Everthorne

Chapter 10

Gales POV

I hate District 2, I only lived there because I wanted to keep my mind of Katniss and all the terrible things that happened there. Now that I'm back at District 12, things are getting hard.

I love this place, but I hate it too. Everywhere I go it reminds me of the bombs, and how I had the chance to save more people, but I didn't. I didn't save everyone.

Right now I am deciding whether to stay or not. Both places seem like a nightmare to me.

I get up off the couch and quietly make my way to the kids rooms, making sure not to wake Katniss and Peeta. I open the wooden door to reveal the sleeping children in their beds. The room, it is beautiful. You can tell Peeta painted it. Prim's side of the room is painted orange, with small primroses painted sprouting around the wall. The orange blends into green and goes on Rues side. Instead of Primroses there are Rue flowers sprouting everywhere. Peeta has done a very good job.

Katniss's POV

When I woke up this morning to find a strange feeling in my stomach, like something bad has happened. I try to wiggle out of Peeta's grasp carefully but instead waking him up from his deep sleep.

"Katniss," he mutters under his breath.

"Stay,"

He puts his arms around me and pulls me closer. I would usually stay on normal days but not today. "I have to go Peeta," I say. He pulls me even tighter. "Why," he mutters. I try to wriggle out of his grasp. "I just got to go," I say. He doesn't let me go. "Where?" He asks. I try and think somewhere to go to.

"Hunting," I say.

He lets me go and I step onto the wooden floor. I turn to Peeta's sleeping figure on the bed. "Sleep well," I say and walk off into the corridor.

I walk down further into the corridor and stop at Prim and Rue's room. I don't know why. I decide to open the door. I am met with the sleeping figures of my children and Gale, sitting in between their beds and watching them.

"Gale?"

Gale looks up at me, his grey eyes tired. "Katniss,"

"I'm going hunting if you want to come,"

He stands up shakily. "Sure,"

Hunting, it is probably one of the best things I have done in years. Me and Gale ran around in the woods with our old bows shooting birds and such. Gale stopped. I look at him in question.

"Snares," he says. I nod and look up at the tree in behind me. I notice that it is perfect for climbing. I look back at Gale to find him setting up a snare. I turn back to the tree. I grab on a small branch and haul myself onto it. I'm not sure how the tree would handle me so I grab onto another branch for support. The tree seems to handle me pretty well so I climb up further. When I finally make it to the top I sit down on the branch and smile. I haven't climbed a tree since I had Rue, which was 7 years ago.

I sit there for a while, inhaling the forest air and gazing at the view of the forest that me and Gale ventured all those years ago. It is hard to imagine that long ago I went hunting here every day, not knowing what terrible things would happen in the future. I rest my head back onto the strong tree bark and close my eyes. For once I felt calm. I suddenly hear a loud crack beneath me. I quickly open my eyes and pull out my bow from behind me. I load my arrow and point at the sound but realise that it's just Gale on the branch below me.

"Gale," I sigh in relief. Gale pulls himself up onto my branch and sits next to me. "Thought I could join you," Gale says. I look back at the forest. I can feel Gale following my actions. "I haven't been hunting in a while, I was too caught up with the kids," I breathe before I can stop it. Gale looks to the ground. "And how long has that while been?" He asks me. I breathe in slowly. "Well..." I hesitate.

"Seven years," I say finally. I press my lips together in regret. I have had lots of chances to go hunting in the past, I just kept pushing the idea away. I can feel Gales head turn to my direction. "Well, your not too rusty for a whole 7 years of not hunting," Gale laughs. I smile. I have forgotten how good it felt with Gales presence around me.

For a while we just sit there on the tree branch, soaking in the view of the forest and remembering the old times before the games. It is nice actually, to take a break from my repetitive life of looking after the kids.

"I missed you, a lot," Gale says. I sigh. "I did too, but..." I feel a swarm of butterflies fly in my stomach. "I..." I say again. "You..." I feel a lump forming in my throat.

"You killed Prim," I blurt out. For the past few days I have been trying to forget about that, to pretend that Gale is completely innocent, but Gale is the cause of her death, it is all his fault. Gale shakes his head in regret.

"If I had the chance to change that I would without hesitation," Gale says. "But miracles aren't real,"

I don't know what to think. Whether I should forgive Gale or not. He is, after all my best friend, I don't want to lose that.

"You know Katniss, I never meant to hurt you like that, I loved you then," Gale blurts out. I look at his sparkling grey eyes in confusion. "And..." Gale looks away from me. "I still do,"

I shake my head. Life is hard when you have a husband and kids, but when someone who that means the world to you is also in love with you, it just makes life extremely unpredictable.

"I love you Katniss, no matter where you are, no matter how you feel about me, no matter what,"

I look back at his eyes. I don't know what to think, I don't know what to say. "I... Gale... You know I can't feel the same way about you," I mutter. I feel terrible. It surprising how easy it is to break someone's heart. "I know Katniss, but that isn't enough to change my feelings for you," Gale says. Gale's eyes, I remember when they were full of excitement and curiousness, but now they are full of sadness and love, especially for me.

"I want to feel something, I really do Gale... but I love Peeta... Peeta is my husband," I say. If only it were possible to somehow love Gale without hurting everyone around me. Gale nods his head sadly. "I know, and I am not here to change that,"

A moment of silence.

Then a moment of remembering.

Yes, he kissed me, or in more detail, I kissed him.

I leaned in then met my lips with his. At first I felt his surprise, then he kissed me back. Our bodies held each other in the way we did a long time ago. I have to admit, it felt good. It felt better then my kisses with Peeta. I felt his body heat as I put my arms around him. I don't even know why I kissed him, it must me because of how much I missed him. I slowly let go of his body and pulled away. I opened my eyes.

"I'm really sorry," I say as I made my way down the tree.

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Hello my children!
So, I finally updated. This chapter took me a while because I kept on getting everything wrong. So, I am not sure If this story is very good but I am trying my best. I kept on trying to write the kiss but I have never kissed anyone, let alone have a boyfriend so I didn't know how it feels (it was very awkward to write, especially that I wrote it at school). Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter :)
-Hanna🌚