Everthorne - short story collection

The explosion

Katniss pov
After the games, gales family was struggling even more than usual to make ends meet. I hunt for them, I give them whatever money I can, but even if I did win the hunger games, the prize was a meager amount of money, and not enough to supply two full families. So Gale went off twelve hours a day to work in those dreaded mines.

It was early. Maybe seven in the morning. That's when the sirens rung night and clear in the air. There was a mine explosion. And Gale was on his workshift.

I ran to my mothers room crying loudly, not caring at all at the moment. "Mom!! Mom wake up!!" I screamed through tears. "MOM THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION." She rolled over and looked at me. My chest heaved as I Cried out. "Mom gale... Gale..." I cried and collapsed on the ground. "We have to go see if he's ok. There was an explosion. Mom what am I gonna do without him. Mom. MOM." I was panicing. My mother was already out of bed, fetching our shoes. "Katniss. I know it's hard for you. I know how much you love him. But we have to go. There's still a chance he's ok." My mother says. I slowly stand. We walk to the door. I'm still sobbing loudly.

We reach the mines. There is smoke billowing out of the opening. "Oh my god..." I whisper. Numb tears run down my cheeks. The elevators continue to bring up smoking miners. Some are hurt. Some look just a little beat up. And some are thrown into wooden boxes, cold and dead.
The chief signals that he last elevator of survivors is coming up. I panic again. "Mom..." She holds light to my pale dry hand. The elevator slowly makes its way up. I see a couple men standing up right, and one slouched over on the floor of the elevator. I realize that man on the floor is Gale.

I run over to him with my mother. Us and a couple of miners that made it helped us bring him back to our house. All this time, I'm still crying. I don't even know if he's gonna live.

We finally get to our house. It's just me and my mother again. We lay Gale on the counter. We find that that he has a deep cut on his head, and lots of bruises. It looks horribly painful. I hope he doesn't wake up.

And as if on command, he wakes. He groans a little, and then winces, and then cries out, which only makes his cut bleed even more. "Gale.. Shh it's gonna be ok." I say nervously. He doesn't looks good. My mother gives him some medicine, while I try to keep him calm enough for her to work. I run my fingers through his hair, and we look strait into eachothers eyes. A tear slips out of mine. I pretend it didn't. I see that the pain is getting unbearable for Gale. "Mom can you give him something?" I say. I sound pleading and desperate, and very much on the verge of tears. So she gives him and injection. "Gale. I'm going to need you to try to stand up ok?" My mother says. He nods ok. So slowly but surely, he makes it over to our couch, where my mother has Layed out sheets for him. He sits down. I can tell he's so tired he can barley keep his eyes open. "How am I gonna feed them now. The mines are closed down." He says sadly. I look him right in the eye. "We'll do it together. I won't let them starve." I say. "Thanks catnip" he says back.

My mother bids us goodnight. I'm sleeping on a rocking chair, and Gale on the couch. I look over at him. I catch him staring at me. He doesn't look away. He just looks at me, and smiles. "You know it's insane how in love with you I am, right?" He says. I get up from my chair and sit on the couch next to where he's lying down. I kiss his forehead and smile. A genuine one. "Does that mean you love me to?" He asks mischievously. I laugh at this. "Yes Gale Hawthorne. I love you." I say. I say the last part seriously. "You know I literally thought you were dead. I thought I would never see you again. I thought you would end up like our fathers. You were on the last elevator up. God I thought I was gonna loose you." I say. Gale looks at me with all seriousness now. "When the explosion happend, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I got pinned under a mound of rock. And all I could think about was you, and our woods, and how much I would have just loved to be with you by the pond with all the flowers. And I thought about how you would feel and my family would feel... He says. He's sitting up now. I try to hide my tears, but I can't, obviously, from Gale. He knows me to well. He pulls me into his lap. "I thought you were dead. God I thought. I thought... I love you." I say. I feel his chest rising and falling unsteadily. I look up and see that he's crying too. I've never seen Gale cry before. I brush the tears away with my hand, and lean in and gently kiss him on the lips. When I pull back, I look in his eyes and see my own sadness reflected there.

I wind up just falling asleep with Gale. My arms are wrapped tightly around him. His are around me, holding tightly like we're gonna loose eachother if we let go. I slowly fall asleep to the feeling of gales finger tips brushing my hair. The medicine must finally be making him feel a little better and numb the pain a bit. Before I slip into sleep, I kiss his forehead and whisper "I love you." And it's true.