The Star-Crossed Lovers from District 12 (Wattys Finalist 2013)

Chapter 21

Everyone’s mouth drops open except for Gale’s. Gale had a smile on his face, and he’s crying. He wraps his arms around her then gives her a kiss.

“I love you,” he says.

“I love you to,” she says.

“Congratulations” says Peeta. She looks so glad that, that’s off her chest even though she’s only been hiding it for a few days. Now she can admit that she’s going to be a mother and Gale is going to be a father. I couldn’t be happier. My mom gives her a hug.

When I look at Claudia’s face I can tell something is wrong. I can’t tell if she’s mad or crying. I go up to her.

“Are you okay?” I ask. She shakes her head so I give her a hug. Everything will be fine and I hope she knows it.

“Now that, that’s over with I don’t know if you noticed but we are still in a jail cell,” says Gale. Peeta walks over to me and puts his arm around me. Now I have to get serious I want to get out of the Capitol and never look back. I gather them all in the corner again and plot out how we are going to get out of here. The Peacekeepers switch shifts of standing there talking to another Peacekeeper and two more come in after about an hour. Every Peacekeeper has keys on their left hip. I would just use the keys that were on my uniform but they confiscated them without me even knowing. Sadly that’s all I got. There are no vents and we have no weapons.

We are in this cell for at least a week one meal a day. And every meal is a small bowl of soup and a small roll. We each get one pillow and one blanket which means we sleep on the cold floor. I can tell everyone is starting to get annoyed that we’ve been waiting for so long. The routine is the same every day. We get up, complain how our back hurts, an angry Peacekeeper would torment us, we’d eat, then Paylor would come in and intimidate us threatening to kill us, Haymitch would complain because there is no alcohol , then we would all just talk then go back to bed. It’s sort of nice that they don’t torture us here but it would be a lot nicer being home with Peeta, cuddling next him by our fireplace then eventually falling asleep in his arms. Instead we’re freezing so I stay in Peeta’s arms to keep warm, and I’m lucky if I get two hours of sleep. Peeta comes up behind me and puts his arms around me.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hey,” I say. He pulls me into the corner.

“Katniss, we got to get out of here.”

“I know, I just can’t think of anything right now. It’s too much to think of. It’s really been the only thing on my mind and I can’t find a single way out unless I have a weapon or anything else I don’t have.”

“I think I have an idea.” We gather everyone in the corner. Peeta’s idea is really good. I really should leave him in charge of things more often. When it comes to fighting I always thought he was a weak link, but after spending the last two years living with each other I’ve found out that he’s really strong and he’s capable of more than I thought. Another reason why I love him.  Since it’s getting late though, we will do it first thing in the morning. I’m the only one that can’t seem to sleep, I will wake everyone up early when the Peacekeeper’s are still sleeping. Peeta and I lay down in our corner while Gale and Claudia lay down in theirs. I feel sorry for my mom, Haymitch and Plutarch. Since they don’t have anyone to lay next to and stay warm they’re forced to lay by themselves, cold. I’m still cold even though Peeta has his arms around me at night. Right before I close my eyes Peeta starts to whisper in my ear,

“How old are they?” he asks.

“Gale is twenty three and Claudia is twenty.”

“Isn’t that a little young to be having a baby?”