Ablaze (after the Mockingjay) ON HOLD

CHAPTER 7:

Peeta and I are at the bakery until about 4:00 when I go pick up the kids from school. When I get there I pick up Rye then Josie. As we walk from school the kids tell me about their day. Josie told me about sixth grade recess. Then Rye tells me about pre school. The rest of the week goes by like usual. Peeta frantically tries to complete Effie's order. I try to stay out of his way. On Thursday I drop the kids off at school. I go to the market to buy food for the rest of the week. I then walk home to unload the groceries and wash the dishes. Once I'm done I walk to the bakery. I am excited to see the progress Peeta made on Effie 's cake.

When I get to the bakery Peeta greets me outside the door. I smile. "Hey Peeta." I say.

"Where have you been? The president is inside. He says he wants to talk to us alone. I told the other bakers they could go home. Come on." Peeta says with a serious face. He opens the door for me. Gale stands up when I walk in.

"Hello." I say. I am nervous of what he has to say to us. "Here sit down," I motion to a table, "Would you like some tea?"

"Sure." Gale says.

Peeta says "I'll go make it." Gale and I sit in silence while Peeta makes the tea. He comes back with a teapot and three cups. I can tell he is nervous also because he spills some tea on the table. Peeta cleans it up and gives us our tea.

We sit in silence for what seems like forever. Then Gale says "Katniss, do you remember that time we killed that 12 point deer?".

"Yes!" I say, "both our families ate off that for like a week. Well, I had to disquise it for Prim. She said she wouldn't ever eat a poor little deer.". Gale's eyes fill with guilt. I decide I should probably stop blaming him for her death. He looks so upset with himself. I try to cheer him up by saying funny stories of us when we were little. It works. Soon the both of us are laughing and reminiscing about the past. Peeta awkwardly sits next to us and stares at his tea. Gale sees him and begins to be serious

Then he says it, "Well, you guys are probably wondering what I have to say to you." Peeta and I nod. "Um, how should I phrase this? Uh, the government and I have been thinking about how to prevent this country from another rebellion. We are most likely going to have another hunger games." I am absolutely shocked . I put my hand over my mouth. I don't know what to say. How could my best friend do this to me? How could he do this to my famiy? How could he do this to our country? He helped us during the Revolution! The hunger games was one of the main reasons we rebelled. I am the angriest I have ever been. I can't seem to form my anger into words. Peeta can.

"Why?" he screams, "Why do you want to do this? Killing innocent children? How can that be a solution? Isn't that the reason we rebelled anyway?" Peeta closes his eyes. I can tell he is on the verge of crying. The hunger games are an extremely touchy subject. The amount of physical and mental scars it gave us are endless. I wouldn't want anyone to go through that traumatizing experience.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't question me." Gale says. "We, um," he pauses and clears his throat, "We know what we are doing.". He had a hard time saying that which leads me to believe, he knows what he is doing is wrong. "Please understand that this is top-secret businesses and you shall not repeat it to anyone. Anyone! Understand?"

Peeta replies "Understood."

"I knew you would Peeta. I was asking Katniss." Gale says bitterly.

"Katniss?" Peeta asks desperately trying to get me to answer.

The dream suddenly replays in my head. I hear Finnick telling me to stop him. As Gale stands up I go over to the counter and pick up a large, sharp knife. I charge at him with it. Gale backs up against the wall. Peeta grabs my waist and tries to stop me. I push him and he topples into Effie 's practically finished cake. I scream "Traitor!" as I lunge forward towards Gale. I get ready to stab him. My knife is pointed directly at his heart. I am ready to put an end to these games once and for all. I could end his life in only a matter of seconds. I am about to. Gale clenches his jaw and squeezes his eyes shut. The knife is less than a centimeter away. I step back. For some reason I can't do it. I can not kill him although, I want to badly. I throw the knife on the floor. It sticks to the wooden floor. Tears form in my eyes and I yell as loud as I can, "I hate you!" I punch him as hard as I possibly can on his right temple.