The next morning while Gale was gone I cleaned the house. It was almost noon and Gale should have been home by now. Something told me something was wrong but I tried to ignore it and kept cleaning. I was scrubbing the floor when I heard a knock at the door. " Who could that be?" I mumbled to myself. I opened the door and a tall, lean man stood at my door. I closed the door slightly in case I needed to lock it. "May I help you?" I said.
"I'm Thom , one of Gale's friends." He said out of breath. "I need you to come with me Hope!" He said frantic. I pulled the door completely open.
"What's wrong?" I asked confused. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the house and down the street toward town. I didn't have time to put on my shoes or anything."Please tell me what's going on. Are Gale and Rory okay?" I said. Thom looked back at me with worry shining in his dark eyes but he said nothing. He continues pulling me to town. "Thom tell me what's going on now!" I yelled panicking. I could hear the crowd in town. My stomach did flips not knowing what was going on. Thom pulled me through the crowd and what I saw would never ever leave my mind. I screamed Gale's name. He was forced onto his knees with his wrists tied above his head on a post. He had four whip lashed across his bare back already. I saw Rory struggling against the hold of a peacekeeper. I started to run into the circle when an arm locked around my waist. " Let me go Thom!" I yelled struggling.
"It will only make things worse Hope." He said but I continued to struggle. It was no use, his grip was too strong. Hot angry tears ran down my cheeks as I screamed for them to stop. After ten minutes and almost 20 lashes they untied his wrists and he slumped to the ground. Thom finally let me go and I slid to my knees in front of Gale. He was barely able to pull himself up.
"Don't get up." I said smoothing his hair down. He laid his head in my lap.
"I'm so sorry..." He breathed.
"Shhh...don't say that." I whispered smoothing his hair down some more. Rory, Thom, Katniss, and some blonde haired boy came running to us.
"We have to get him to my mom now!" She said. Thom and the blonde haired boy slowly picked him up by his arms. They began to walk back to the seam. His back was so bad I felt myself gag. Katniss turned to me. "Don't worry. He'll be fine." She said putting a hand on my shoulder. Rory grabbed my hand and we followed them to Katniss's house. They took him inside and I stopped with Rory.
"We're going to go back and tell your mother okay?" I said.
"No, you go inside with Gale and I'll take Rory to tell Hazelle." Katniss said. I looked at her and nodded.
"Thank you." I said and kissed Rory's forehead. When I got inside they had Gale laid on the kitchen table while Mrs. Everdeen cleaned his wounds. It looked really bad and I felt my stomach turn again. " Bathroom?" I managed to get out.
"Peeta." Mrs. Everdeen said. The blonde hair boy led me to the bathroom. I flew in there not even shutting the door and threw up. I'm not strong enough for this. "I'm not, I'm not, I'm not" this little voice in my head said. Peeta handed me a damp rag.
"Thank you." I whispered.
"He is going to be fine. Mrs. Everdeen is the best in the Seam." Peeta assured me. I sat there for ten minutes until I picked myself up and followed him back into the kitchen. Mrs. Everdeen had Gale's back bandaged up. Thom was helping him sit up on the table. I caught his eye for a second only for him to immediately look away.
"He will be fine. It could have been worse. Apply this salve onto his wounds every morning and night." She said handing me a silver container. " Oh, and make sure to put new bandages on every time you put the salve on." She said handing me a pack of bandages. I nodded. Thom helped Gale to his feet.
"Thank you Mrs. Everdeen." Gale said.
"Come back and see me in a month so I can check them okay?" He nodded just as his mother came in. She let out a sigh.
"You're okay." She breathed. Tears stained her cheeks.
"Of course I am ma." Gale said trying to smile. She walked over to him and they exchanged quiet words I didn't catch. Hazelle walked over to me embracing me. Tears slid down my cheeks again. I hugged her back.
"I'll be over tomorrow okay?" She said. I nodded. "You two get some rest." She said kissing Gale's cheek and thanking Mrs. Everdeen. As soon as she left Thom helped me get Gale home. Gale refused to sit down so he just propped himself against the counter with his hands.
"Thank you so much Thom." I said.
"Hey I'd do anything for Gale and the ones he loves. You two will have to come over for dinner soon so you can meet my wife." He said smiling.
"That sounds great." I said genuinely and he left. I locked our door and shut all the curtains. I wasn't sure what to say to Gale so I just started making dinner like normal.
"Don't." He said. He hadn't looked at me since I caught his eye earlier. I stopped and turned to him.
"Would you look at me?" I asked exhausted. I thought I'd cried all the tears I could but somehow they kept coming. He just turned further away from me. "You can't just run away from this Gale." I said calmly. He turned back to me.
"I could have gotten Rory k-" He couldn't even finish the sentence. He slammed his fist into the cabinets busting his knuckles. I ran to him and grabbed his face as best I could. His eyes still
not meeting mine.
"Gale look at me." I said sternly. He didn't. "Gale Henry Hawthorne look at me." I said more gentle this time. He slowly lowered his eyes to me. "You were only trying to provide for your family. I don't know what happened but when you're ready to talk about it I'll be here. Just don't shut me out." I said. He nodded. I sighed and dropped my hands rubbing my face. "Do you want a shirt or something?" I said looking away, feeling my cheeks turn red. His hand cupped my cheek pulling my face back towards his.
"Nope." He said smirking.
"If you weren't hurt I'd shove you right now." I said still blushing. What he did next surprised me. He slowly leaned down and kissed my forehead. Where his lips met my skin felt like fire.
"I may not have chosen you but I'd be a fool to give you back." He said.
"Yeah, yeah." I said trying to calm my nerves. "You need to get some rest." I said. He turned to make his way to our bedroom. I grabbed his arm wrapped it around my shoulder to help him. I could tell he was trying not to show how much it hurt. Gale was just so stubborn. We stopped in front of the bed. "How do you want to lay?" I asked, my voice strained from his weight.
"You go change and I'll get into bed." He said removing his arm from my shoulder. I did as he said. I looked in the mirror after changing. My eyes were red and my cheeks flushed. I rebraided my two braids and splashed my face with water. I walked back into our room and saw Gale laid out on the bed with his back facing up. I gently got into bed beside him but on my back. I turned my face toward him, surprised to see he was already looking at me.
"Do you need anything?" I asked.
"I'm fine Hope. Get some rest." He said I turned over not facing him and dozed off.
A month passed and things were better. Gale worked every other day for now. He finally spoke to me about what happened that day. New peacekeepers were ordered on that day and Gale didn't know. They saw Gale and Rory coming back under the fence and immediately took Gale to be punished. He slowly started to forgive himself but still hasn't fully. Rory and Hazelle think no different of Gale and love him all the same. Today Gale and I were going to Mrs. Everdeen so she could check Gale's scars.
We were in the kitchen unwrapping the bandages hopefully for the last time. Gale was so much taller than me. I reached a little above his mid back, so it made it hard to reach his shoulders. He kept wiggling trying to eat his toast. "Gale would you stand still." I said.
"Would you let me eat my toast?" He said.
"If you'd let me get this last bandage off." I said. He sighed and stood still. I pulled the last one off and threw it away. It looked so much better than just a week ago. He would always have the large white scars on his back.
"How bad is it?" He asked.
"It looks good!" I said trying to sound hopeful. I know he would think it looked awful.
"I don't even want to see them." He said pulling his shirt on. I washed my hands while he pulled on his boots. I slipped on my flats and looked at him.
"Do you think you're going to be able to lift things at work tomorrow?" I asked unlocking the door. All of a sudden I was no longer touching the ground. I let out a small scream. Gale had me in his arms bridal style.
"I think I'll be fine." He said smirking. I crossed my arms.
"I think you'll be just fine too." I said smiling.
We arrived at Mrs. Everdeen's and she immediately started to examine Gale's back. I stood in front of him praying she said it was fine. He grabbed one of my braids and began playing with it. I started biting my nails.
"Why don't you ever wear your hair down?" He asked curiously. I shrugged.
"It gets in the way when I'm cleaning or making jam. Why?" I asked. He shrugged.
"I just wanted to know." He said. "You should wear it down sometime though." He added.
"Everything looks good Gale! I'm going to give you some lotion to put on it for another couple months but after that you'll be just fine." She said. We thanked her and left.
"You don't have any plans today do you?" Gale asked me. I shook my head. "Good. I want to take you somewhere." He said smirking.
"What are you up to?" I said with an eyebrow lifted.
"It's a surprise." He whispered and grabbed my hand leading me to whatever he had up his sleeve.