoulder groaned in pain.
"Why didn't you let us see you?" She buried her face in the torso of my thin dress.
"I—" Confusion filled me, but before I could finish my sentence, Mother wrapped her arms around me too.
"I was so worried. I didn't know whether to expect you there today or not." Mother's fragile face contorted with concern.
"I'm all right, Mother. There were some…minor set-backs, so I will have to go back soon, but for the most part I feel fine." I could tell my mother didn't buy my nonchalant attitude.
She narrowed her eyes and raised a single brow. "And what might those 'minor set-backs' be?"
"Nothing." I said way too hastily. I knew my mother knew I was lying.
"Katniss…" She used her 'or else' look.
Peeta put his arm around me protectively. "The dagger just went a little deeper than we expected. Katniss will need a minor operation to get back to normal, but it's nothing big."
After a second more of Mother's faces, she calmed. "So much is happening lately…" She sniffed and patted my cheek as if I was younger. "The least I can do is walk with you to the-the funeral. If that's okay with Peeta, that is."
"Of course." Peeta smiled kindly. To my puzzlement, he stepped away from me and allowed Prim to take his place holding my hand. Mother held Prim's hand. Once they were all settled, Peeta circled around to me other side and just walked close to me.
I was very surprised when we were led to the very, very edge of the Refuge Quarter where a large set of double doors awaited.
I frowned and leaned my head towards Peeta. "Where are we?"
"I think this is the church. Although I'm not sure…" He cast his gaze all around, finally landing on a desk besides the door. A pleasant-looking man sat at the desk with a clipboard. Several other people stood around the door, all of them wearing black. One of them was crying on their friends' shoulder, but the other people were just looking solemn. I recognized some people, like Madge. But most others I only see around District 13.
"May I help you?" asked the man at the counter. "Are you here for Mr. Hawthorne?"
I already felt my throat clog up. "Yes."
"Names?" He looked down at his clipboard.
Peeta filled him in. After checking off our names, he stood up and opened the tall doors for us. "I am sorry for your loss."
We nodded at him and walked inside. The moment we walked inside, the powerful smell of carnations flooded us, making my nose tingle. Shiny wooden pews sat in rows down the room, most of them occupied. More people wearing black were huddled together. Now there were more people I recognized; all of the Quarter Quell survivors, a few people from back home in District 12, and people from around Thirteen.
I took a second longer to glance around, and my heart began beating painfully when my eyes landed on the large black coffin resting at the feet of the alter. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. Most of the time people in District 12 were just buried naked in the dirt, since most of us couldn't afford coffins, but on the rare occasions when one of the wealthier townsperson dies, the coffin was just regular brown wood. Gale's coffin was about seven feet long and ever corner was filed to a sharp edge, giving the whole casket a look of great importance. Unlike pretty much every other coffin I had seen, this one was closed, but nI could tell it wasn't nailed or anything. You would think that it looked evil being black and sharp-looking, but all I could tell from the box was that Gale was a very special young man who held one of the biggest parts in our survivor. And I knew I was correct.
From one of the closer pews, I saw someone stand up and begin walking to us. He was clothed in all black, which made his bronze hair stand out very vividly. Finnick. A slender, petite figure with dark brown hair from beside him stood up as well and followed him.
"Hey." He stopped in front of us and shoved his hands into his pockets, looking half-mournful, half- excited. Finnick put his arm around the girl beside him. "Katniss, Peeta, Prim, Ms. Everdeen, this is Annie."
We all shook hands and I couldn't help from wondering why people thought Annie was mad. She looked normal enough.
"So, um… How are you getting along?" I asked her semi-awkwardly, waving my good hand in the general direction of her stomach, which seemed ever-so-slightly swollen.
"He is doing great." She looked grateful that I asked for some reason.
"So it's a boy?" I tried to look excited, but really I was kind of dreading what will happen in fifteen minutes when the funeral starts. "Did you find a name?"
Annie smiled sadly. "His-his name is Jace…"
"Why Jace?" Prim blinked up at Annie, not unkindly.
Her eyes began crossing. "My brother died in the bombing."
Finnick took Annie's hand and looked sympathetic. "Her brother's name was Jace."
"Ah…" I was about to say something else, when the ringing notes of a piano sang through the church. A preacher walked up to the alter and cleared his throat into the microphone.
Everyone looked up the front for a brief second before they began sitting down.
"Well, I really am sorry." Finnick once again put his arm around Annie and guided her back to their seats.
Mother, Prim, Peeta, and I found our seats near the back. I sat in between Peeta and Prim; Mother sat on Primrose's other side.
"Thank you, everyone, for coming here today." started the preacher in a powerful voice. "I know that this must be a very emotional time for all of you here." He paused. "We are honoring the loss of a young man whom most of us here today wouldn't be here today because of. Gale Hawthorne was a brave resident of District 12. He grew up in poverty, yet risked his life every day just to feed his family. I may not have known him myself, but the things he has accomplished are much greater than any personal deed. Mr. Hawthorne took part in the rescue of the Quarter Quell survivors, helped construct bombs against the Capitol, and single-handedly led the fleet of hovercrafts that bombed them."
I frowned and glanced at Peeta. He looked just as puzzled as I was. As far as we were concerned, the Capitol did not get defeated by bombs, but by the Capitol citizens rioting. Or so my prep team told us…
"Funerals are not for mourning the deceased, but rejoicing over life. Mr. Hawthorne led a full life, even though it was ended sooner than necessary. However, he will be missed greatly by everyone. I would like a moment of silence for our fallen soldier, Gale Alyxander Hawthorne."
I felt hot tears trickle down my face as I bowed my head towards the front. There was a hollow feeling in the center of my chest. I wanted to reached out and grab Peeta's hand, but this was a road I needed to cross alone. I couldn't be frail any longer.
A minute later, the pastor's head went up again. "Thank you. Now, if anyone would like to file over to the right and say one last goodbye to the departed, now is the time to do it." He motioned to the short flight of stairs leading to the coffin on a raised bit of floor. "If not, refreshments are offered in the next room, or you may sign out at the front desk."
Only about five people got up and shuffled over through the door heading off to the left, and quite a bit more made a line up at the front. Everyone that was waiting to say goodbye to Gale, I knew. Survivors of the Quell, but the rest were people from school back in District 12. Most of them just lowered their heads and mumbled a few words, then shuffled off.
Mother, Prim, and Peeta stood up stiffly and glanced down at me. I was still crying.
"Katniss, would you like to come with us to say one last goodbye?" Mother put a gentle hand on my shoulder.
"No, thank you. I would like to wait until everyone has left. Gale and I need our time alone." It may have sounded weird, even to my own ears, but it was somewhat true.
They nodded their heads. Peeta, who gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, followed after Mother and Prim.
The line slowly dwindled until there was no one left in the room. I was finally alone. Taking shaky steps, I managed to drag my body up the steps and knelt down at the side of Gale's coffin. But the words couldn't come. "I—Gale, you-" I sighed. "I'm not good at these things. You were so important to me, no matter how hard it was for me to prove it to you. You told me—twice—that you loved me, and I didn't tell you what you wanted to hear. I know you didn't want me to lie, but neither of us can win. But when I sat next to you, watching your heart slow and stop, maybe lying to you wouldn't have been so bad. After you died… I realized something. It is a little late now, but…I didn't just love you. I needed you. Maybe I am going crazy, but when you talked to me and you said that when…when love stood between you and I we would let each other go. We would no longer need each other to live. And what I have realized, Gale was that I loved you. I did, but now that we are both so much stronger and wiser, and in your case gone, I know that if I love something, I would let it free. So I am letting you free, Gale. Don't think I don't love you because I do." I leaned my head on the black surface of the coffin and let salty tears drench it. "I do love you. Please forgive me, Gale. I never meant to hurt you." Sniffling, I sat up and put my hands upon the casket. "Let this be our last goodbye." My fingers found the little latch under the wood and I heaved it open.
Then the deserted room was split in half by my scream; all that was left inside the coffin was a few streaks of still-wet blood and claw marks running the length of the inside. But the dead body of my best friend was gone.
Okay. I have a few things to say about this chapter. First, it really didn't work out the way I wanted. The preacher's speech was too short, and it wasn't near as emotional as I wanted it to be. But that's okay. Now, I have never, ever been to a funeral so I had no idea what it would be like, but someone helped me a WHOLE lot on this chapter. Without her, it would have ended pretty much in the first three paragraphs. So, thank you Rachel and I love you! Also as some side notes, I made Gale's middle name be Alyxander because that means "protector of all people". And… Oh yeah. Soggybug is going to still be my user name and such, but I have to admit it is a little weird for people to be calling me stuff like "soggy" or "bug", so I would like it if people would just call me Erinn. Please. Thank you! (Oh, and by the way, Erinn is just a pen name, and it isn't my real one so no worries)