THE MAN IN THE HANGING TREE | Gale Hawthorne

TWENTY FIVE - Breaking Free From Control

YOUR POINT OF VIEW

As the cold winter days transition into the mild spring of District Twelve, there are no more incidents involving Snow or any of his peacekeepers.

Thank god.

For the moment, it seems as if we're safe, but I know better than to think Snow has completely forgotten about us.

He's planning something, I know that.

Life has gone back to normal though, with Gale and I still together.

I go to to school and he goes to work in the mines, and after a long day of bullshit we usually fall asleep in each other's arms. On weekends we spend the entire day together. We've become kind of inseparable since my confession.

My relationship with my father, my real, biological father, Haymitch Abernathy, has flourished into a strong bond as well.

Sure, it is a strained bond, we barely know each other, but we learn more about each other everyday.

For instance, I learned that he has nightmares almost every night. About the games he was in with my aunt, about his mom and little brother getting killed, about losing me and my mother...

Sometimes I stay over at his house in Victor's Village for dinner and for the night, he'll scream in his sleep, trash about. He only calms when I'm able to wake him, hold him well he's crying.

I understand why he drinks all the time now, if I was in position I would too.

Thankfully, Haymitch approves of Gale, quite reluctantly, but still it's a start. At least he approves, after a couple death threats to my poor boyfriend.

I had a little heart to heart with my fake dad, the dad who raised me, Jack Undersee, too.

He had pulled me into his office one day, with a sort of sad smile on his face. "I hope you know, I always loved you, continue to love you, as if you were, are, my own daughter." He told me.

I promptly threw my arms around him. "You'll always be my father, I hope I can still call you that, now I just have two fathers. I love you too."

Katniss and I had grown even closer too, she started going to school again just to get her mind off things. She sticks by my side most days.

She even tried to give me my aunt's pin back, my pin, the mockingjay pin.

"This belongs to you, you should have it back." She said, pressing it into my hand.

"No, Katniss." I shook my head. "You're the mockingjay, Panem needs you." I told her, pinning it back on her jacket.

"People keep saying that! I have no idea what they mean by 'Panem needs you'." She threw her hands up in frustration.

I just smiled at her in return.

Through all of this, whisperings of a rebellion were still heard. Gale with his still burning personality, continued his full belief in taking down the Capitol, and I am right with him in those thought.

The Capitol needs to fall, Snow needs to fall.

We both believe that with a passion.

It's almost comical thinking back on these past few months. Snow claimed he controlled us, all of us, but as of late, it seemed as if he had no influence on us at all.

Snow doesn't control my life, doesn't control me, I can't afford to let him.

He doesn't control my actions, he doesn't control my thoughts, he doesn't control the happy times I share with my mom and dad, the bonding time I share with Katniss, or the intimate moments I share with Gale in the dark of night.