Not real.

Chapter Eleven: Coming Home

*Gale*
   Katniss's mother insists that Katniss stay in the hospital for a few more days and no matter how much I complained Katniss refused to have me do nothing in the hospital for three days.
   So for the first time in almost four years I head out of the hospital and into District Twelve. It's different than I imagined. I still envision the burning rubble and ash covered ground but now it looks new and even better than it was when I grew up here. The chain link fence has been replaced by a white picket one, and there's nice houses everywhere with natural plants instead of coal dusted paths. As I walk around my home town memories from all the places I pass begin to surface.
   There is where I beat up Max, the schools "hot guy" that all the girls drooled over. He took it as a challenge when Katniss told him she didn't like him, and from that day on for a month he would flirt non-stop with her. Cuddling up to her and teasing her everywhere she went until I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed the back of his expensive jacket and dragged him outside. Before he could speak I broke his nose and told him never to touch her again.
    There is where Katniss and I would drag the occasional deer to Rooba the butcher, and there is where the Hob used to be, and there is where Katniss and I would split up after hunting...everyday.
   I find myself standing in front of the new fence. I haven't been in these woods for three years. I take a deep breath and hop over the fence.
The smell of pine immediately hits my nose and I close my eyes to take
it all in. I've missed this place. I make my way to our rock and sit down in my
spot. Here I can look out over the vast forrest and there's nothing but me and these woods for a few miles around.
This place brings back so many memories...before everything. I wonder if things will turn out better than they did before. I hope they do. The empty space next to me suddenly makes me lonely. I realize how much I've missed her all these years. When she showed up in those woods in district two that was the first thing I thought of. The minute her dark grey eyes met mine I knew that I would never be able to forget her. And it scared me. I didn't want to let myself in again just to hurt her again. It would be too painful to let her go a second time. And I'm determined not to.
With that in mind I make my way to my first snare trail. And there, like I had never left, is the wire still hanging from the tree. The tree where I met Katniss. And not five steps from there is where I fell in love with her. I still remember it.
See!? I told you! I told you you were going too high up the tree but noooo you wouldn't listen did you? And now your wrist is broken! You should have listened to me." She rolls her eyes, I'm sitting on the ground and I smile through my pain at her. "I guess you were right then." I admit sarcastically. "Yes, of course I was." She grins at her accomplishment. "So you can smile?"I ask and then I laugh. She punches me in the shoulder but laughs back at me "Come on let's get you to my mother" she groans.
I smirk at my sarcastic younger self. But it was that day that I knew I was a goner. She smiled more often after that and she trusted me more and more. And to this day every time she smiles it's like I'm 14 again.
   I sigh wondering if things will ever change between us. Maybe time will tell but I do know that I'm not going to walk out on her ever again. Not after how much she put herself through to get me back.
   With that in mind I make my way back to the hospital. It's dark outside now and the air is chilly. The stars are so much clearer here in the countryside than they are in district two.
   When I walk into Katniss's room she's asleep, so I make my way over to her on hunter's tread. She looks younger when she sleeps, less troubled. I kneel on the floor by her bed. Using a light touch, I trace her facial features. Her cheekbones, the bridge of her nose, her lips, her chin, her jawline, and then her forehead. I move a piece of hair that's fallen in front of her face behind her ear, and then plant a kiss on her temple.
"I will never be able to get over you will I?" I whisper to no one.
She sighs in her sleep and before I go to fall asleep in the chair in the corner of the room I kiss her hand.
"Goodnight Catnip."