Everthorne

Chapter 3

Katniss's POV
I smile as I watch Primrose and Rue playing in the grass while singing the lullaby I sing to them every night. It's Rue's birthday today, she's turning 7 years old. Prim's birthday is tomorrow, which is funny because she is 2 years younger than Rue. It took years for Peeta to convince me to have kids, and when I got pregnant for the first time we were going to have twins. We were going to call the other one Maple, since I wasn't sure about calling her Prim because I thought I would be heartbroken when ever I hear that name. When the twins were born Rue came out first, she was about as healthy as you can get, but when Maple came out she wasn't crying. She was dead. The cord was wrapped around her neck and it chocked her to death as she was coming out. We buried Maple in a mini grave and had the smallest funeral with just me Peeta and Rue. We had already set up a room for two girls, but only to find out only one would be living in it. So two years later we decided to have another child. Prim was born normally, she was just a bit underweight.

Years later this is where I am, living happily ever after. Rue has invited a couple of friends from school, Talia, Rosa and Tyson to come to her and Prim's birthday party which is in a couple of hours, Prim, who will be turning 5 tomorrow decided to have her birthday party on the same day as Rue's. I invited a couple of people myself to come along. Annie and her son Finn will be coming from district four in a couple of hours. Annie an I became very good friends over the past few years. Finn is now 10 years old and very good friends with Rue. I decided to invite Haymitch but I'm going to make sure he's sober and I'm going to have no alcohol in the house.

After hours of deciding I decided to call Gale and see if he can come to the party. I have been avoiding this for the past 7 years since Rue was born. He tried calling me a couple of times but Peeta picked the phone up for me. I have no idea what is going on in his life and if he has kids or not, and I'm going to find that out now.

I picked up the phone and dialled the number. My hands were shaking like crazy. I listened to the ringing noises hoping that he won't answer the phone, but of coarse he answered almost immediately. "Hi this is Gale," I hear Gale say. He sounds strong but with a hint of sadness in his voice. I can't believe I got the courage to call the person that killed my sister. "Gale," I whisper. "Katniss? Is this you?" He almost bursts out of joy. I hesitate. I just want to say I'm not Katniss and that it was an accident that I called him, but of coarse I can't do that. "Um, yeah this is me, um, I just wanted to ask..."

"Oh my god Katniss! I can't believe you're calling me! I'm not supposed to be talking on the phone unless it's business related, but I don't really care right now, how's life?" He almost shouts. "Um, yeah, I'm doing fine, you?" I ask awkwardly. "I just want to find out about you first, tell me about life, don't worry I won't get angry at any of it," he says. I hesitate, should I really be talking about life to the person that killed my sister? I don't think so, but I just give in, it can't do any harm can it? "Well me and Peeta got married, and had kids. At first I was going to have twins but Maple died during birth, Rue survived. 2 years later we had another child Primrose," I almost whisper. " It's Rue's birthday today and Prim's tomorrow," I add. Gale is silent for a moment. At first I got scared if he was going to yell at me, but he didn't. "Happy Birthday to Rue!" He finally says. It's silent for a long time, I can tell Gale wants to ask me something. "Gale what is it," I demand. "I know you'll probably say no because of the accident but," I hear him sigh "can I come to see the beautiful children of yours? I promise I won't hurt them and I will leave the next day," he says. That made me think. "Just wait," I say to Gale and put the phone down. "Peeta!" I shout to see him running towards me. Whenever I do that it usually means something important. "What's wrong Katniss?" He asks. "I just called Gale, he wants to come see our kids," I say. Peeta raises his eyebrows. Then he frowns. "Can I talk to him myself?" He asks. "Yes just please don't be rude," I plead. Peeta nods and I give him the phone. "You should go look after the kids," he says. I nod and walk out the door to our backyard.

"Mummy Catnip!" squeals Prim and runs up to me and hugs my leg. "It's mummy Katniss not mummy Catnip!" Shouts Rue. "Jeez you're getting old!" I say to Rue. Rue crosses her arms and pokes her bottom lip out "I'm only seven" she says. I laugh. I can only imagine how Prim would react when Gale calls me Catnip...

"Katniss," I hear Peeta shout. "I'm sorry girls I'll be back in a minute" I say. I walk to the house and walk in to see Peeta clutching the phone looking taken aback. "What is it Peeta?" I ask. He looks at me wide eyed. "It's all sorted Katniss, Gale is coming to see us in 2 hours" he says.