A/N - Hello lovies, Chapter 6 is here! I'm sorry for the delay, I had something unexpected pop up. But it's finally here!
Undisclosed- Thank you SO much for your review, it meant so much to me. I love reading all my reviews, but ones like yours is what helps me become a better writer. And yes, the Games themselves is one horrible aspect of Panem, but I wanted to explore other aspects. When I first started writing this story and figuring out a basic plot, I never intended for the threats from Airgusta to come up, but then I thought it would make a nice drama aspect in a love story. And trust me... Airgusta hasn't even started yet ;). Thank you so much for your kind review! :) Occy3- I know! I love that she's get's the 'tingles' too! xD
Well, Chapter 7 will NOT be up until Friday. I'm sorry for another delay! But I promise it will be worth the wait, I'm trying really hard making my chapters more interesting as well as longer. Please tell me what you think, longer OR shorter? Anywho, until then, enjoy chapter 6 loves! Much love - Macayla
** There IS some sensuality is this chapter for those of you who choose not read it **
UPDATE 5/10/13 - I am S-O sorry but there will be another delay. Chapter 7 WILL be up Saturday the 11th/tomorrow. SO SO SO sorry.
I make the way to our home rather quickly. The new government issued home Gale and I are designated too is on the very far side of the Seam, the last house on the very long line of wooden, falling apart homes. The home is almost identical to Gale's family's, except one less bedroom. We got to see our home a few weeks before our wedding, when we would move in. And thankfully we did, the home was completely falling apart. Two of the windows were completely shattered out, there was water stains on the wall and the place was crawling with bugs. But the house only matched everything else here in twelve. Gale had to work of course, but I had Hazel's help with repairing what could be repaired. Thankfully, the couple who use to own the home over a decade ago, left all the furniture there and covered in white sheets. So all that was salvageable.
I continue my way down the road. After another several steps I'm only a home away from ours when I hear our neighbor call out from his porch. I stop and look over to him, he's a strange, extremely strange man. He's at least in his nineties and all he talks about his the world coming to an end. He'll go off babbling about it and then suddenly start crying, making his words inaudible. Gale says he's not all there in his mind. But I just think its creepy. He even looks creepy, with his long, over grown grey beard and hair, his brown overalls and his black, worn out rain boots. He's nothing but creepy!
He grabs his cane and rises from the rocking chair on his porch. Making his way slowly down the steps and toward me. I back up just slightly, he's the kind of man that looks like he'd murder you, but thankfully he keeps his distance. Stopping on the last step.
"I know it! Bombs! Death! Ah, I can see it!" He yells while pointing his cane up to the sky.
I do the very best I can with a smile and then I start slowly backing up, hoping he'll let me take a few more steps until I reach the safety of my own home.
"Stop, little girl!" He says. And I do.
'Little girl', ugg.
"It will happen!" He says while moving from the stairs and slowly making his way toward me. He suddenly lower's his voice at his next words. "I see it. Bombs. People dying in the streets."
He stops just a foot in front of me, he reeks of a disgusting odor and I wonder when he bathed last.
"Blood. Everywhere." He whispers his next words and looks to the ground. "Just like the war. Just life before."
After he finishes his words I catch a lone tear coming down his cheek. All of a sudden his words dawn on me, '..like before'.
"Before what?" I ask. Being careful of my tone and volume.
"Before Panem. Oh it was horrible. Fire. Blood. Floods. Thunder." He starts to cry.
But I'm extremely curious. In school, they only teach you due to government issues, there was a war, resulting in the finding of Panem. But that's it. The only teach you the basics.. But for a reason? I've never asked this question to myself. I try to find my next question, but he speaks again through his sobs.
"My family. Gone." He subsides his cry's and meets me gaze again. "My wife, oh my beautiful wife. I watched her burn in flames. And there was nothing I could do! My sons. Ah, so young. One drowned. The other trampled to death. My own mother, oh how precious she was." He says closing his eyes. "So, so precious. I watched her be gassed to death by these, horrible men."
He grabs my hands, dropping his cane to the floor.
"Their gone. Dead." He says, resuming his sobs. "And me. Me! Ha! I… I'm here. Alive!"
I wasn't aware of it until now, but I feel a lone tear drop from my chin.
Damn it.
Maybe this is why this man is 'creepy'. I try to think of what that day (or days, weeks) might have been like. I've only lost my father, but to lose your whole family, and then be the one to live? That must be horrible. Considering how old Panem is, and the estimate of his age, that means he would have only been in his twenties. So his sons were young, little children. Another thought hits me-
"Men? Who were they?" I ask.
"Oh, these men. Ha, these men. Black. All black. Head to toe. Hundreds, no, no thousands of them. Guns. Just shooting. A pregnant woman… bullet to the brain. Oh, oh so horrible. So terrifying!" He says, clearly holding back more tears.
"But who were they?" I ask, repeating my question. Were they really their own government? No wonder Panem came from that.
"Oh, I've burdened you enough sweetheart." He says.
His tone changes from a completely psychopath to a warm, forgiving tone. He's broken, he has no family and he's hurting.
"What's your name?" I ask. I will find out the answer to my previous question one way or another. But I want to know this for now.
"Ha, it's been years and years since anyone's asked me that." He says. He pauses and then answers my question. "Hawk. Just call me Mr. Hawk." He replies with a smile.
I take the answer for now, knowing that's not his real name. I help him with his cane and he slowly makes his way back to his porch. Talking to himself about blood and the smell.
I take a deep breath. The conversation was so… weird? Could that have anything to do with the Airgusta threats? No, because the war before Panem started within it's own country, not another country. But have we all been mistaken? Who are these men wearing all black? I shake my head of the whole conversation. I know I'll tell Gale, but not now. I know he's already waiting at home to 'talk' about something.
I quickly make my way up the front steps and into the house. Dropping my game bag on the floor and removing my coat. The house is empty. I guess I expected to see Gale waiting for me at the table, but he's not. But he's been here, there's his coal covered mining uniform sitting in my dirty clothes pile, by the wash board, that I need to start washing. I step over the dirty clothes and walk into the living room to find a sprawled out Gale on the couch, snoring. He never snores. I laugh at the sight of him. In nothing but his boxers and lose fitting white t-shirt, laying on his stomach with his arm hanging off the couch. I do the best to silent my audible laughs. I think of the old man, just next store who has been alone for most of his life. Probably never laughed since his family died, over seventy years ago. The thought of that makes me stop laughing. Why am I feeling pity towards him? Damn it!
I make my way into the kitchen, kicking off my uncomfortable flats (but better then the heels). I start brewing some tea over the stove, using the last bit of herbs we have. I'll have to go hunting after work tomorrow. I'm stirring the large pot with the wooden spoon when I feel a pair of arms wrap around me and a head rest of my shoulder. It's amazing how light Gale is on his feet. He's not small in no way, he's nothing but nearly seven feet of muscle.
"Hey." He says lightly. I return the greeting.
He takes one of his hands and shifts my hair to one side of my shoulder, pulling on it just slightly enough to make me crane my neck. He starts lightly placing kisses down my neck. I know this is more then a 'welcome home' kiss. He wants more… but I'm not in the mood. He has something to talk to me about and I have something to talk to him about.
"Gale?" I say, but it sounds more like a moan then his actual name.
He doesn't answer me, and my remark only drives him more. He moves his hands from my hip, to the bottom of my tightly fitted skirt. Pulling it up slightly. I place my hands on either side of the stove the steady myself more. This is not what I want right now, but for some reason I can't find the courage to tell him to stop. The sensation is to overwhelming already. Especially when he moves his hands from my skirt to under my shirt, grabbing both my breasts through my bra, making a loud moan escape my lips. The hunger and feelings have only grown since our marriage. I never thought I'd be happy with someone doing this to me, but I am.
He moves his hands out from under my shirt and back to my skirt while making a soft moaning sound. He eases the skirt up just a little more, making it barley cover my underwear. Somehow with his hand on my leg, he manages to spread my legs apart just slightly. We both let moans out in unison. I know I need to stop him, He moves his hand up more and this time under my skirt, finding my underwear. Through it, he starts rubbing the nerves and I throw my head back to his shoulder in a loud moan.
"Gale? We need." I moan. "To stop." I say breathlessly. "Please stop."
He still doesn't say anything but instead moves under my underwear slipping two fingers into me. I immediately tense up.
"Relax." He says against my neck.
He's done this to me several times before, but this just isn't what I planned on walking in to. After finding an even rhythm and a few minutes of moaning I finally come. Covering my mouth with my hand to quite my scream. Being mindful of the open window and the old man still sitting outside. I replace my hand on the counter, and Gale removes his hand, placing it on my hip with the other and resting his forehead against my back. We both stay like that for at least a good minute while we both gasp for air.
"Sorry." He says barley audible through his breathless voice.
I stand up straighter, making Gale move and I pull my skirt back down. I take a deep breath and continue making the now, extremely hot tea. He takes a seat at the table-
"Katniss, I'm sorry. I just missed you a lot today." He says apologetically.
Am I mad? Not really. I'm disappointed that he didn't stop when I said it. That he kept on going against my will. I know if I had pulled away, he would have definitely stopped. But I didn't, so I can't blame it all on him.
"It's ok." I say while placing the two mugs on the table and giving him a soft kiss on the lips.
I take the seat across from him and take a sip of my tea before I talk.
"So, what is it that you need to talk to me about?" I ask. I run my finger across the lip of the mug in nervousness of his answer.
"Well," He says pinching the bridge of his nose. "I talked to your mother about something."
"About what?" I ask. What in the world could it be?
"About Prim. She says she's feeling depressed again." He says.
What I want to do is get up from this table, walk down the street to my old house and slap the shit out of her. But all I do is laugh. She was doing so good (Prim says), getting up early and doing all the chores instead of them piling around the home. Either waiting on me to do them or the roaches to find a new nest.
"So why did she talk to you about it?" I ask.
"Because.." He pauses for a second. "She says she needs a break."
I start laughing again. Not an amused laugh, a down right disgusted laugh. His expression stays flat.
"From what, being a mom? She choose to be!" I say when I finish my laugh.
"I don't know, Katniss. She just asked for us to check up on her more. But I had an idea." He says.
"And what would that be?" I ask, taking a deep breath and crossing my arms.
"That she moves in with us. Prim." He says.
Finally, something good out of this conversation. I don't mind this plan out all. I just feel bad that Prim was so excited that mother was 'back' to her old self before fathers death.
"We have the spare bedroom." He reminds me after I don't answer right away.
"Yes, I think that will be best." I say, taking another sip of my tea.
It's settled, Prim will move in with us on Saturday.
"What else is on your mind, Katniss?" He asks, reaching across the table to hold my hand.
I guess now would be the time to tell him about the conversation I had with the neighbor. I start from the beginning, trying to accurately quote each word he said. The whole conversation sounded so weird to me, I wonder if Gale's going to agree?
"Hmm, strange." He says. Close enough.
"Yeah, especially the part about the men." I say, Gale nods in head in agreement.
The next words slip out of my mouth before I can stop them-
"We should have him over for dinner one night soon." I say.
I feel like slapping myself in the head. But I can't help myself, I do feel slightly sadden by this mans story. He lost everything, and who knows the last time he had a warm meal… heck, a meal itself.
"Sounds like a good idea." He says. I can't believe he agrees to this, but he does.
We both agree on Saturday for that, too. I'll have to ask him tomorrow.
The next days go by rather quickly. No harm was done to the school. Mr. Hawk agreed for dinner after a few 'no's'. And on my second day of Music class, I still have the same children, they all do great, remembering all the words. The next two days drag a little, I have the middle grades. Their a little more 'energized' surprisingly then the younger ones. And then finally Friday is here-
I roll out of bed, and open the curtains, the bright early morning sun immediately hitting my face and making me shield my eyes. I sigh as I walk over to the dresser, changing from my nightclothes to another identical skirt that I wore Monday and a tank top with a long, short sleeved purple shrug over it. I brush my hair out, leaving it down and this time, for a change I decide on the heels. I slip them on. Their not overly tall, but enough to make me a good few inches taller. I sigh, I do not want to where these, but last night Gale saw them and suggested I should. And he didn't make any crude jokes about my accident in them last time. I walk down the stairs and my heels clank against each stair. There's nothing I hate more then that sound. All it reminds me of is our game escort Effie Trinket.
I carefully retrieve my game bag from the table, stuffing the lunch Gale packed for me in it and head out of the door. It's hard walking in heels that are to small and gravel. I almost trip several times, but I finally make it the school… on time.
I walk into my Music room and begin placing extra copies of the song on every few chairs (they ended up getting me more). I picked another lullaby, more like an actual song since it's kids no older then me and the other song was suited more for children. The next two hours while I wait for them I practice it on the Piano, trying to rid my mind of the busy day tomorrow, we have Prim moving in and the man coming for dinner. I continue practicing when the door opens and they pile into the room, finding a seat. This is the class I'm most nervous about, their all around my age, several even older (eighteen). I find my place at the music stand while the last few stragglers find a seat, some still on the ground. I begin with my introduction
"Ha, Mrs. Hawthorn. So you're the one that married the slut user?" A boy in the back says.
Unlike the little children, the teachers use this opportunity for a break. I try raking my brain of what Principle Maddox told me if there's conflict. I do my best to completely ignore his remark-
"… I only have a few extra copies so please share-"
"So he hasn't got you knocked up yet like the other girls?" Another boy says from upfront this time.
I feel a rush of anger run through me, not just at the boy, but at his comment. I open my mouth to speak but I'm interrupted again-
"Oh, he didn't tell you that sweetheart? Shocker!" The same boys says, sending the whole room in laughter.
"She probably hasn't even slept with him, she's to whole!" A girl says, making them laugh more.
I feel my cheeks begin flooding with rage, and I realize my hands are making fist at my side. I'm furious at them and their words. How dare they say this stuff to me. My eyes begin swelling with tears.
"Ha, like we can't take all ninety pounds of you, whore." A boy says when he sees my hands.
"No, she's more of an assho-"
"That's enough!" A boy yells from the back.
That boy is Peeta Mellark . . . . . . .
Chapter 7 Preview: What will Peeta have to say to these un-behaved kids? What else does this suspicious man have to say about the world before Panem, and the men dressed in black? Will it reveal secretes Panem never intended to reveal? And what funny, mischievous things will happen at a 'Hawthorn' sleep over?