THE MAN IN THE HANGING TREE | Gale Hawthorne

FIFTEEN - There Are No Winners

YOUR POINT OF VIEW

The shining silver train pulls into District Twelve, the train that is bringing my friends home. It stops at the small station with a screech on the tracks, metal grinding against metal sends a spray of orange sparks in the air. 

Everyone stands waiting, eagerly watching the doors for the new victors of District Twelve. Everyone wears their best clothes again, like we do at Reapings. This is, after all, a momentous occasion.

I wear a yellow floral dress, it flows out around my thighs to my knees. Light and breezy for the hot summer weather.

There will be a party in the square tonight, celebrating the victory. But I know Katniss won't go to it. She likes to avoid people as much as possible, and after what she's been through I suspect she'll want to even more.

Peeta might go to the square, for a few minutes with his family. But he won't want to be the center of attention-- I can't  blame either of them for their new tendencies though.

I can't imagine the horrors they witnessed in the arena, what they had to endure while they were away. Watching it on screen, I reckon, is nothing compared to actually being there. They had to kill children, pawns of the Capital, innocents.

I can barely shoot a bow at a tree, I can't imagine how hard it was for them to fight for their lives in there. How hard it must have been to kill.

Gale's hand clutches mine abruptly in the dense crowd, and I'm suddenly aware of our close proximity. His body warms me beside him, though I do not need the heat with the beating sun, I savor his familiar touch like I'll never have it again.

He loves me, and I'm positive I love him, I just can't say the words.

I can't say three simple words.

I'm nothing like my brave friends who survived literal hell in the arena nothing like brave Gale who protects everyone relentlessly.

I'm a coward.

I am interrupted from my negative thoughts when the doors of the train open with a hiss, and there stands Katniss and Peeta-- hand in hand. The star-crossed lovers of District Twelve.

Everyone cheers for them as they raise their intertwined hands, smiling brightly. But there's something wrong, something wrong with them and their smiles.

Something is up between the two of them, because I know that both of their smiles are fake.

»»---------------------►

The crowd celebrates into the night, long after the arrival of their tributes now victors. But Gale and I, after giving her a couple hours to settle in, go to find Katniss at her new home in Victor's Village.

She opens the door instantly when we knock, pulling us inside by our shoulders, she glances around outside before shutting the door once more. Paranoid about something it seems. 

"God, Catnip." Gale hugs Katniss tightly, she buries her face in the crook of his neck. Comfortably they hold each other, as if they've done it a hundred times.

A pang of jealousy resonates inside me as I watch the two of them from only a foot away, then I scold myself for feeling such things.

Katniss and Gale are just best friends.

Gale loves me.

I can't even tell him I love him back.

I'm a terrible person.