THE MAN IN THE HANGING TREE | Gale Hawthorne

SIXTEEN - The First Snow

YOUR POINT OF VIEW

It has been a few months now since Katniss and Peeta got back, and since then fall has slowly crept up upon District Twelve. Turning the leaves orange and gold, turning the warm air cool. it's beautiful, but the threat of snow hangs in the air-- a death sentence for us if unprepared. 

Thankfully, my house is heavily insulated, and harbors a fireplace in each room. As long as we have dry kindling, we will be just fine, but I can't say the same for those who reside in the Seam.

School has started once more, and I'm back for my final year-- but this year is oh so different.

Gale has gone to work in the mines now that he's turned nineteen. The work there is brutal and unsafe, under thousands of tons of rock threatening to collapse as he slaves away. One spark within all that coal would be a catastrophe, an inferno of flame would commence. 

I worry about him every single day, but am relived to see him at the end of the day, merely tried and covered in coal dust. Sweaty and exhausted, but very much alive.

We are officially dating now too, not that titles really matter all that much. He loves me, and I love him-- I just haven't been able to tell him that yet.

Katniss and Peeta are attempting to fit back in to Twelve as best they can, but after everything, even their warm welcome home, I can tell they feel like outsiders.

They both go to school occasionally, Peeta more so than Katniss. He's better at pretending he's alright, better at coping I presume. 

Katniss hunts more often now, and Peeta is generally in his family's bakery-- they both have different ways to cope.

So far, Snow hasn't even attempted to retaliate yet. I haven't had a single threat since everything happened. 

Haymitch Abernathy has been keeping a close eye on me nonetheless, to the point where it's honestly starting to annoy me.

He asks me whenever I see him if I've seen anything suspicious, if I have any concern that Snow may be trying something, if I feel safe.

It's always the same answers: No, I haven't seen anything suspicious. No, I don't think that Snow has tried, or is trying, anything yet. And no, I don't feel safe. I'll never feel safe in District Twelve as long as Panem is under the control of the Capitol.

He calls our house a lot too, the only houses with phones in District Twelve are the mayor's and the victors'. I've also seen him out and about in town in these last months, more than I have in my entire life.

He's keeping an eye on Katniss and Peeta too I can tell, and I made him promise me to keep Gale safe which he agreed to solemnly.

If something happened to Gale, I will never be able to forgive myself.

»»---------------------►

A thin layer of snow has fallen over District Twelve, blanketing the earth in glittering ice where the coal dust used to settle.

It's the first snow of the season, and despite the cold, my room is rather warm as I wake, due to the blazing hearth in front of my bed-- the maid must have started it while I was sleeping.

I make my way downstairs wrapped in my silk robe, yawning and stretching my aching limbs.

It's a quiet morning, you can't even hear the birds chirping from outside. The only sound is the crackling fires in the various fireplaces around the house, and the sound of my parent's low chatter in the dinning room.