Toast (an everlark fanfic)

Chapter 9

KATNISS' POV

I awoke screaming as I usually do, except this time is different, because Peeta isn't here. Instead of waking up to his warm embrace, I'm greeted by a screeching infant

"Shhh.... its okay Oakley" I whisper, but his cries seem to get louder every second, Peeta is always able to calm him down

I try so hard to hold it together, but after a few minutes, my emotions burst at the seem, and I start bawling

"I can't help you" I cry

"Daddy is gone" I say my throat hurts so bad from crying that my voice crackles

I start to shake, Oakley continues to cry. I lay him down on the bed beside me, where Peeta is supposed to be

"Peeta come back please!" I cry, but I know he can't hear me, I'm alone

Somehow through my sobs I hear a pounding on my door

"Go away!" I yell angrily

But he opens the door anyways

"Katniss, it's okay" Gale says, reaching over to me

"You're not Peeta!" I yell, pushing away from him. His eyes flash with hurt but the doesn't give up

"No Katniss" he says, swallowing hard

"I'm not, but I know who Peeta was and he wouldn't want me to let you sit in here by yourself screaming for him" Gale lays a hand on my arm

"Stop talking about him as if he were dead" I say, I try so hard stay strong, but eventually I break down and let Gale hold me while I cry into his chest

I occasionally mutter "You're not Peeta" to him, but he doesn't let go, he doesn't let what I say affect what he set out to do

"Katniss.... I don't want you to be by yourself at night anymore" Gale starts, but I cut him off quickly and sharply

"You are not going to stay with me Gale" I say, pushing him away, even though I can tell he's annoyed with me, he chuckles slightly

"I wasn't suggesting it... I was thinking maybe your mother" he said, I looked up and nodded. Gale finally stood up to leave once Oakley and I were settled, but before he left the room, he turned to me

"I will never try to replace Peeta.... but I won't let you suffer" that's all he says, and he walks away, leaving me alone with my thoughts, my nightmares.

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I wake up and turn to my alarm clock; 7;30, I decide to go find Gale, leaving Oakley with mom, even though I haven't even begun to forgive him for what he did to me, to panem, I find comfort in his familiarity

I found the door to the weapons artilaty, but stop dead in my tracks when I catch the last of a conversation station between him, Haymitch and Plutarch

"Commander Hawthorne are you sure about this?" Asks Plutarch

"I need to, I can't stand seeing Katniss like this, I hate to admit it but Peeta is her everything, and she needs him back"

"We don't even know if he's still alive" Plutarch says

"He's alive Plutarch" Haymitch butts in

"The earliest clearance I got from Paylor was next week" Plutarch says, I can hear the hesitancy in his voice, he knows Gale won't be okay with that

"Peeta and Bare could be dead by then!" Gale yells

"There is a really high chance they already are!" Plutarch raises his voice

"Look I can't do anything better than that, Hawthorne, so take it or leave" Plutarch says with an annoyed tone

"Fine" Gale says as he angrily stomps out of the room

I start to walk back to my room, but end up running when I hear my mom scream

"Oakley!!" 

this one is a little but longer, but tbh im not trying too hard to make them long, im going for short and painful, trying to plot twist every chapter but i might run out of plot twists! (for Petra)