A/N - My dear readers... Chapter 12 is here! LOTS of drama! And still more to come. This is personally my favorite chapter yet and I believe my longest. Hope you guys like it as much as I do! Now the storm in this chapter was inspired by the Tornado in Oklahoma but in NO way do I mean to mock or not take the situation seriously! Hope none of my readers were effected!
Josh Y95- You definitely will see a short(at least) conversation between Gale and Peeta soon, remember, Rory's on the wrestling team now! ;) Thanks for the reviews everyone, they mean so much!
Anywho, not much to say about this chapter.. It's pretty intense(to me). I'm not going to give you a preview on Chapter 13 but all I can say is more drama, and where the end of this chapter leaves off, the next will begin a bit with humor;) ;) ;). Well, Chapter 13 WILL be up Saturday! I will not be able to update friday, apologizes! But for now.. Chapter 12 awaits you! Much love - Macayla
I have to do a double take, but the flames are there. Home's catch fire all the time in twelve, they usually burn to the ground. Hazel and the kids are going to lose what little they had. I feel powerless, and I am. Sadly there is nothing I can do. There's only one option and that option comes. A group of Peacekeeper's emerges from the storm, making a semi circle around the house and spraying some giant white substance. I've seen them do this before and it can work if the fire is not to big. The flames coming from the house aren't huge, their only pouring out from the windows and doors, smoke billowing from the roof though. I look over to see a sobbing Hazel, clutching on to an expressionless, confused Posy. Rory's jaw is tightened in anger and a crying Vick has an arm around his mother. I walk up to her-
"Mrs. Hazel?" I say calmly, getting her attention.
She lets out small sound from the back of her throat before she throws her one arm that's not holding Posy around me. I hug her back of course.
"I'm so sorry. What happened?" I ask. Another loud clap of thunder sounds, scaring Posy.
She pulls away from the hug and nods her head sadly in reply. I take that as an answer. We stand there, staring as the Peacekeepers work to fight off the flames. It must be a hopeless, painful feeling to watch your own home, with all your personal belongings, burn. I feel those emotions and it's not even my home. But I watch as the home I spent three months in with the Hawthorns, the place where I told Gale I loved him burn to the ground.
"Please, come in." Says the woman who must own the house we are using as rain shelter.
Were still getting soaked even though were under the porch, Prim, Rory and Vick follow her in. Hazel sets Posy down-
"Go with your brothers and Prim." She says, subsiding her sobs long enough to get the words out.
Posy nods and follows them, I gesture for my mother to join them and she does. Hazel folds her hands together, placing them under her chin. For a second I think she forgets I'm there, watching the home burn with her. She looks at me again-
"Oh Katniss!" She says in a whisper, I can barely hear the words. The sound of the rain almost over shadows them.
She wraps her arms around me again, clutching onto the back of my jacket. We turn our faces to see the smoke raising as we continue the embrace. She's a bit taller then me. I would say that's where Gale get's his tallness from but he said his father was taller. Gale stands at least almost seven feet. The day I meet someone taller then him, I will be utterly shocked. He said that other kids in his school classes his whole life would call him 'Big Foot' jokingly, not rudely. Big Foot was some mythical creature our ancestors use to believe lived in the woods or mountains.
"I wish Gale was here." She says, through her sobs and breaking me of my thoughts.
"I know," I reply, rubbing her back. "Me too."
We stand there for another good few minutes before I decide we should head in, before she gets sick or my own cold gets worse. So far the nausea has stayed away and I'm grateful for that.
"We should go inside. They know were over here." I say. The Peacekeepers have the flames somewhat under control, I can barely see the flames through the still blinding rain.
She nods her head in answer and I take her hand and she follows me into her neighbors house. It's a small house when we enter, but the lady is right there at the door. She smiles at us as she leads us into the small living room. It's a closed off room from the rest of the house. I sit next to Hazel on the couch and Posy runs up into her lap.
"Mama, what's going on? Why are we here? Why are you crying? Why-"
"Posy, please!" She shouts. I've never seen Hazel shout at her children this way.
I reach over and guide Posy into my lap, but before I can speak to her there's a knock at the door. The lady goes off to answer it.
"Posy.." I say but I lose my words. How am I supposed to tell a four year old that her house is gone?
"Mom?" Says a voice from the doorway.
Gale.
He's standing there, soaking wet in his mining uniform. Hazel jumps up, throwing herself into Gale's arms. He looks at me over her shoulder and I give him a sadden smile. I have no idea how Gale managed to leave the mines, especially taking over that mans shift and how he knew we would be over here. Just then there's another knock on the door. The woman leaves again to answer it as Gale leads Hazel back to the couch, I scoot over and he sits in between me and his mother. He gives me a quick peck on the lips before turning his attention back to his weeping mother.
"What happened?" He asks. You can hear the mixed and confused emotions in his tone.
But Hazel doesn't have time to answer as four Peacekeeper's walk into the living room. Soaked just like Gale.
"Mrs. Hawthorn?" One of the Peacekeeper's asks. For a second I thought he was talking to me, but I forget me and Hazel are both 'Mrs. Hawthorn'.
Hazel sits up straighter.
"We have successfully put out most of the flames." Says the same Peacekeeper.
"You very lucky it was and is raining miss." Says another one. The original Peacekeeper speaks again-
"Yes. There are still a few burning embers but the storm has gotten to heavy for us to continue working in. I have to do what's best for my men, miss. But the rain should put them out though." He says.
For a split second I'm grateful, their gone, their put out. And the way they made it sound, the house will be alright, not good, but alright. But his next words steal that joy.
"Also, I'm sorry but the house is not livable or safe. We will have some of our men escort you after the storm to collect what can be salvaged." He says, nodding his head once.
"Thank you." Hazel manages.
Just as they turn to leave a sudden, an ear piercing sound cracks outside. There's also a sound of a window somewhere in the house shattering. A few of us let out frighten yelps at both sounds. The Peacekeeper's run out the front door. For a second I think it's just lightning that hit extremely close, but I notice the howling sound coming from outside. This isn't just any storm…
"Get down!" Says Gale, practically pushing me, Posy and Hazel to the ground.
Everyone else follows, laying flat on the ground with out hands over our heads. They teach us this in school early. Hazel throws herself on top of Posy, Rory and Vick, My mother over Prim and Gale over myself. I feel bad, extremely bad that I'm not throwing myself on top of my own mother and sister. It's my job to protect them. I start to get up but Gale is laying completely flat over my body.
"Don't move." He says, his lips are pressed up against my ear. The howling sound grows louder, almost defining.
But I don't listen, I muster up all my strength push myself up. Just as I stand though, the window on the wall shatters. Sending glass flying at me and on top of everyone else. I have just enough time to feel several sharp strings before I feel Gale knock me on the ground, literally throwing himself on top of me.
"I told you to stay down!" He screams at me.
But even though he screams it I can barely hear him. The shattered window lets in high winds and rain. Were all getting soaked again but that's the least of my worries. The howling sound is louder then ever. Everyone is letting out small screams and yelps that I can barely hear. The only thing I can hear is my own heartbeat pounding inside my head. I can feel Gale's hand on top of my own I have over my head and the sharp stings through out different places on my body. The sound and wind picks up the most yet but only for a few seconds. After that… silence. The rain, wind, sound, it just…
Stops.
I feel Gale raise up just a bit but he presses his hands down on mine, making me stay.
"Stay down." He says.
The silence is completely… silent. All you can hear is the eight of us breathing, and the woman. Gale slowly undo's his hands from me and slowly raises. I've had my eyes closed the whole time and I'm almost scared to open them, but I do. I don't find nearly as much destruction as I thought I would, everything is still intact expect the window and the littered debris that came in through it. I stand up and so does everyone else.
"Is everyone ok?" Gale asks, getting to the question before me.
Everyone either answers 'Yes' or manages some kind of moan. I look around and there doesn't appear to be any major injuries.
"What was that?" Prim chokes out.
"Tornado probably." Gale says flatly.
My mother walks over to me, immediately examining my small puncture wounds. She instructs me to take my heavy jacket off. I almost refuse, I'm soaking wet and freezing cold from the weather but I listen anyways. I undo the zipper and pull it down my back, the freezing, now slow wind hitting my bare arms. I only have my short sleeved shirt on under it. Gale take's the jacket from me as my mother starts to exam my small wounds. The glass must have been sharp enough to go through my jacket. My mother first picks out the glass from my arms, I have at least four on each arm. I wince slightly as she does. Hazel leaves the living room taking the boys and Posy with her, most likely to see what's left of the house. I look over to Gale and I can tell he's contemplating staying with me or being there for his mother, I remember Hazel's words when we were on the porch-
"Go." I tell him.
He shifts from foot to foot, not listening to my direct words. I tell him again but he still stands there. Finally I shout the word to him and finally he walks out, joining Hazel and the kids.
"Stubborn men." My mother says quietly to me, I chuckle.
As my mother starts to work at the wounds on my chest and collarbone area I start to feel another wave of nausea come over me.
"Deep breaths." She reminds me.
I do and after a few seconds it seems to work. Prim see's this though and asks if I'm ok. I tell her I have the stomach flu. She nods her head in answer.
"Prim, why don't you go see if Mrs. Hazel needs anything?" She says to Prim. Her tone is more of an order rather then a question.
She nods her head and the woman who owns the house were still in walks her to the door. My mother goes back to working on my wounds. I wince again when she pulls out a big piece from my chest.
"Sorry hon. Next time you might just have to listen to your husband!" She comments jokingly.
"My stubborn husband?" I reply. We both give light laughs.
It's another first for us in the past few years, laughing together. I can see the pure joy on my mothers face. Am I glad were getting to some type of relationship? Yes. But I still find myself unforgiving.
"I never got to finish my question from earlier. Katniss, " She lowers her voice and looks me directly in the eyes. ".. do you think you could be-"
"Mrs. Everdeen? There's a few injured people in town, they need you!" Rory informs us.
My mother gives me a questioning look and I tell her I'm fine, telling her the truth.
"Ok. Just make sure to clean the wounds with clean water as soon as you can." She says.
I nod my head and my mother leaves the room. I follow behind her, down the small hallway and out the door. The woman is holding the door open and I bid her thank you and goodbye's. I turn around and stand on the porch to look across the street. Now that the rain has completely stopped I can see the remains of the house clearly now. All that remains are the walls, black and charred. The roof is completely gone and the porch is gone. Hazel, Gale and the kids are standing in front of it, Hazel in Gale's arms. I walk off the porch and observe the Seam road. It's completely littered with every sort of debris from the storm, even some ash from the fire. All the houses look to be mostly intact though. Rory is leading my mother down the road, toward the town.
I walk over to Gale, Hazel and the kids, taking my jacket from Vick and pulling it on. Hazel undoes her arms from around Gale and hugs me.
"I can't believe I was so stupid!" She exclaims through her tears. I feel Vick wrap his arms around us.
"It will be ok, mama." He says.
I look over Hazel's shoulder and at Gale. He's staring blankly at the charred home, his jaw tightened in anger. He looks just like an older Rory. I know, as his wife I should be comforting him. I politely undo my arms from her and walk past her, toward Gale. I wrap my arms around him from his backside, he immediately turns around, burying his head into my neck. For a second, I didn't understand why Gale would be completely upset and devastated, none of his belongings where there anymore, he would only be upset for his family. But then I can only imagine, to loose the house you grew up in… with you're father. And I'm sure there were belongings there of his father still. I'm about to say something to him but he leaves my embrace, walking to the rubble home.
"Gale?" I say, grabbing his arm, remembering what the Peacekeeper said about it being dangerous and having one of them escort us. He stops and Hazel repeats those words to him.
"They don't own the damn house." He says.
He yanks his arm from my grasp and continues anyways. There's no door, barely any front wall actually. All the other walls are there mostly though, black but there. For some reason I run and follow Gale into the remains. I hear Hazel behind me. It's weird, to see the place I lived with Gale for three months, the place I first told Gale I loved him just… gone. Prim, stays with Vick and Posy while we start shifting through the piles of ash, fallen roof structures, charred furniture and other belongings. My only current wish is that the sun would come out and warm things up, it's still extremely overcastted but at least it's not raining anymore. For the next few minutes we continue to search, the nausea hits me again. Gale asks and I tell him the stomach flu-
"Katniss, you don't need to be doing this. Go home, I'll be there when I can." He replies, stopping from picking up a piece of burnt wood.
"I'm fine, I promise." I say as it begins to subside. I bend down, helping him with the piece of wood.
I'm thankful, he doesn't argue back but he starts to get utterly annoying. Not letting me do… anything really. But I still do it anyways, when he's not looking. Another few minutes go by when Hazel finally tells us how the house caught fire. She tells us that lightning struck something nearby, the noise startled her, sending the candle she was holding to the ground and on top of the laundry piled on the floor. She said it immediately burst into flames quickly and she panicked.
An hour goes by and we manage to salvage a lot of belongings considering the condition the house is in. We find a lot of clothing surprisingly and other personal items. Some of Posy's toys, a few of Vick's books and so on. I walk into what's left of Vick's bedroom to find only a fragment left of his science project. I feel bad, extremely bad it's ruined. He was so proud of it, Seam kids are rarely able to make them. Gale gives me a sadden smile. After we collect what can be salvaged, we talk for a bit about what is next. Gale and I agree that the only option is for them to live with us until, well, something can be worked out at the Justice Building. Sometime's they will grant families new homes after it is destroyed, but not all the time. You have to almost open a 'case' of sorts, taking it to the high up officials in our District Twelve government. I think about offering my mother's home, knowing it's much bigger then Gale and I's but the home is most likely filled with ill patients from the storm currently, and it's filled with them more often then not. The things I see myself are no good for Posy, or even Vick and Rory. We grab the items we saved, leaving the remains behind. I'm the last to walk out of what's left of the home when I notice one, single item we somehow managed to look over. The picture of Gale's father is still hanging on the completely burned wall. The only thing the picture has is a crack in the glass, but besides that, the flames didn't touch it. I'm utterly shocked at the sight of it.
"Gale?" I say, getting his attention. He turns around, joining my gaze to the wall.
He doesn't even say anything but takes it off the wall, tucking it under his arm and giving me another quick peak on the lips. We join Hazel in telling the kids of the new living arrangements. It will be tight, but we will somehow manage. There is no way we could not take them in, they are my family now. We all walk back to Gale and I's home, it's quiet, no one talking to each other. I feel my stomach clench up but the nausea never comes thankfully. I contemplate taking a quick walk into town, to see what damage the storm did but I choose not to, I've seen enough destruction today. We come up on the house and walk inside, gratefully we have no damage but for a few shingles missing on the roof. Gale suggest we put the salvaged items in our bedroom for now, we all go upstairs, dumping it all into the corner of the room. As we are all (besides Gale) walking back downstairs I wonder to myself how in the world were going to make this work. We only have two, occupied bedrooms. Gale comes back downstairs from changing and I help him on starting on dinner. I immediately throw my arms around him though, we have been more apart then together this whole week. I crash my lips into his, not like the small ones he gave me earlier, it's a lingering, lustful kiss. He breaks it off though and I sigh.
"I've missed you." He says, tucking a piece of stray hair behind my ear.
"Missed you, too." I reply.
I let another sigh out as he ends our embrace and begins on dinner. I start to help him and I grab one of the dead squirrels, but as soon as I begin my usual routine of skinning it, I run upstairs to the bathroom throwing up again. There was absolutely no way I could have held it. After a few seconds I feel someone holding my upbraided hair from my face. It's Gale of course. I'm about to comment on how unflattering this must be to him but another wave of nausea and vomit interrupt that. Gale starts rubbing my back with his other hand, talking soothing words to me. After I finish vomiting again Gale watches as I wash my mouth out. I finish and follow Gale into the bedroom, I walk past him and bury myself under the covers in the bed. The exhaustion hasn't gotten better and now my head aches with a stinging feeling. Gale gets me tucked in before he goes back downstairs, only to come back up, telling me his mother is already cooking for us. We lie there, not talking as he cradles me.
I must have dozed off because next thing I know Gale is waking me, telling me dinner is ready. I am surprised at how much better I feel, I'm not quite hungry but I follow Gale downstairs and into the kitchen, taking a seat beside Gale. Hazel places a plate of roasted squirrel and grilled rabbit in front of me, hesitantly. I nod my head for her, telling her it's ok. Gale and Rory start sparking funny, conversations, trying to lighten the mood and it works. We completely forget about the tragedy today as we listen, and even put our inputs in about Rory's 'line of girls' and how he's much hotter then Panem's sex symbol Finnick Odair. I manage a few bites of the food, the warmness feeling good to my stomach. After were finished Hazel, Posy and the boys clean up dinner, insisting that they do. I don't complain much and neither does Gale. I retreat to the bathroom again to wash and clean my wounds like mother told me. My stomach feels almost a hundred percent better and I smile when I hear Gale's footsteps behind me. It's been almost a week since we have 'done anything', the longest we've gone. Even though it has been that long, the sudden lustfulness comes on so suddenly. We get upstairs and into the bedroom, I pull my jacket I still had on off. My wounds are acutely barley noticeable but I know I need to clean them before infection has time to set in. But right now that's not my main priority. I turn around, meeting Gale's eyes.
"We need to clean your wounds." He tells.
He walks over to me, reaching his hands out to touch my arms but before he does, I push him onto the bed. Before he has time to say or do anything I jump on top of him, straddling him. I say my next words seductively,
"I think we have something else to take care of first." . . . . . .